❓ Minister MacTiernan expresses concern over the federal government's new transport funding model, arguing it disadvantages Western Australia due to its lower revenue base and extensive highway network compared to more developed states.
AnsweredQoN 1039Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the announcement by the Deputy Prime Minister of the changes in the way that the federal Government funds transport infrastructure. Will the minister comment on the potential impact of this announcement on Western Australia? Ms MacTIERNAN
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for some notice of this question. The member has a vital interest in the fate of transport funding in this State, and the Kimberley has been an area where there has been a dearth of federal government funding. As a broad principle, we support the decision by the federal Government to move away from the simplistic model of road funding towards a more comprehensive and integrated system of looking at competing transport modalities and assessing how the freight tasks are best dealt with by the different modes. That is something we have already done in this State. The particular funding model proposed is a great threat to Western Australia. States that have the greatest capacity to contribute to transport infrastructure projects will now receive most of the pie. Densely populated States with greater revenue schemes and with smaller transport networks, such as New South Wales and Victoria, will do much better than Western Australia because of state contribution requirements. Those already developed States will have a great advantage over the economically developing States such as Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It is also clear that priority is being given to matching private investment in transport infrastructure. I believe this will put a lot of pressure on Western Australia to introduce various user-pay systems on our roads. Finally, the scrapping of the commitment to national highway funding will also disproportionately affect Western Australia. As I have said in this House before, Western Australia has 25 per cent of the national highway, and now we are seeing the federal Government vacate the field. Mr Barnett interjected. Ms MacTIERNAN: The Leader of the Opposition is bleating and muttering. I would like the Leader of the Opposition to get on the phone to his commonwealth colleagues, stand up for Western Australia and point out the way in which this funding model is immensely disadvantaging Western Australia. We will find it very difficult to fund our transport infrastructure into the future.
Ms MacTIERNAN replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. The member has a vital interest in the fate of transport funding in this State, and the Kimberley has been an area where there has been a dearth of federal government funding. As a broad principle, we support the decision by the federal Government to move away from the simplistic model of road funding towards a more comprehensive and integrated system of looking at competing transport modalities and assessing how the freight tasks are best dealt with by the different modes. That is something we have already done in this State. The particular funding model proposed is a great threat to Western Australia. States that have the greatest capacity to contribute to transport infrastructure projects will now receive most of the pie. Densely populated States with greater revenue schemes and with smaller transport networks, such as New South Wales and Victoria, will do much better than Western Australia because of state contribution requirements. Those already developed States will have a great advantage over the economically developing States such as Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It is also clear that priority is being given to matching private investment in transport infrastructure. I believe this will put a lot of pressure on Western Australia to introduce various user-pay systems on our roads. Finally, the scrapping of the commitment to national highway funding will also disproportionately affect Western Australia. As I have said in this House before, Western Australia has 25 per cent of the national highway, and now we are seeing the federal Government vacate the field. Mr Barnett interjected. Ms MacTIERNAN: The Leader of the Opposition is bleating and muttering. I would like the Leader of the Opposition to get on the phone to his commonwealth colleagues, stand up for Western Australia and point out the way in which this funding model is immensely disadvantaging Western Australia. We will find it very difficult to fund our transport infrastructure into the future.
I thank the member for some notice of this question. The member has a vital interest in the fate of transport funding in this State, and the Kimberley has been an area where there has been a dearth of federal government funding. As a broad principle, we support the decision by the federal Government to move away from the simplistic model of road funding towards a more comprehensive and integrated system of looking at competing transport modalities and assessing how the freight tasks are best dealt with by the different modes. That is something we have already done in this State. The particular funding model proposed is a great threat to Western Australia. States that have the greatest capacity to contribute to transport infrastructure projects will now receive most of the pie. Densely populated States with greater revenue schemes and with smaller transport networks, such as New South Wales and Victoria, will do much better than Western Australia because of state contribution requirements. Those already developed States will have a great advantage over the economically developing States such as Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It is also clear that priority is being given to matching private investment in transport infrastructure. I believe this will put a lot of pressure on Western Australia to introduce various user-pay systems on our roads. Finally, the scrapping of the commitment to national highway funding will also disproportionately affect Western Australia. As I have said in this House before, Western Australia has 25 per cent of the national highway, and now we are seeing the federal Government vacate the field. Mr Barnett interjected. Ms MacTIERNAN: The Leader of the Opposition is bleating and muttering. I would like the Leader of the Opposition to get on the phone to his commonwealth colleagues, stand up for Western Australia and point out the way in which this funding model is immensely disadvantaging Western Australia. We will find it very difficult to fund our transport infrastructure into the future.
Mr Barnett interjected. Ms MacTIERNAN: The Leader of the Opposition is bleating and muttering. I would like the Leader of the Opposition to get on the phone to his commonwealth colleagues, stand up for Western Australia and point out the way in which this funding model is immensely disadvantaging Western Australia. We will find it very difficult to fund our transport infrastructure into the future.
Ms MacTIERNAN: The Leader of the Opposition is bleating and muttering. I would like the Leader of the Opposition to get on the phone to his commonwealth colleagues, stand up for Western Australia and point out the way in which this funding model is immensely disadvantaging Western Australia. We will find it very difficult to fund our transport infrastructure into the future.
Ms MacTIERNAN replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. The member has a vital interest in the fate of transport funding in this State, and the Kimberley has been an area where there has been a dearth of federal government funding. As a broad principle, we support the decision by the federal Government to move away from the simplistic model of road funding towards a more comprehensive and integrated system of looking at competing transport modalities and assessing how the freight tasks are best dealt with by the different modes. That is something we have already done in this State. The particular funding model proposed is a great threat to Western Australia. States that have the greatest capacity to contribute to transport infrastructure projects will now receive most of the pie. Densely populated States with greater revenue schemes and with smaller transport networks, such as New South Wales and Victoria, will do much better than Western Australia because of state contribution requirements. Those already developed States will have a great advantage over the economically developing States such as Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It is also clear that priority is being given to matching private investment in transport infrastructure. I believe this will put a lot of pressure on Western Australia to introduce various user-pay systems on our roads. Finally, the scrapping of the commitment to national highway funding will also disproportionately affect Western Australia. As I have said in this House before, Western Australia has 25 per cent of the national highway, and now we are seeing the federal Government vacate the field. Mr Barnett interjected. Ms MacTIERNAN: The Leader of the Opposition is bleating and muttering. I would like the Leader of the Opposition to get on the phone to his commonwealth colleagues, stand up for Western Australia and point out the way in which this funding model is immensely disadvantaging Western Australia. We will find it very difficult to fund our transport infrastructure into the future.
I thank the member for some notice of this question. The member has a vital interest in the fate of transport funding in this State, and the Kimberley has been an area where there has been a dearth of federal government funding. As a broad principle, we support the decision by the federal Government to move away from the simplistic model of road funding towards a more comprehensive and integrated system of looking at competing transport modalities and assessing how the freight tasks are best dealt with by the different modes. That is something we have already done in this State. The particular funding model proposed is a great threat to Western Australia. States that have the greatest capacity to contribute to transport infrastructure projects will now receive most of the pie. Densely populated States with greater revenue schemes and with smaller transport networks, such as New South Wales and Victoria, will do much better than Western Australia because of state contribution requirements. Those already developed States will have a great advantage over the economically developing States such as Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It is also clear that priority is being given to matching private investment in transport infrastructure. I believe this will put a lot of pressure on Western Australia to introduce various user-pay systems on our roads. Finally, the scrapping of the commitment to national highway funding will also disproportionately affect Western Australia. As I have said in this House before, Western Australia has 25 per cent of the national highway, and now we are seeing the federal Government vacate the field. Mr Barnett interjected. Ms MacTIERNAN: The Leader of the Opposition is bleating and muttering. I would like the Leader of the Opposition to get on the phone to his commonwealth colleagues, stand up for Western Australia and point out the way in which this funding model is immensely disadvantaging Western Australia. We will find it very difficult to fund our transport infrastructure into the future.
Mr Barnett interjected. Ms MacTIERNAN: The Leader of the Opposition is bleating and muttering. I would like the Leader of the Opposition to get on the phone to his commonwealth colleagues, stand up for Western Australia and point out the way in which this funding model is immensely disadvantaging Western Australia. We will find it very difficult to fund our transport infrastructure into the future.
Ms MacTIERNAN: The Leader of the Opposition is bleating and muttering. I would like the Leader of the Opposition to get on the phone to his commonwealth colleagues, stand up for Western Australia and point out the way in which this funding model is immensely disadvantaging Western Australia. We will find it very difficult to fund our transport infrastructure into the future.
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