❓ Opposition questions the government's consultation process and financial decisions regarding the Southern Rail Link project. The Minister defends the project and claims transparency in providing detailed costings.
AnsweredQoN 223Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the minister’s statement in the Sunday Times magazine on 25 April 2004 regarding consultation on Labor’s southern rail link, in which she stated - “I absolutely regret we didn’t do it better” . . . “I really didn’t want to make a decision before we went out and did more consultation but there were concerns within Government about doing it that way.” (1) Will the minister now admit that her Government did not undertake enough consultation before embarking on such a costly project? (2) Will the minister also now admit that as a result of her hasty decision, based on politics not planning, this $1.5 billion project is draining funds from core areas, such as health, education and law and order? (3) Having shackled Western Australians to this massively overpriced, poorly planned project, will the minister guarantee the House that tomorrow’s budget will contain detailed costings on the southern rail link? Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN
AnswerView source ↗
(1)-(3) I have absolutely no doubt that whatever process we used we would have come to the same outcome. I have no doubt whatsoever that the rail project we are developing is absolutely the right project for this State. It is the only project that will deliver the benefits we want. My point was that it is true that we do not claim to get everything absolutely 100 per cent right. I believe in hindsight that we would have been much better to go out to the community earlier and put it on the table openly that we were considering an alternative option. The difficulty was that we were concerned that, given the statements made under the previous Administration, we might be creating expectations that we could not meet. The project was vastly superior, obviously; therefore, if we had opened it up for public consultation from day one, we may have landed ourselves with a project that we could not afford to fund. The work subsequently done indicated that we could do this project in a very cost-effective way, and well within the capacity of the State’s budget. The Government went down that path. In terms of the suggestion that we have not provided detailed funding, the Government has delivered to the member for Carine, the temporary opposition spokesperson on transport - I hope she hands them on to her successor - boxes and boxes of detail. Thousands of pages of contractual data have been provided. Such material has never before in the history of this State been tabled in respect of a project. Mr N.R. Marlborough: You have to supply a lot of pictures with her. Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: We will give her pictures. There has been unprecedented disclosure of the detail and costings of this project. I say to the Opposition that its members are flogging a dead horse - this project has massive community support.
“I absolutely regret we didn’t do it better” . . . “I really didn’t want to make a decision before we went out and did more consultation but there were concerns within Government about doing it that way.” (1) Will the minister now admit that her Government did not undertake enough consultation before embarking on such a costly project? (2) Will the minister also now admit that as a result of her hasty decision, based on politics not planning, this $1.5 billion project is draining funds from core areas, such as health, education and law and order? (3) Having shackled Western Australians to this massively overpriced, poorly planned project, will the minister guarantee the House that tomorrow’s budget will contain detailed costings on the southern rail link? Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(3) I have absolutely no doubt that whatever process we used we would have come to the same outcome. I have no doubt whatsoever that the rail project we are developing is absolutely the right project for this State. It is the only project that will deliver the benefits we want. My point was that it is true that we do not claim to get everything absolutely 100 per cent right. I believe in hindsight that we would have been much better to go out to the community earlier and put it on the table openly that we were considering an alternative option. The difficulty was that we were concerned that, given the statements made under the previous Administration, we might be creating expectations that we could not meet. The project was vastly superior, obviously; therefore, if we had opened it up for public consultation from day one, we may have landed ourselves with a project that we could not afford to fund. The work subsequently done indicated that we could do this project in a very cost-effective way, and well within the capacity of the State’s budget. The Government went down that path. In terms of the suggestion that we have not provided detailed funding, the Government has delivered to the member for Carine, the temporary opposition spokesperson on transport - I hope she hands them on to her successor - boxes and boxes of detail. Thousands of pages of contractual data have been provided. Such material has never before in the history of this State been tabled in respect of a project. Mr N.R. Marlborough: You have to supply a lot of pictures with her. Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: We will give her pictures. There has been unprecedented disclosure of the detail and costings of this project. I say to the Opposition that its members are flogging a dead horse - this project has massive community support.
(1) Will the minister now admit that her Government did not undertake enough consultation before embarking on such a costly project? (2) Will the minister also now admit that as a result of her hasty decision, based on politics not planning, this $1.5 billion project is draining funds from core areas, such as health, education and law and order? (3) Having shackled Western Australians to this massively overpriced, poorly planned project, will the minister guarantee the House that tomorrow’s budget will contain detailed costings on the southern rail link? Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(3) I have absolutely no doubt that whatever process we used we would have come to the same outcome. I have no doubt whatsoever that the rail project we are developing is absolutely the right project for this State. It is the only project that will deliver the benefits we want. My point was that it is true that we do not claim to get everything absolutely 100 per cent right. I believe in hindsight that we would have been much better to go out to the community earlier and put it on the table openly that we were considering an alternative option. The difficulty was that we were concerned that, given the statements made under the previous Administration, we might be creating expectations that we could not meet. The project was vastly superior, obviously; therefore, if we had opened it up for public consultation from day one, we may have landed ourselves with a project that we could not afford to fund. The work subsequently done indicated that we could do this project in a very cost-effective way, and well within the capacity of the State’s budget. The Government went down that path. In terms of the suggestion that we have not provided detailed funding, the Government has delivered to the member for Carine, the temporary opposition spokesperson on transport - I hope she hands them on to her successor - boxes and boxes of detail. Thousands of pages of contractual data have been provided. Such material has never before in the history of this State been tabled in respect of a project. Mr N.R. Marlborough: You have to supply a lot of pictures with her. Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: We will give her pictures. There has been unprecedented disclosure of the detail and costings of this project. I say to the Opposition that its members are flogging a dead horse - this project has massive community support.
(2) Will the minister also now admit that as a result of her hasty decision, based on politics not planning, this $1.5 billion project is draining funds from core areas, such as health, education and law and order? (3) Having shackled Western Australians to this massively overpriced, poorly planned project, will the minister guarantee the House that tomorrow’s budget will contain detailed costings on the southern rail link? Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(3) I have absolutely no doubt that whatever process we used we would have come to the same outcome. I have no doubt whatsoever that the rail project we are developing is absolutely the right project for this State. It is the only project that will deliver the benefits we want. My point was that it is true that we do not claim to get everything absolutely 100 per cent right. I believe in hindsight that we would have been much better to go out to the community earlier and put it on the table openly that we were considering an alternative option. The difficulty was that we were concerned that, given the statements made under the previous Administration, we might be creating expectations that we could not meet. The project was vastly superior, obviously; therefore, if we had opened it up for public consultation from day one, we may have landed ourselves with a project that we could not afford to fund. The work subsequently done indicated that we could do this project in a very cost-effective way, and well within the capacity of the State’s budget. The Government went down that path. In terms of the suggestion that we have not provided detailed funding, the Government has delivered to the member for Carine, the temporary opposition spokesperson on transport - I hope she hands them on to her successor - boxes and boxes of detail. Thousands of pages of contractual data have been provided. Such material has never before in the history of this State been tabled in respect of a project. Mr N.R. Marlborough: You have to supply a lot of pictures with her. Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: We will give her pictures. There has been unprecedented disclosure of the detail and costings of this project. I say to the Opposition that its members are flogging a dead horse - this project has massive community support.
(3) Having shackled Western Australians to this massively overpriced, poorly planned project, will the minister guarantee the House that tomorrow’s budget will contain detailed costings on the southern rail link? Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(3) I have absolutely no doubt that whatever process we used we would have come to the same outcome. I have no doubt whatsoever that the rail project we are developing is absolutely the right project for this State. It is the only project that will deliver the benefits we want. My point was that it is true that we do not claim to get everything absolutely 100 per cent right. I believe in hindsight that we would have been much better to go out to the community earlier and put it on the table openly that we were considering an alternative option. The difficulty was that we were concerned that, given the statements made under the previous Administration, we might be creating expectations that we could not meet. The project was vastly superior, obviously; therefore, if we had opened it up for public consultation from day one, we may have landed ourselves with a project that we could not afford to fund. The work subsequently done indicated that we could do this project in a very cost-effective way, and well within the capacity of the State’s budget. The Government went down that path. In terms of the suggestion that we have not provided detailed funding, the Government has delivered to the member for Carine, the temporary opposition spokesperson on transport - I hope she hands them on to her successor - boxes and boxes of detail. Thousands of pages of contractual data have been provided. Such material has never before in the history of this State been tabled in respect of a project. Mr N.R. Marlborough: You have to supply a lot of pictures with her. Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: We will give her pictures. There has been unprecedented disclosure of the detail and costings of this project. I say to the Opposition that its members are flogging a dead horse - this project has massive community support.
Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(3) I have absolutely no doubt that whatever process we used we would have come to the same outcome. I have no doubt whatsoever that the rail project we are developing is absolutely the right project for this State. It is the only project that will deliver the benefits we want. My point was that it is true that we do not claim to get everything absolutely 100 per cent right. I believe in hindsight that we would have been much better to go out to the community earlier and put it on the table openly that we were considering an alternative option. The difficulty was that we were concerned that, given the statements made under the previous Administration, we might be creating expectations that we could not meet. The project was vastly superior, obviously; therefore, if we had opened it up for public consultation from day one, we may have landed ourselves with a project that we could not afford to fund. The work subsequently done indicated that we could do this project in a very cost-effective way, and well within the capacity of the State’s budget. The Government went down that path. In terms of the suggestion that we have not provided detailed funding, the Government has delivered to the member for Carine, the temporary opposition spokesperson on transport - I hope she hands them on to her successor - boxes and boxes of detail. Thousands of pages of contractual data have been provided. Such material has never before in the history of this State been tabled in respect of a project. Mr N.R. Marlborough: You have to supply a lot of pictures with her. Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: We will give her pictures. There has been unprecedented disclosure of the detail and costings of this project. I say to the Opposition that its members are flogging a dead horse - this project has massive community support.
(1)-(3) I have absolutely no doubt that whatever process we used we would have come to the same outcome. I have no doubt whatsoever that the rail project we are developing is absolutely the right project for this State. It is the only project that will deliver the benefits we want. My point was that it is true that we do not claim to get everything absolutely 100 per cent right. I believe in hindsight that we would have been much better to go out to the community earlier and put it on the table openly that we were considering an alternative option. The difficulty was that we were concerned that, given the statements made under the previous Administration, we might be creating expectations that we could not meet. The project was vastly superior, obviously; therefore, if we had opened it up for public consultation from day one, we may have landed ourselves with a project that we could not afford to fund. The work subsequently done indicated that we could do this project in a very cost-effective way, and well within the capacity of the State’s budget. The Government went down that path. In terms of the suggestion that we have not provided detailed funding, the Government has delivered to the member for Carine, the temporary opposition spokesperson on transport - I hope she hands them on to her successor - boxes and boxes of detail. Thousands of pages of contractual data have been provided. Such material has never before in the history of this State been tabled in respect of a project. Mr N.R. Marlborough: You have to supply a lot of pictures with her. Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: We will give her pictures. There has been unprecedented disclosure of the detail and costings of this project. I say to the Opposition that its members are flogging a dead horse - this project has massive community support.
Mr N.R. Marlborough: You have to supply a lot of pictures with her. Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: We will give her pictures. There has been unprecedented disclosure of the detail and costings of this project. I say to the Opposition that its members are flogging a dead horse - this project has massive community support.
Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: We will give her pictures. There has been unprecedented disclosure of the detail and costings of this project. I say to the Opposition that its members are flogging a dead horse - this project has massive community support.
“I absolutely regret we didn’t do it better” . . . “I really didn’t want to make a decision before we went out and did more consultation but there were concerns within Government about doing it that way.” (1) Will the minister now admit that her Government did not undertake enough consultation before embarking on such a costly project? (2) Will the minister also now admit that as a result of her hasty decision, based on politics not planning, this $1.5 billion project is draining funds from core areas, such as health, education and law and order? (3) Having shackled Western Australians to this massively overpriced, poorly planned project, will the minister guarantee the House that tomorrow’s budget will contain detailed costings on the southern rail link? Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(3) I have absolutely no doubt that whatever process we used we would have come to the same outcome. I have no doubt whatsoever that the rail project we are developing is absolutely the right project for this State. It is the only project that will deliver the benefits we want. My point was that it is true that we do not claim to get everything absolutely 100 per cent right. I believe in hindsight that we would have been much better to go out to the community earlier and put it on the table openly that we were considering an alternative option. The difficulty was that we were concerned that, given the statements made under the previous Administration, we might be creating expectations that we could not meet. The project was vastly superior, obviously; therefore, if we had opened it up for public consultation from day one, we may have landed ourselves with a project that we could not afford to fund. The work subsequently done indicated that we could do this project in a very cost-effective way, and well within the capacity of the State’s budget. The Government went down that path. In terms of the suggestion that we have not provided detailed funding, the Government has delivered to the member for Carine, the temporary opposition spokesperson on transport - I hope she hands them on to her successor - boxes and boxes of detail. Thousands of pages of contractual data have been provided. Such material has never before in the history of this State been tabled in respect of a project. Mr N.R. Marlborough: You have to supply a lot of pictures with her. Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: We will give her pictures. There has been unprecedented disclosure of the detail and costings of this project. I say to the Opposition that its members are flogging a dead horse - this project has massive community support.
(1) Will the minister now admit that her Government did not undertake enough consultation before embarking on such a costly project? (2) Will the minister also now admit that as a result of her hasty decision, based on politics not planning, this $1.5 billion project is draining funds from core areas, such as health, education and law and order? (3) Having shackled Western Australians to this massively overpriced, poorly planned project, will the minister guarantee the House that tomorrow’s budget will contain detailed costings on the southern rail link? Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(3) I have absolutely no doubt that whatever process we used we would have come to the same outcome. I have no doubt whatsoever that the rail project we are developing is absolutely the right project for this State. It is the only project that will deliver the benefits we want. My point was that it is true that we do not claim to get everything absolutely 100 per cent right. I believe in hindsight that we would have been much better to go out to the community earlier and put it on the table openly that we were considering an alternative option. The difficulty was that we were concerned that, given the statements made under the previous Administration, we might be creating expectations that we could not meet. The project was vastly superior, obviously; therefore, if we had opened it up for public consultation from day one, we may have landed ourselves with a project that we could not afford to fund. The work subsequently done indicated that we could do this project in a very cost-effective way, and well within the capacity of the State’s budget. The Government went down that path. In terms of the suggestion that we have not provided detailed funding, the Government has delivered to the member for Carine, the temporary opposition spokesperson on transport - I hope she hands them on to her successor - boxes and boxes of detail. Thousands of pages of contractual data have been provided. Such material has never before in the history of this State been tabled in respect of a project. Mr N.R. Marlborough: You have to supply a lot of pictures with her. Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: We will give her pictures. There has been unprecedented disclosure of the detail and costings of this project. I say to the Opposition that its members are flogging a dead horse - this project has massive community support.
(2) Will the minister also now admit that as a result of her hasty decision, based on politics not planning, this $1.5 billion project is draining funds from core areas, such as health, education and law and order? (3) Having shackled Western Australians to this massively overpriced, poorly planned project, will the minister guarantee the House that tomorrow’s budget will contain detailed costings on the southern rail link? Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(3) I have absolutely no doubt that whatever process we used we would have come to the same outcome. I have no doubt whatsoever that the rail project we are developing is absolutely the right project for this State. It is the only project that will deliver the benefits we want. My point was that it is true that we do not claim to get everything absolutely 100 per cent right. I believe in hindsight that we would have been much better to go out to the community earlier and put it on the table openly that we were considering an alternative option. The difficulty was that we were concerned that, given the statements made under the previous Administration, we might be creating expectations that we could not meet. The project was vastly superior, obviously; therefore, if we had opened it up for public consultation from day one, we may have landed ourselves with a project that we could not afford to fund. The work subsequently done indicated that we could do this project in a very cost-effective way, and well within the capacity of the State’s budget. The Government went down that path. In terms of the suggestion that we have not provided detailed funding, the Government has delivered to the member for Carine, the temporary opposition spokesperson on transport - I hope she hands them on to her successor - boxes and boxes of detail. Thousands of pages of contractual data have been provided. Such material has never before in the history of this State been tabled in respect of a project. Mr N.R. Marlborough: You have to supply a lot of pictures with her. Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: We will give her pictures. There has been unprecedented disclosure of the detail and costings of this project. I say to the Opposition that its members are flogging a dead horse - this project has massive community support.
(3) Having shackled Western Australians to this massively overpriced, poorly planned project, will the minister guarantee the House that tomorrow’s budget will contain detailed costings on the southern rail link? Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(3) I have absolutely no doubt that whatever process we used we would have come to the same outcome. I have no doubt whatsoever that the rail project we are developing is absolutely the right project for this State. It is the only project that will deliver the benefits we want. My point was that it is true that we do not claim to get everything absolutely 100 per cent right. I believe in hindsight that we would have been much better to go out to the community earlier and put it on the table openly that we were considering an alternative option. The difficulty was that we were concerned that, given the statements made under the previous Administration, we might be creating expectations that we could not meet. The project was vastly superior, obviously; therefore, if we had opened it up for public consultation from day one, we may have landed ourselves with a project that we could not afford to fund. The work subsequently done indicated that we could do this project in a very cost-effective way, and well within the capacity of the State’s budget. The Government went down that path. In terms of the suggestion that we have not provided detailed funding, the Government has delivered to the member for Carine, the temporary opposition spokesperson on transport - I hope she hands them on to her successor - boxes and boxes of detail. Thousands of pages of contractual data have been provided. Such material has never before in the history of this State been tabled in respect of a project. Mr N.R. Marlborough: You have to supply a lot of pictures with her. Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: We will give her pictures. There has been unprecedented disclosure of the detail and costings of this project. I say to the Opposition that its members are flogging a dead horse - this project has massive community support.
Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN replied: (1)-(3) I have absolutely no doubt that whatever process we used we would have come to the same outcome. I have no doubt whatsoever that the rail project we are developing is absolutely the right project for this State. It is the only project that will deliver the benefits we want. My point was that it is true that we do not claim to get everything absolutely 100 per cent right. I believe in hindsight that we would have been much better to go out to the community earlier and put it on the table openly that we were considering an alternative option. The difficulty was that we were concerned that, given the statements made under the previous Administration, we might be creating expectations that we could not meet. The project was vastly superior, obviously; therefore, if we had opened it up for public consultation from day one, we may have landed ourselves with a project that we could not afford to fund. The work subsequently done indicated that we could do this project in a very cost-effective way, and well within the capacity of the State’s budget. The Government went down that path. In terms of the suggestion that we have not provided detailed funding, the Government has delivered to the member for Carine, the temporary opposition spokesperson on transport - I hope she hands them on to her successor - boxes and boxes of detail. Thousands of pages of contractual data have been provided. Such material has never before in the history of this State been tabled in respect of a project. Mr N.R. Marlborough: You have to supply a lot of pictures with her. Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: We will give her pictures. There has been unprecedented disclosure of the detail and costings of this project. I say to the Opposition that its members are flogging a dead horse - this project has massive community support.
(1)-(3) I have absolutely no doubt that whatever process we used we would have come to the same outcome. I have no doubt whatsoever that the rail project we are developing is absolutely the right project for this State. It is the only project that will deliver the benefits we want. My point was that it is true that we do not claim to get everything absolutely 100 per cent right. I believe in hindsight that we would have been much better to go out to the community earlier and put it on the table openly that we were considering an alternative option. The difficulty was that we were concerned that, given the statements made under the previous Administration, we might be creating expectations that we could not meet. The project was vastly superior, obviously; therefore, if we had opened it up for public consultation from day one, we may have landed ourselves with a project that we could not afford to fund. The work subsequently done indicated that we could do this project in a very cost-effective way, and well within the capacity of the State’s budget. The Government went down that path. In terms of the suggestion that we have not provided detailed funding, the Government has delivered to the member for Carine, the temporary opposition spokesperson on transport - I hope she hands them on to her successor - boxes and boxes of detail. Thousands of pages of contractual data have been provided. Such material has never before in the history of this State been tabled in respect of a project. Mr N.R. Marlborough: You have to supply a lot of pictures with her. Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: We will give her pictures. There has been unprecedented disclosure of the detail and costings of this project. I say to the Opposition that its members are flogging a dead horse - this project has massive community support.
Mr N.R. Marlborough: You have to supply a lot of pictures with her. Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: We will give her pictures. There has been unprecedented disclosure of the detail and costings of this project. I say to the Opposition that its members are flogging a dead horse - this project has massive community support.
Ms A.J. MacTIERNAN: We will give her pictures. There has been unprecedented disclosure of the detail and costings of this project. I say to the Opposition that its members are flogging a dead horse - this project has massive community support.
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