Legislative Assembly
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Legislative Assembly Wednesday, 15 June 2011 THE SPEAKER (Mr G.A. Woodhams) took the chair at 12.00 noon, and read prayers. GOLDEN BAY — HOUSING DEVELOPMENT Petition MR P. PAPALIA (Warnbro) [12.02 pm]: I have a petition bearing 88 signatures, which is certified as complying with standing orders, and reads as follows — To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia in Parliament assembled. We, the undersigned, say that the proposed housing development at Golden Bay will produce a massive windfall profit to the Barnett government of $200 million. Now we ask the Legislative Assembly to call on the Barnett government to allocate a fair share of the profit (being $15 million) to the local community to fund: a. Australian Football facilities at Lark Hill Sport Complex (home for the Secret Harbour Dockers Football Club servicing Golden Bay, Singleton and Secret harbour), b. a new Surf Club at Secret Harbour (servicing Golden Bay and Secret Harbour beaches), c. upgrades to the old Rhonda Scarrott oval in Golden Bay, and completion of the dual-use path from Singleton to Mandurah. [See petition 415.] NORTHERN SUBURBS RAILWAY — OVERCROWDING Petition MR A.P. O’GORMAN (Joondalup) [12.03 pm]: I have a petition containing 66 signatures, which I confirm complies with standing orders and reads as follows — To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia in Parliament assembled. We, the undersigned, are opposed to the Barnett Government’s decision to ignore the train overcrowding occurring on the Joondalup line by refusing to order any more train carriages. Commuters are struggling to get to work and appointments on time. Now we ask the Legislative Assembly to ensure the Barnett Government immediately order at least thirty additional train carriages. [See petition 416.] WHITFORDS TRAIN STATION — NOISE ABATEMENT Petition MS A.R. MITCHELL (Kingsley) [12.03 pm]: I present a petition containing 200 signatures, which conforms with the standing orders of the Legislative Assembly and reads as follows — To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia in Parliament assembled. We, the undersigned, say Since the removal of scrubland and additional car parks at Whitfords Train Station the noise levels have become intolerable Now we ask the Legislative Assembly To increase the number of trees and construct a wall to help abate the increasing noise levels near Whitfords Train Station. [See petition 417.] [ASSEMBLY — Wednesday, 15 June 2011] 4253 DYSLEXIA — RECOGNITION Petition MR T.K. WALDRON (Wagin — Minister for Sport and Recreation) [12.04 pm]: I present a petition containing 1 385 signatures, which has been certified as conforming with standing orders and which reads — To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia in Parliament assembled. We, the undersigned, say We the public demand the inclusion of dyslexia, and other significant learning difficulties to be recognised as a disability with in the Department of Education and training disability criteria. Now we ask the Legislative Assembly To include a bill recognising Dyslexia as a disability and other significant learning difficulties, as NSW has already achieved. [See petition 418.] BOULDER POLICE POST — CLOSURE Petition DR G.G. JACOBS (Eyre) [12.05 pm]: I present a petition of 106 signatures about an ongoing issue concerning the closure of the police post in Boulder, which reads — To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia in Parliament assembled. We, the undersigned, say that the closure of the Boulder Police Post is a blow to the safety of residents and business owners in Boulder. Now we ask the Legislative Assembly to respect the wishes of the people of Boulder and immediately re-open the Boulder Police Post. That brings the number of signatures so far obtained to about 1 000 in all. [See petition 419.] PAPER TABLED A paper was tabled and ordered to lie upon the table of the house. MINISTER FOR TOURISM — VISIT TO CHINA, SINGAPORE AND BALI Statement by Minister for Tourism DR K.D. HAMES (Dawesville — Minister for Tourism) [12.06 pm]: In May I travelled to China with the CEO of Tourism WA, the CEO of Westralia Airports Corporation, and a principal policy officer from my office. In Guangzhou I signed a cooperative agreement on behalf of the Western Australian government with the president and CEO of China Southern Airlines. This cooperative agreement opens the way for direct flights by China Southern to Perth by the end of the year and will increase WA’s share of Chinese tourists to Australia above the existing three per cent or 12 000 per annum. China Southern Airlines is the largest airline in China. It operates an extensive domestic network as well as international services to the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and Australia. China Southern already has strong links with Western Australia following the establishment of its flying college campuses at Jandakot and Merredin in 1993. During my visit I met with other Chinese carriers, including China Airlines, Hainan Airlines and China Eastern Airlines, to open discussions for future aviation services to Western Australia. I was also pleased to meet Chinese tourism officials to discuss what WA has to offer in holiday packages. In that regard, I opened discussions for a further visit to China this year by a delegation of WA tourism operators. It was a pleasure to meet Mr Wang Jianman, Vice Governor of Zhejiang Province, and to discuss opportunities to further strengthen our sister state relationship. In Shanghai I announced, as part of the YouYi Games, that the Chinese national basketball and the Australian basketball teams will compete in Beijing, Singapore and Perth, commencing in Perth on 24 June 2011. This agreement will see the teams compete against each other for the next three years. While visiting Beijing I met the senior staff of the CITIC Group, which is a significant investor in the iron ore industry in WA. On the way home from China, I stopped off in Singapore to meet air carriers and explore opportunities for a Singapore to Broome air service, and to meet tourism industry representatives. My final stopover was in Bali where I presented the Western Australian Premier’s trophy at the ceremony for winners of the Fremantle to Bali yacht race. My trip was an extremely successful one, reinforcing the Liberal–National government’s commitment to promote WA as an attractive tourist destination. 4254 [ASSEMBLY — Wednesday, 15 June 2011] COLLGAR WIND FARM Statement by Minister for Regional Development MR B.J. GRYLLS (Central Wheatbelt — Minister for Regional Development) [12.08 pm]: I congratulate the Minister for Tourism on the new direct route from China to Western Australia with pilots trained in Merredin now flying back to Western Australia. What a great thing! On the topic of Merredin, last week I visited Collgar Wind Farm with the Minister for Energy. The $750 million Collgar Wind Farm is currently the largest wind farm in Western Australia. It comprises 111 turbines spread over 18 000 hectares of farming land south east of the Merredin town site. The project will generate and deliver an average of 792 000 megawatt hours of clean, renewable energy into the south west interconnected system each year. This is enough to power 125 000 homes with renewable energy for a year. I hope the member for Cannington pays his green energy levy! Last year, the state government approved Synergy entering into a 15-year power purchase agreement to underpin the development. Collgar Wind Farm will displace approximately 700 000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, which is the equivalent of taking approximately 160 000 cars off the road each year. Once fully operational, the wind farm will increase total renewable energy generation in the south west interconnected system from five per cent to almost nine per cent, which is a great achievement for the state government. The completion of the wind farm represents a major step towards Western Australia achieving its share of the national renewable energy target of 20 per cent by 2020. Wind energy has become the world’s fastest-growing energy source, with more than 10 000 megawatts of capacity being installed globally every year. This iconic renewable energy project has provided, and will continue to provide, many benefits to the Wheatbelt region and the state as a whole. The Merredin community, to its credit, has embraced this investment, and the opportunity to have the wind farm based at Merredin has been welcomed with open arms. The project has created about 150 jobs during the building phase, with ongoing positions for up to 20 people after the project is fully commissioned. It is certainly evident from the last brief ministerial statement, and this one, that the Wheatbelt is open for business, is looking to grow its economic potential, and is very happy to work with the private sector to produce fantastic outcomes. iVEC@MURDOCH SUPERCOMPUTER Statement by Minister for Science and Innovation MR J.H.D. DAY (Kalamunda — Minister for Science and Innovation) [12.10 pm]: I am pleased to inform the house that on Wednesday, 8 June, I attended the launch of the iVEC@Murdoch supercomputer at Murdoch University. iVEC is an unincorporated joint venture between CSIRO and the four public Western Australian universities, and is charged with leading Western Australian scientific supercomputing efforts. The Western Australian government has had a long partnership with iVEC, which was sealed when the centre first opened in 2000. iVEC is a prime example of a facility that shares infrastructure with many disciplines and institutions in order to expand the state’s knowledge base.