[Thursday, 25 October 2001] 4913 cut back in fire frequency in the Yalgorup National Park and we believe that is one of the factors directly contributing to the problem there. In other areas fires have occurred and there has been a decline in the tuarts. Also, the severity of the decline varies. That has given us some insight into the more likely factors. For example, in the area around the Yalgorup National Park, we know that there is a shallow lens of ground water underlying more salty water and it may well be that part of the problem is that the trees are tapping into that salty water. I shall talk a little about where the tuarts are located. They are basically spread across the coastal plain from the north of Perth to the Busselton area. The majority of tuarts have been cleared in the past for both agricultural and urban development. There is now 11 000 hectares of tuart forest and woodland in the crown estate. The Yalgorup National Park has a total area of 13 000 hectares of which around 3 180 hectares is tuart forest. Tuarts are the dominant species in the Yalgorup National Park. As the member said, borers are present in those trees. As the member also said, there is a history of decline in the trees that was first noticed around 1997. At that time people thought that the trees would bounce back but clearly they have not. I have had a number of meetings with the Department of Conservation and Land Management at which it was agreed we need more research, more advice to landowners and more action. I can tell the member for Dawesville that I have emphasised that point to CALM. Mr Masters: Will it happen? Dr EDWARDS: It will happen. I shall refer to some of the current actions. I have asked CALM to set up and head an interdepartmental committee. An important area that it must examine is the whole area of water use and what is going on with ground water to determine the extent to which that is contributing to the problem. That might be an issue in the member for Dawesville’s electorate. The Water and Rivers Commission has undertaken detailed work that indicates extraction has occurred according to the terms of the licences that have been granted; therefore, that should not be a problem. However, we must consider whether there is more subtlety in the ground water contributing to the problem that must be further investigated. I have asked that the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation be invited to participate because I believe it can also give us information. I have asked that all relevant departments come together and that the committee be led by CALM. We therefore anticipate departments under the Minister for Planning and Infrastructure’s area to be involved, particularly Main Roads, as a lot of tuart trees are protected in roadside verges and we need to make sure that we continue to protect them. I have asked CALM to take more action. CALM commissioned a report in 2000 that provided more insight. However, I have asked CALM what it is doing about acting on the recommendations of that report and what needs to be done so that it can more speedily act on those recommendations. CALM is rejigging a pamphlet issued in 1999 for direct advice to be provided to land-holders. I have asked CALM, following complaints from people in the south west, to compile a list of names and phone numbers of people so that it knows directly who to contact if it wants general information about tuarts and specific information about treatments in particular areas; that will be provided. Mr Marshall: Does the minister know if the comment being touted around town is true that CALM has not monitored the watertable in the Yalgorup National Park since 1996? Dr EDWARDS: The Water and Rivers Commission generally audits the monitoring of the licensed bores but I will follow up on that. I have also asked CALM to undertake more work into the treatment that local landowners can give to trees on their property. I assume that there are local landowners in the member’s electorate with reasonable size blocks of land that have three to five tuart trees which, if they are dying, is upsetting to those landowners. Although it has been said that individual action cannot do a lot to help a tree, if landowners agree to do that, it is worth doing. A number of people need to take different measures to find out what works best in particular areas. I do not know whether there is one particular solution because I believe the causes are multifaceted. I have also asked CALM to work with conservation groups, land care groups and progress associations to get the message out, to get feedback and to see what we can do with both individuals and groups at the state level and at the level of looking at and working with other agencies such as the CSIRO. I have also asked CALM to take part in the forthcoming tuart seminar to spell out exactly what we do know, what we do not know, how we are addressing what we do not know and what treatments and advice we can give to landowners to ensure that we preserve the remaining tuarts that we have. PERRY LAKES STADIUM Grievance MR WATSON (Albany) [9.57 am]: My grievance is to the Minister for Sport and Recreation about the deterioration of Perry Lakes Stadium. I remember back in 1962, when I was very young at the time, the British Empire and Commonwealth Games at Perry Lakes Stadium. Before that we used to run at the old Leederville Oval where Herb Elliott and Merv Lincoln had their epic clash. In 1962 people came from commonwealth countries all over the world to attend the British Empire and Commonwealth Games at a world-class facility at Perry Lakes, which was probably the best facility in Australia at that time. Most members may remember Seraphino Antao, the slick Kenyan who won the 100 and 220 yards race. Kenyans were not renowned as distance runners then, so he was an exception. George Kerr

4914 [ASSEMBLY] was the silky smooth 440-yards winner. Someone who caught my eye in those commonwealth games was a Kiwi called Peter Snell, who won the 880 yards and the mile. He may have planted the seed in my old brain or in the toes of my running shoes when I saw how easily he ran and the contempt he had for his rivals. Murray Halberg, who beat our own Ron Clarke, stood out because he had a withered arm. He was a tremendous athlete and was probably one of the first of many defeats that Australia’s Ron Clarke had at the commonwealth games and Olympics. I remember when our own Western Australian Trevor Bickle won the pole vault in front of the stand. I remember the late Ian Tomlinson, who won the hop, step and jump. These are all highlights from the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1962. Over the years, athletics in Western Australia has had some great champions. One person I forgot to mention was Dixie Willis from Western Australia who was a great athlete and who won the 880 yards, beating Marise Chamberlain of New Zealand. As we all know, Australians love to beat Kiwis. Over the years there have been some tremendous athletes. I can remember being at Perry Lakes the day that Margaret Burvill, our own Western Australian, broke the world record for the 220 yards. It was an exceptional day when the wind was blowing just right. Anybody who has had an opportunity to run at Perry Lakes would know that the wind always blows up into the main straight when the Fremantle doctor comes in. The day that Margaret Burvill broke the world record was an incredible day. The wind was exactly right, she flew out of the blocks and flew around the bend. That was one of the few world records ever broken at Perry Lakes. We have had some great athletes over the years, not only Margaret but also Joyce Bennett who used to have some tremendous races with Margaret. Keith Wheeler, who is now the padre for the Special Air Service and who would be a very busy man at the moment, used to have some tremendous races over the years. When I used to chase him home, people said it was the devil chasing the padre. These were the days before steroids and all those sorts of things. Mr Dean interjected. Mr WATSON: I was the only person who was offered steroids when I had a steroid test. I used to go to the gym there in the olden days. It had a biceps section and a “nonceps” section. I used to work out in the “nonceps” section; and, as members can see, it has built me up into what I am today! However, I am sure if I am here for some time in the parliamentary dining room, I will be built up even further! I have seen how the member for Dawesville, who used to be a tremendously fit athlete, has expanded into a very prominent member of the community. I hope I can live up to him in most ways, but perhaps not his girth. Mr Marshall: It is embarrassing, I will admit. Mr WATSON: That was meant in the nicest possible terms. Mr Marshall: I will start training tomorrow. Mr WATSON: The distance runners at Perry Lakes Stadium were always disadvantaged. The sprinters trained for two hours a week - and that was combing their hair and pulling up their socks! The distance runners would have to wait on the other side of the stadium for the wind to be just right for the sprinters to run; so we would warm up for half an hour, and we would then sit down and wait for the sprinters to do their thing. The distance runners would then come out, and we would have the wind up the straight. That was always a great advantage for Western Australians who competed in the eastern States, because most of the athletics stadiums over there have the wind up the home straight and up the back straight. We used to go like the clappers down the back straight anyway, and we would then have the wind in the home straight. However, when we went over east, we would go hard down the back straight, and it would then be a blessing to come up the home straight without the Fremantle doctor in our face. That was always a bonus to us. I can remember going around the warm-up track in 1966, as a raw-boned young athlete, and seeing Ron Clarke and all the other legends warming up on that track. It was tremendous to have two such tracks in Western Australia. We no longer have that track. We just have the rugby oval. That means that anyone who wants to warm up must warm up on the top track. The crowds at Perry Lakes Stadium used to be really good. However, Western Australia now needs a track that can work for the athletics community. The athletics community is a lot smaller than it used to be. We need a stadium in which about 10 000 people can sit down. It no good having a stadium that can seat 20 000 people if it is empty all the time. If we can get a custom-built stadium, we can promote grand prix events and international events. We would get 10 000 people at international events. However, at the moment, Perry Lakes has only two lanes, and we cannot hold international events with only two lanes. It is a disgrace, after all the good facilities we have had, that Perry Lakes Stadium has been allowed to deteriorate in this manner. MR CARPENTER (Willagee - Minister for Sport and Recreation) [10.03 am]: I thank the member for Albany for his grievance. The future of Perry Lakes Stadium is a very important issue. I knew that I would be getting a grievance from the member for Albany, so I did a bit of research into his athletics background, because I always like to know my enemy, and I will take a minute to advise the House about what a great athlete we have among us in this Chamber. Very few people would know, for example, that the member for Albany still holds the Western Australian residential record for the 1500 metres, set 33 years ago. That is how good he was. In 1968, he ran the 1500 metres in three minutes 41 seconds. He also still holds the state residential record for the mile, at four minutes 00.1 seconds, set in 1968. He is the fastest Western Australian who has ever won a state residential record, not counting Herb Elliott; and I [Thursday, 25 October 2001] 4915 will get to that in a moment. He held the Australian record for the 1500 metres at three minutes 39.9 seconds, which at that time was a world-class time. That record was set in 1968, and lasted for eight years. In 1968, the member for Albany was Australia’s great hope for the middle distance events at the Mexico City Olympics. However, illness and injury prevented him from reaching the great heights that he could have reached at that event. In 1973, he represented Australia at the Pan Pacific Games in Canada and became the third Australian to break the four-minute mile. He ran the mile at that event in three minutes 55.9 seconds, which was a remarkable time, second fastest only to Herb Elliott, and in that race he beat the great New Zealander, John Walker, who went on to become the first person on earth to run a sub-three minutes 50 seconds mile. Many of the member for Albany’s great achievements in athletics were performed at Perry Lakes Stadium, so I can understand why he has a strong and powerful emotional connection with that stadium and is intensely interested in the future of athletics in Western Australia and in the future of Perry Lakes Stadium. As the member for Albany said, Western Australia has sadly reached the stage at which Perry Lakes Stadium as an international, national and state athletics facility has been allowed to deteriorate, to the point where everyone who works there says it is time for a new facility, because it has reached its use-by date. Perry Lakes Stadium was established for the 1962 Empire Games, which were funded jointly by the federal Government, the State Government and the City of Perth. The State Government also at that stage received a grant of £865 000 from the Commonwealth Government in the form of a no- interest loan to fund the building of the athletes village. After the games, the village was sold, and the State Government repaid that loan to the Commonwealth. I was at Perry Lakes Stadium at the weekend, and I went up into the clock tower where the electronic scoreboard is kept. That is an amazing period piece that has virtually never been used since those 1962 games. It is full of antiques that are stuffed away in corners, and it contains all sorts of surprising things. The grandstand houses some very interesting memorabilia, including an aerial photograph of the opening of the 1962 Empire Games that shows Perry Lakes at its greatest moment. However, that was nearly 40 years ago. We now have reached the point at which, as recommended in our state sports facility plan released at the weekend, we intend to not repair Perry Lakes Stadium but replace it. Perry Lakes Stadium was vested in the City of Perth, and when the previous Government split up the City of Perth, the stadium was transferred to the Town of Cambridge, which is now effectively the owner of that stadium. That site has one national facility - Perry Lakes Stadium - and two state facilities - the state basketball centre and the state rugby union centre. The City of Cambridge has lodged an application to redevelop that site. The issue that then arises is what will happen to those three state and national facilities and how we will replace them. We are negotiating with the Town of Cambridge about developing a replacement facility, bearing in mind that Perry Lakes Stadium was initially developed with resources from the City of Perth - which is a great deal larger than the Town of Cambridge - the federal Government and the State Government as a national and state facility. In my view, we can negotiate with the Town of Cambridge for a replacement facility to be developed across the road from that stadium in Underwood Avenue, at what is now known as A. K. reserve, and can build a state athletics facility, with an international-class track and interior for field and throwing events, and a state basketball centre and rugby union centre. That facility will be in the same precinct as Challenge Stadium and the University of Western Australia’s McGillivray facility, which has a warm-up athletics track and various other sporting facilities. That is the objective that I am pursuing with the Town of Cambridge. It is imperative that we do something. It was unfortunate that the previous Government could not reach a position at which it took action and just allowed the situation to drift on and on. In 1996 some money was spent on those two inside lanes at Perry Lakes Stadium that the member for Albany mentioned to repair what is a deteriorating surface for athletics. Most of the experts say that the track at Perry Lakes is six to eight years past its use-by date, and it has been patched up and repaired. It would be a sad outcome if, for the next four or five years, nothing happens other than discussion and argument between all the different stakeholders about what should be done about athletics facilities. I assure the member for Albany that I recognise the very important emotional and historical place played by Perry Lakes in Western Australia, for people like him in particular, and I am committed, on behalf of this Government, to dealing with the issue sensitively but more importantly for having a replacement facility provided for the people of Western Australia for the future. The ACTING SPEAKER (Ms Hodson-Thomas): Grievances noted.

REVENUE LAWS AMENDMENT (ASSESSMENT) BILL (NO. 2) 2001 Introduction and First Reading Bill introduced, on motion by Mr Ripper (Treasurer), and read a first time. Second Reading MR RIPPER (Belmont - Treasurer) [10.11 am]: I move - That the Bill be now read a second time.