❓ WA State Development Minister expresses disappointment at the Federal Government's refusal to provide funding for the Wireless North project, highlighting a pattern of insufficient support for WA infrastructure despite the state's significant tax contributions.
AnsweredQoN 94Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Has the minister received any response to the request for federal government cooperation concerning the vital Wireless North project? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for some notice of this question. This matter has been raised before and I thank, in anticipation, the National Party for pursuing this issue with the federal government. I have finally received a formal response from Senator Helen Coonan, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, to our request for the commonwealth to match the state’s $3 million for the provision of funding for the Wireless North project, which will provide mobile phone coverage to the north west of the state. It has taken five months to obtain a reply, which is most unfortunate. Her reply states, in part - I understand that Telstra is prepared to respond to calls for Expressions of Interest and to implement Wireless North in partnership with the Government of Western Australia, regardless of any Commonwealth funding. I welcome the State Government’s unilateral commitment to implement the Wireless North project. In other words, we are not going to get any assistance from the commonwealth. I have written to Senator Coonan pointing out the history of this matter and asking her to reconsider. If the National Party will support the government on that, I would be most grateful. It is simply unacceptable that the commonwealth refuses to help the state with this sort of infrastructure. The commonwealth helped the state with a similar project called Wireless West but it reneged on a commitment to assist the state on a dollar-for-dollar basis on a $24 million project to provide a competitive aerial geoscientific survey, which would have been of great assistance to the mining industry. The commonwealth made no contribution whatsoever after indicating that there would be one. The state proceeded to put $12 million into the project, much to the applause of the mining industry. The industry is very disappointed with the commonwealth’s reaction. I have also had the recent experience of Minister Macfarlane explaining to me that the commonwealth would not provide assistance for the provision of public infrastructure for major projects. The people of Western Australia must understand the scenario before them. There are major infrastructure challenges in Western Australia. Through taxation, Western Australia provides huge resources to the commonwealth government but receives nothing in return. I strongly support the Treasurer’s stance on the current tax issues. It is integral to the whole infrastructure debate. On all sides of politics we need to hammer home the importance of this issue to Western Australia.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. This matter has been raised before and I thank, in anticipation, the National Party for pursuing this issue with the federal government. I have finally received a formal response from Senator Helen Coonan, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, to our request for the commonwealth to match the state’s $3 million for the provision of funding for the Wireless North project, which will provide mobile phone coverage to the north west of the state. It has taken five months to obtain a reply, which is most unfortunate. Her reply states, in part - I understand that Telstra is prepared to respond to calls for Expressions of Interest and to implement Wireless North in partnership with the Government of Western Australia, regardless of any Commonwealth funding. I welcome the State Government’s unilateral commitment to implement the Wireless North project. In other words, we are not going to get any assistance from the commonwealth. I have written to Senator Coonan pointing out the history of this matter and asking her to reconsider. If the National Party will support the government on that, I would be most grateful. It is simply unacceptable that the commonwealth refuses to help the state with this sort of infrastructure. The commonwealth helped the state with a similar project called Wireless West but it reneged on a commitment to assist the state on a dollar-for-dollar basis on a $24 million project to provide a competitive aerial geoscientific survey, which would have been of great assistance to the mining industry. The commonwealth made no contribution whatsoever after indicating that there would be one. The state proceeded to put $12 million into the project, much to the applause of the mining industry. The industry is very disappointed with the commonwealth’s reaction. I have also had the recent experience of Minister Macfarlane explaining to me that the commonwealth would not provide assistance for the provision of public infrastructure for major projects. The people of Western Australia must understand the scenario before them. There are major infrastructure challenges in Western Australia. Through taxation, Western Australia provides huge resources to the commonwealth government but receives nothing in return. I strongly support the Treasurer’s stance on the current tax issues. It is integral to the whole infrastructure debate. On all sides of politics we need to hammer home the importance of this issue to Western Australia.
I thank the member for some notice of this question. This matter has been raised before and I thank, in anticipation, the National Party for pursuing this issue with the federal government. I have finally received a formal response from Senator Helen Coonan, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, to our request for the commonwealth to match the state’s $3 million for the provision of funding for the Wireless North project, which will provide mobile phone coverage to the north west of the state. It has taken five months to obtain a reply, which is most unfortunate. Her reply states, in part - I understand that Telstra is prepared to respond to calls for Expressions of Interest and to implement Wireless North in partnership with the Government of Western Australia, regardless of any Commonwealth funding. I welcome the State Government’s unilateral commitment to implement the Wireless North project. In other words, we are not going to get any assistance from the commonwealth. I have written to Senator Coonan pointing out the history of this matter and asking her to reconsider. If the National Party will support the government on that, I would be most grateful. It is simply unacceptable that the commonwealth refuses to help the state with this sort of infrastructure. The commonwealth helped the state with a similar project called Wireless West but it reneged on a commitment to assist the state on a dollar-for-dollar basis on a $24 million project to provide a competitive aerial geoscientific survey, which would have been of great assistance to the mining industry. The commonwealth made no contribution whatsoever after indicating that there would be one. The state proceeded to put $12 million into the project, much to the applause of the mining industry. The industry is very disappointed with the commonwealth’s reaction. I have also had the recent experience of Minister Macfarlane explaining to me that the commonwealth would not provide assistance for the provision of public infrastructure for major projects. The people of Western Australia must understand the scenario before them. There are major infrastructure challenges in Western Australia. Through taxation, Western Australia provides huge resources to the commonwealth government but receives nothing in return. I strongly support the Treasurer’s stance on the current tax issues. It is integral to the whole infrastructure debate. On all sides of politics we need to hammer home the importance of this issue to Western Australia.
I welcome the State Government’s unilateral commitment to implement the Wireless North project.
I have written to Senator Coonan pointing out the history of this matter and asking her to reconsider. If the National Party will support the government on that, I would be most grateful. It is simply unacceptable that the commonwealth refuses to help the state with this sort of infrastructure. The commonwealth helped the state with a similar project called Wireless West but it reneged on a commitment to assist the state on a dollar-for-dollar basis on a $24 million project to provide a competitive aerial geoscientific survey, which would have been of great assistance to the mining industry. The commonwealth made no contribution whatsoever after indicating that there would be one. The state proceeded to put $12 million into the project, much to the applause of the mining industry. The industry is very disappointed with the commonwealth’s reaction. I have also had the recent experience of Minister Macfarlane explaining to me that the commonwealth would not provide assistance for the provision of public infrastructure for major projects. The people of Western Australia must understand the scenario before them. There are major infrastructure challenges in Western Australia. Through taxation, Western Australia provides huge resources to the commonwealth government but receives nothing in return. I strongly support the Treasurer’s stance on the current tax issues. It is integral to the whole infrastructure debate. On all sides of politics we need to hammer home the importance of this issue to Western Australia.
The people of Western Australia must understand the scenario before them. There are major infrastructure challenges in Western Australia. Through taxation, Western Australia provides huge resources to the commonwealth government but receives nothing in return. I strongly support the Treasurer’s stance on the current tax issues. It is integral to the whole infrastructure debate. On all sides of politics we need to hammer home the importance of this issue to Western Australia.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. This matter has been raised before and I thank, in anticipation, the National Party for pursuing this issue with the federal government. I have finally received a formal response from Senator Helen Coonan, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, to our request for the commonwealth to match the state’s $3 million for the provision of funding for the Wireless North project, which will provide mobile phone coverage to the north west of the state. It has taken five months to obtain a reply, which is most unfortunate. Her reply states, in part - I understand that Telstra is prepared to respond to calls for Expressions of Interest and to implement Wireless North in partnership with the Government of Western Australia, regardless of any Commonwealth funding. I welcome the State Government’s unilateral commitment to implement the Wireless North project. In other words, we are not going to get any assistance from the commonwealth. I have written to Senator Coonan pointing out the history of this matter and asking her to reconsider. If the National Party will support the government on that, I would be most grateful. It is simply unacceptable that the commonwealth refuses to help the state with this sort of infrastructure. The commonwealth helped the state with a similar project called Wireless West but it reneged on a commitment to assist the state on a dollar-for-dollar basis on a $24 million project to provide a competitive aerial geoscientific survey, which would have been of great assistance to the mining industry. The commonwealth made no contribution whatsoever after indicating that there would be one. The state proceeded to put $12 million into the project, much to the applause of the mining industry. The industry is very disappointed with the commonwealth’s reaction. I have also had the recent experience of Minister Macfarlane explaining to me that the commonwealth would not provide assistance for the provision of public infrastructure for major projects. The people of Western Australia must understand the scenario before them. There are major infrastructure challenges in Western Australia. Through taxation, Western Australia provides huge resources to the commonwealth government but receives nothing in return. I strongly support the Treasurer’s stance on the current tax issues. It is integral to the whole infrastructure debate. On all sides of politics we need to hammer home the importance of this issue to Western Australia.
I thank the member for some notice of this question. This matter has been raised before and I thank, in anticipation, the National Party for pursuing this issue with the federal government. I have finally received a formal response from Senator Helen Coonan, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, to our request for the commonwealth to match the state’s $3 million for the provision of funding for the Wireless North project, which will provide mobile phone coverage to the north west of the state. It has taken five months to obtain a reply, which is most unfortunate. Her reply states, in part - I understand that Telstra is prepared to respond to calls for Expressions of Interest and to implement Wireless North in partnership with the Government of Western Australia, regardless of any Commonwealth funding. I welcome the State Government’s unilateral commitment to implement the Wireless North project. In other words, we are not going to get any assistance from the commonwealth. I have written to Senator Coonan pointing out the history of this matter and asking her to reconsider. If the National Party will support the government on that, I would be most grateful. It is simply unacceptable that the commonwealth refuses to help the state with this sort of infrastructure. The commonwealth helped the state with a similar project called Wireless West but it reneged on a commitment to assist the state on a dollar-for-dollar basis on a $24 million project to provide a competitive aerial geoscientific survey, which would have been of great assistance to the mining industry. The commonwealth made no contribution whatsoever after indicating that there would be one. The state proceeded to put $12 million into the project, much to the applause of the mining industry. The industry is very disappointed with the commonwealth’s reaction. I have also had the recent experience of Minister Macfarlane explaining to me that the commonwealth would not provide assistance for the provision of public infrastructure for major projects. The people of Western Australia must understand the scenario before them. There are major infrastructure challenges in Western Australia. Through taxation, Western Australia provides huge resources to the commonwealth government but receives nothing in return. I strongly support the Treasurer’s stance on the current tax issues. It is integral to the whole infrastructure debate. On all sides of politics we need to hammer home the importance of this issue to Western Australia.
I welcome the State Government’s unilateral commitment to implement the Wireless North project.
I have written to Senator Coonan pointing out the history of this matter and asking her to reconsider. If the National Party will support the government on that, I would be most grateful. It is simply unacceptable that the commonwealth refuses to help the state with this sort of infrastructure. The commonwealth helped the state with a similar project called Wireless West but it reneged on a commitment to assist the state on a dollar-for-dollar basis on a $24 million project to provide a competitive aerial geoscientific survey, which would have been of great assistance to the mining industry. The commonwealth made no contribution whatsoever after indicating that there would be one. The state proceeded to put $12 million into the project, much to the applause of the mining industry. The industry is very disappointed with the commonwealth’s reaction. I have also had the recent experience of Minister Macfarlane explaining to me that the commonwealth would not provide assistance for the provision of public infrastructure for major projects. The people of Western Australia must understand the scenario before them. There are major infrastructure challenges in Western Australia. Through taxation, Western Australia provides huge resources to the commonwealth government but receives nothing in return. I strongly support the Treasurer’s stance on the current tax issues. It is integral to the whole infrastructure debate. On all sides of politics we need to hammer home the importance of this issue to Western Australia.
The people of Western Australia must understand the scenario before them. There are major infrastructure challenges in Western Australia. Through taxation, Western Australia provides huge resources to the commonwealth government but receives nothing in return. I strongly support the Treasurer’s stance on the current tax issues. It is integral to the whole infrastructure debate. On all sides of politics we need to hammer home the importance of this issue to Western Australia.
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