❓ The Minister for Transport addresses disruptions to the east-west freight line due to flooding, highlighting collaborative efforts with industry and the federal government to ensure supply of goods into WA. The Minister also criticises the Leader of the Liberal Party for opposing these efforts.
AnsweredQoN 9Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
EAST–WEST FREIGHT DISRUPTIONS — GOVERNMENT
RESPONSE
9. Ms R.S. STEPHENS to the Minister for Transport:
I refer to the recent flooding of
the east–west freight line that caused disruption to our supply chains.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on the efforts undertaken by the McGowan Labor
government to work with industry and the federal government to ensure the
supply of goods into Western Australia?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house whether any members of the opposition oppose the
government's efforts to get essential supplies on our supermarket
shelves?
RESPONSE
9. Ms R.S. STEPHENS to the Minister for Transport:
I refer to the recent flooding of
the east–west freight line that caused disruption to our supply chains.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on the efforts undertaken by the McGowan Labor
government to work with industry and the federal government to ensure the
supply of goods into Western Australia?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house whether any members of the opposition oppose the
government's efforts to get essential supplies on our supermarket
shelves?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I
thank the member for the question. Yes, I have some very good news today: the
east–west rail link is now open. It
was out of action for 24 days when a one-in-200-year flood impacted the rail
line. Over 300 kilometres of that rail line was damaged along 18
different work fronts. It was an incredible challenge to fix. I congratulate the industry and the 100 workers, who have been
working 24/7 to make sure they fix the
rail line. The workers came from Western Australia, South Australia and across
the nation. I also thank the federal government for being very proactive
and working with our government on this. That included coordinating very, very
important meetings between industry, the retail sector and state governments to
make sure that we all worked together to help, over the 24 days, to provide
interim solutions and on how we could provide other ways to improve the
resilience of that freight link.
A number of measures were put into
place. A land bridge concept was put into place within a couple of weeks of the
rail line being out, and that included a combination of rail, and truck and
rail, coming into Western Australia. We
worked to facilitate exemptions to allow bigger trucks into WA, such as
B-triples into Kalgoorlie and B-doubles all the way into Perth under escort to
make sure that we could get more trucks here quickly to allow more deliveries
into Western Australia. We also worked with the ports, again through the
federal authorities, to facilitate exemptions for shipping lines. We have seen
ships with containers come from the eastern states. They were all interim
measures. Today, nine trains are moving across the nation and bringing
essential goods. These types of events do not happen very often. As I said, we
did not expect the east–west rail link to be out for 24 days, but,
importantly, we are all working together. This will take a number of weeks to,
in a sense, make sure that we remove the backlog from over east and make sure
that the shelves are filled. I am confident that with everyone working together
we will make sure those shelves are filled as soon as possible.
The commonwealth government is
working with the state, the retailers are working with us, and we are working
with the trucking companies, but who is against our joint effort to address one
of the biggest challenges we have faced in
the transport and logistics field? It is, of course, the Leader of the Liberal
Party , once again. He and his social media team, which has made some
serious errors of judgement in what it puts out on social media, are again
attacking this state government, which is working with the federal government.
The Deputy Prime Minister stood up and congratulated the Western Australian
government. Everyone who knows Barnaby Joyce
knows that it is hard for him to congratulate a Labor government, but he
congratulated everyone for working together to do what they could to make sure
that we have products moving from east to west. I am very proud of everyone and
of the truck drivers who, at very short notice, have made some huge
contributions. They made sure that they prioritised the products coming into
WA. Another prioritisation process is happening now that includes the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission, because there were some issues about
preferencing some goods over others.
We are all working together to
prioritise getting into WA essential food, stock, medical supplies and water
treatments. This has been a very hard challenge, given some of the labour
shortages across the nation, but we have met that challenge and we will
continue to work with industry, the federal government and other state
governments to ensure that the supply chain across the nation continues.
thank the member for the question. Yes, I have some very good news today: the
east–west rail link is now open. It
was out of action for 24 days when a one-in-200-year flood impacted the rail
line. Over 300 kilometres of that rail line was damaged along 18
different work fronts. It was an incredible challenge to fix. I congratulate the industry and the 100 workers, who have been
working 24/7 to make sure they fix the
rail line. The workers came from Western Australia, South Australia and across
the nation. I also thank the federal government for being very proactive
and working with our government on this. That included coordinating very, very
important meetings between industry, the retail sector and state governments to
make sure that we all worked together to help, over the 24 days, to provide
interim solutions and on how we could provide other ways to improve the
resilience of that freight link.
A number of measures were put into
place. A land bridge concept was put into place within a couple of weeks of the
rail line being out, and that included a combination of rail, and truck and
rail, coming into Western Australia. We
worked to facilitate exemptions to allow bigger trucks into WA, such as
B-triples into Kalgoorlie and B-doubles all the way into Perth under escort to
make sure that we could get more trucks here quickly to allow more deliveries
into Western Australia. We also worked with the ports, again through the
federal authorities, to facilitate exemptions for shipping lines. We have seen
ships with containers come from the eastern states. They were all interim
measures. Today, nine trains are moving across the nation and bringing
essential goods. These types of events do not happen very often. As I said, we
did not expect the east–west rail link to be out for 24 days, but,
importantly, we are all working together. This will take a number of weeks to,
in a sense, make sure that we remove the backlog from over east and make sure
that the shelves are filled. I am confident that with everyone working together
we will make sure those shelves are filled as soon as possible.
The commonwealth government is
working with the state, the retailers are working with us, and we are working
with the trucking companies, but who is against our joint effort to address one
of the biggest challenges we have faced in
the transport and logistics field? It is, of course, the Leader of the Liberal
Party , once again. He and his social media team, which has made some
serious errors of judgement in what it puts out on social media, are again
attacking this state government, which is working with the federal government.
The Deputy Prime Minister stood up and congratulated the Western Australian
government. Everyone who knows Barnaby Joyce
knows that it is hard for him to congratulate a Labor government, but he
congratulated everyone for working together to do what they could to make sure
that we have products moving from east to west. I am very proud of everyone and
of the truck drivers who, at very short notice, have made some huge
contributions. They made sure that they prioritised the products coming into
WA. Another prioritisation process is happening now that includes the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission, because there were some issues about
preferencing some goods over others.
We are all working together to
prioritise getting into WA essential food, stock, medical supplies and water
treatments. This has been a very hard challenge, given some of the labour
shortages across the nation, but we have met that challenge and we will
continue to work with industry, the federal government and other state
governments to ensure that the supply chain across the nation continues.
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