A parliamentary question scrutinising the development, cost, and potential political bias of Transperth's 'Paint the town Ellenbrook Line red' advertising campaign. The Minister's response defends the campaign as standard practice and dismisses concerns.

AnsweredQoN 33Legislative Council
Asked
8 April 2025
Portfolio
Transport

QuestionView source ↗

I refer to Transperth's "Paint the town Ellenbrook Line red" advertising campaign, and I ask: (a) how was the campaign developed; (b) what involvement did the Minister for Transport's office have with the campaign; (c) what involvement did the Premier's media team have in the development of the campaign; (d) what other areas of government were involved in developing the campaign; (e) what external consultants or other contributors were involved in the campaign; (f) did Cabinet approve the campaign; (g) what was the process undertaken which led to the selection of the colour red for the advertising campaign; (h) in reference to (g), were any other colours, such as blue, considered; (i) what was the cost of the campaign; and (j) did the Minister ever receive advice from the public service cautioning that the campaign could be perceived to be promoting a particular political party or candidate ahead of an election?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
20 May 2025
Responded by
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Transport
Response time
6 days
(a)-(j)  It is standard practice that before the opening of a major expansion of our public transport network that there is an associated public information campaign. This occurred for the opening of the Mandurah Line, the Airport Line, the Yanchep Rail Extension, the Ellenbrook Line, and is now underway for the Thornlie-Cockburn Line.
I understand the Liberal Party have no experience in advertising the opening of rail lines, as they never did any
Red has long been established as the line colour for the Ellenbrook Line, and the idea for the campaign theme originated from the PTA.

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