❓ Mr. Sutherland asks about Perth's public transport ranking in a survey and the 'Trains Move Faster' campaign. Minister Buswell highlights Perth's top ranking and criticizes the opposition's campaign.
AnsweredQoN 131Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PUBLIC TRANSPORT — PEOPLE'S
VERDICT SURVEY
131. Mr M.W. SUTHERLAND to the Minister for Transport:
Will the minister please inform the house how Perth's
public transport was ranked in the recent people's verdict survey and
what the new Trains Move Faster campaign is all about?
VERDICT SURVEY
131. Mr M.W. SUTHERLAND to the Minister for Transport:
Will the minister please inform the house how Perth's
public transport was ranked in the recent people's verdict survey and
what the new Trains Move Faster campaign is all about?
AnswerView source ↗
I sure can and I thank the member for Mount Lawley for the
question. A couple of things happened around public transport last week.
Several members interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : The Sunday Times reported the My City:
The People's Verdict survey, which compared, I think, 10 cities around
Australia. Perth ranked number one in two categories—climate and public
transport.
Several members interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Climate and public transport. Not only did we rank first in public transport —
Mrs M.H. Roberts :
Are you telling me the sun shines because you are the Minister for Transport?
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
No, I was not insinuating that at all, member for Midland. Not only did we rank
number one in public transport, our score was 17 per cent higher in 2011 than
it was in 2010. I think that is a good outcome. Now I am the first to
acknowledge —
Mr B.S. Wyatt :
Does it say how many people participated in the survey?
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
There were 5 200 people from 10 cities.
I am the first to acknowledge that there are challenges in
public transport, but I think that when ranked, compared with other jurisdictions
in Australia, the people of Perth speak with their feet and are using public
transport in record numbers.
This morning, we also launched a significant safety campaign
to help encourage pedestrians to behave appropriately at level crossings in
particular. That is a very, very graphic campaign that will be in cinemas and
on Facebook soon, and that will be distributed throughout high schools.
We have also heard about another interesting public transport
campaign; that is, the Labor Party's campaign —
Point of Order
Mr
M. McGOWAN : The member for Mount Lawley asked a very specific
question. I listened to it. It was about two campaigns, one involving a survey
and one involving safer trains. It was not about any other matters and he did
not ask for any information in relation to any other matters. I draw your
attention to —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Order, members!
Mr M. McGOWAN : I
draw your attention to standing order 78. What the minister is going into is,
no doubt, not relevant to the question.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Members! If you can draw some relevance to the answer you
are about to give, I will enable you to do so.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I
can, Mr Speaker. The point that I am trying to make is that the public of Perth
has voted the public transport system as the best in the nation, while at the
same time the Labor Party has put together this Stop Perth's Sardine
Trains campaign. When I first saw this, I thought it was quite a unique idea.
Imagine my disappointment when I found out that it was copied from a campaign
conducted in 2009 in Zurich—the Sardines in Zurich public transport
campaign!
Several members interjected.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Heaven forbid! People in Zurich were encouraged to get on
Facebook. People were encouraged to send in photos of overcrowded trains.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : I understand the Leader of the Opposition's point of
order, and I appreciate much of it. I have given you an opportunity, minister,
to construct some relevancy, perhaps, around that document. I have not given
carte blanche to everybody else in this place to yell, however. Member for
Forrestfield, I call you to order for the first time. When I sit down, Minister
for Transport, I expect further relevancy or, indeed, you will be sitting down.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Thank you for that guidance, Mr Speaker.
As I was about to say, as I
uncovered the Zurich sting, the point to note is that in the My City: The
People's Verdict campaign, the people of Perth voted public transport
in Perth the number one in Australia. The Labor Party does not support this. It
is constantly trying to talk down public transport in Western Australia. This
is just an example of that.
There is, though, one point of
difference that is not too subtle in this campaign versus the Zurich sardine
campaign, and that is that this one asks people five times to donate to the
Australian Labor Party. Five times on this campaign sheet people are asked to
donate to the Australian Labor Party. It is an attempt to get people, by
stealth, to donate $5 at a time to the Australian Labor Party.
Several members interjected.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : It is a campaign designed to deceive. There is not one public
policy announcement on this sheet that will deliver better public transport.
Mr B.S. Wyatt : Sit
down!
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : I will sit down in a second, member for Victoria Park.
The shadow Minister for Transport
said, ''Oh, no. This is not a political campaign.'' It is
authorised by a Mr Simon Mead, the state secretary of the Australian Labor
Party—no, it is now called WA Labor. It is authorised by Mr Mead, but
it is not a political campaign, and it asks people to donate to the Australian
Labor Party.
I want to close with a couple of
other things. Last week, the shadow Minister for Transport said in a radio
interview that if this government were serious about public transport, it would
downsize the Perth Waterfront project and put those savings into public
transport. So how does the Leader of the Opposition propose to downsize the
waterfront project? What is he proposing to have down on the waterfront—a
puddle? What is he proposing—a duck pond; a puddle? We then had the
same shadow Minister for Transport on Geoff Hutchison's morning show
going on about the problem with the Liberal Party, but the best Labor could put
together is a package —
Mr
B.S. Wyatt interjected.
The
SPEAKER : You might be close to me, member for Victoria Park, but I call you
formally to order and ask you to stop yelling across the chamber.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am almost done.
He said that the government has
spent $500 million on public transport infrastructure. Let me just correct the
public record. Extending the railway line to Butler has cost $240 million; the
Perth City Link project —
Mr
B.S. Wyatt : You can ride to Butler now, can you?
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : It is under construction. The City Link project —
Mr
B.S. Wyatt : Lucky you haven't bought a ticket to Butler then,
minister. You'd have to walk it.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Funnily enough, member for Victoria Park, railway lines do
not just drop out of the sky.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Cockburn, I formally call you to order for the third time, member
for Victoria Park for the second time, and member for Maylands for the second
time.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Car parks along the railway line have cost $50 million; extra trains, $165 million;
bus upgrades, $430 million; and a bus expansion, $88 million.
Mr B.S. Wyatt : All
we've got is the debt, with nothing at the end of it.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Victoria Park, you are going well. I formally call you to order for
the third time.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : The new opposition head kicker—how impressive a debut
he has made!
What we have is total spending in that package of $1.5 billion.
The sad fact for the shadow Minister for Transport is that this government has
invested $1.5 billion —
Mr P. Papalia interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Warnbro, I formally call you to order for the third
time today. Members, perhaps if you had ceased interjecting, the minister might
have finished quite a while ago. I am hoping that there will be fewer
interjections, and I am hoping, minister, that you are towards the end of your
answer.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Thank you, Mr Speaker. I have spent a lot of time sitting down in this answer.
An amount of $1.5 billion has been invested in public
transport, and we have a public transport system that the people of Western
Australia, despite the opposition's desire to talk it down, vote as the
number one public transport system in Australia.
question. A couple of things happened around public transport last week.
Several members interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : The Sunday Times reported the My City:
The People's Verdict survey, which compared, I think, 10 cities around
Australia. Perth ranked number one in two categories—climate and public
transport.
Several members interjected.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Climate and public transport. Not only did we rank first in public transport —
Mrs M.H. Roberts :
Are you telling me the sun shines because you are the Minister for Transport?
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
No, I was not insinuating that at all, member for Midland. Not only did we rank
number one in public transport, our score was 17 per cent higher in 2011 than
it was in 2010. I think that is a good outcome. Now I am the first to
acknowledge —
Mr B.S. Wyatt :
Does it say how many people participated in the survey?
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
There were 5 200 people from 10 cities.
I am the first to acknowledge that there are challenges in
public transport, but I think that when ranked, compared with other jurisdictions
in Australia, the people of Perth speak with their feet and are using public
transport in record numbers.
This morning, we also launched a significant safety campaign
to help encourage pedestrians to behave appropriately at level crossings in
particular. That is a very, very graphic campaign that will be in cinemas and
on Facebook soon, and that will be distributed throughout high schools.
We have also heard about another interesting public transport
campaign; that is, the Labor Party's campaign —
Point of Order
Mr
M. McGOWAN : The member for Mount Lawley asked a very specific
question. I listened to it. It was about two campaigns, one involving a survey
and one involving safer trains. It was not about any other matters and he did
not ask for any information in relation to any other matters. I draw your
attention to —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Order, members!
Mr M. McGOWAN : I
draw your attention to standing order 78. What the minister is going into is,
no doubt, not relevant to the question.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Members! If you can draw some relevance to the answer you
are about to give, I will enable you to do so.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : I
can, Mr Speaker. The point that I am trying to make is that the public of Perth
has voted the public transport system as the best in the nation, while at the
same time the Labor Party has put together this Stop Perth's Sardine
Trains campaign. When I first saw this, I thought it was quite a unique idea.
Imagine my disappointment when I found out that it was copied from a campaign
conducted in 2009 in Zurich—the Sardines in Zurich public transport
campaign!
Several members interjected.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Heaven forbid! People in Zurich were encouraged to get on
Facebook. People were encouraged to send in photos of overcrowded trains.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : I understand the Leader of the Opposition's point of
order, and I appreciate much of it. I have given you an opportunity, minister,
to construct some relevancy, perhaps, around that document. I have not given
carte blanche to everybody else in this place to yell, however. Member for
Forrestfield, I call you to order for the first time. When I sit down, Minister
for Transport, I expect further relevancy or, indeed, you will be sitting down.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Thank you for that guidance, Mr Speaker.
As I was about to say, as I
uncovered the Zurich sting, the point to note is that in the My City: The
People's Verdict campaign, the people of Perth voted public transport
in Perth the number one in Australia. The Labor Party does not support this. It
is constantly trying to talk down public transport in Western Australia. This
is just an example of that.
There is, though, one point of
difference that is not too subtle in this campaign versus the Zurich sardine
campaign, and that is that this one asks people five times to donate to the
Australian Labor Party. Five times on this campaign sheet people are asked to
donate to the Australian Labor Party. It is an attempt to get people, by
stealth, to donate $5 at a time to the Australian Labor Party.
Several members interjected.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : It is a campaign designed to deceive. There is not one public
policy announcement on this sheet that will deliver better public transport.
Mr B.S. Wyatt : Sit
down!
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : I will sit down in a second, member for Victoria Park.
The shadow Minister for Transport
said, ''Oh, no. This is not a political campaign.'' It is
authorised by a Mr Simon Mead, the state secretary of the Australian Labor
Party—no, it is now called WA Labor. It is authorised by Mr Mead, but
it is not a political campaign, and it asks people to donate to the Australian
Labor Party.
I want to close with a couple of
other things. Last week, the shadow Minister for Transport said in a radio
interview that if this government were serious about public transport, it would
downsize the Perth Waterfront project and put those savings into public
transport. So how does the Leader of the Opposition propose to downsize the
waterfront project? What is he proposing to have down on the waterfront—a
puddle? What is he proposing—a duck pond; a puddle? We then had the
same shadow Minister for Transport on Geoff Hutchison's morning show
going on about the problem with the Liberal Party, but the best Labor could put
together is a package —
Mr
B.S. Wyatt interjected.
The
SPEAKER : You might be close to me, member for Victoria Park, but I call you
formally to order and ask you to stop yelling across the chamber.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am almost done.
He said that the government has
spent $500 million on public transport infrastructure. Let me just correct the
public record. Extending the railway line to Butler has cost $240 million; the
Perth City Link project —
Mr
B.S. Wyatt : You can ride to Butler now, can you?
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : It is under construction. The City Link project —
Mr
B.S. Wyatt : Lucky you haven't bought a ticket to Butler then,
minister. You'd have to walk it.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : Funnily enough, member for Victoria Park, railway lines do
not just drop out of the sky.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Cockburn, I formally call you to order for the third time, member
for Victoria Park for the second time, and member for Maylands for the second
time.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Car parks along the railway line have cost $50 million; extra trains, $165 million;
bus upgrades, $430 million; and a bus expansion, $88 million.
Mr B.S. Wyatt : All
we've got is the debt, with nothing at the end of it.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Victoria Park, you are going well. I formally call you to order for
the third time.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : The new opposition head kicker—how impressive a debut
he has made!
What we have is total spending in that package of $1.5 billion.
The sad fact for the shadow Minister for Transport is that this government has
invested $1.5 billion —
Mr P. Papalia interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Warnbro, I formally call you to order for the third
time today. Members, perhaps if you had ceased interjecting, the minister might
have finished quite a while ago. I am hoping that there will be fewer
interjections, and I am hoping, minister, that you are towards the end of your
answer.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL :
Thank you, Mr Speaker. I have spent a lot of time sitting down in this answer.
An amount of $1.5 billion has been invested in public
transport, and we have a public transport system that the people of Western
Australia, despite the opposition's desire to talk it down, vote as the
number one public transport system in Australia.
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