[ASSEMBLY — Tuesday, 15 September 2015] P6274b-6341A
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Extract from Hansard [ASSEMBLY — Tuesday, 15 September 2015] p6274b-6341a Ms Rita Saffioti; Mrs Michelle Roberts; Acting Speaker; Dr Tony Buti; Mr Colin Barnett; Mr Nathan Morton; Mr Mark McGowan; Mr Bill Johnston; Mrs Glenys Godfrey; Ms Lisa Baker; Mr Chris Tallentire; Mr Peter Abetz; Mr Ben Wyatt; Mr Paul Papalia; Dr Kim Hames; Mr Roger Cook; Mr Fran Logan; Mr Peter Tinley; Ms Janine Freeman; Mr David Templeman; Mr Dean Nalder RAILWAY (FORRESTFIELD–AIRPORT LINK) BILL 2015 Second Reading Resumed from 22 April. MS R. SAFFIOTI (West Swan) [3.10 pm]: It is with great pleasure that I stand today on behalf of the Australian Labor Party to support the Railway (Forrestfield–Airport Link) Bill 2015. Unlike the Liberal Party, we do not oppose rail lines; we build them. It is in our DNA to build rail lines, unlike the Liberal Party that gave us broken promise after broken promise! Several members interjected. The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr P. Abetz): Members! Ms R. SAFFIOTI: The people of Forrestfield and Belmont have to know that they can trust only Labor to deliver rail because the Liberal Party does not know how to build rail. Let us face it: this project is basically a part of Metronet. The only reason we are in this place debating this legislation is because of Labor, as the Metronet policy at the state election got Liberal Party members so scared that they were rushing around matching us here and there. This was the key Labor project that the Liberal Party matched. It had no intention of announcing this during the election until Labor did. We therefore support the rail line to Forrestfield because it was our idea. Only Labor can be trusted to deliver rail. This Liberal Party was opposed to and voted against the Mandurah rail line. Now Liberal Party members stand and say that the car parks are not big enough—the hypocrisy! Several members interjected. The ACTING SPEAKER: Members! Member for Wanneroo! Ms R. SAFFIOTI: I will go through bit by bit by bit why the public cannot trust the Liberal Party on public transport and rail. The public cannot trust Liberal Party members on rail because they do not believe in it. Mr B.S. Wyatt: No, they hate it! Ms R. SAFFIOTI: They hate rail. Mr D.J. Kelly: And they hate the people who catch rail! Ms R. SAFFIOTI: I think that is exactly right. Seven years in from the election and we are still waiting for the Liberal Party plan. Several members interjected. The ACTING SPEAKER: Member for Churchlands! Ms R. SAFFIOTI: We are still waiting for the Liberal Party plan seven years in. The hapless Minister for Transport criticises Labor for building the Mandurah rail line for retrofitting. Oh my goodness! The guys who wanted to use buses, who wanted to send the rail line along the Kenwick deviation and who opposed the Mandurah rail line came into this place saying, “Oh, you didn’t build it to Mandurah.” I do not know! The member for Mandurah has never complained that it does not go to Mandurah. I visited it the other day and it seemed to be in Mandurah. I was down there at the Mandurah train station helping our candidate for Canning, the one that the Minister for Transport apparently thinks does not exist. He criticises us because he has to retrofit the station as we did not build car parks. Is he off the planet? Honestly! The Liberal Party has no credibility on rail. The only reason we are in this place debating the rail line to Forrestfield is that Labor forced the Liberal Party into it. It had no plan to do this and we forced it into it. I want to show people the level of planning the Liberal Party had on the Forrestfield rail line, as it is really quite interesting to note. Through some estimates committee hearings we got some copies of submissions to Infrastructure Australia. We got the submissions that were sent to the then Minister for Transport, Hon Troy Buswell. These were the plans that were being worked up by the Department of Transport; projects into which the department had actually put some time and effort. Look: there was a proposal for the Ellenbrook bus rapid transit system. The department said that perhaps it should submit that project to Infrastructure Australia at a cost of $86 million. The light rail project was put on the priority list for $1.5 billion, although I think it started at $1 billion. The Yanchep passenger rail extension appears in a briefing note sent from the department to the minister saying, “These are the projects we’ve done a lot of work on that we believe have some funding priority.” The submissions were therefore for the Ellenbrook bus rapid transit system for $86 million, the light [1] Extract from Hansard [ASSEMBLY — Tuesday, 15 September 2015] p6274b-6341a Ms Rita Saffioti; Mrs Michelle Roberts; Acting Speaker; Dr Tony Buti; Mr Colin Barnett; Mr Nathan Morton; Mr Mark McGowan; Mr Bill Johnston; Mrs Glenys Godfrey; Ms Lisa Baker; Mr Chris Tallentire; Mr Peter Abetz; Mr Ben Wyatt; Mr Paul Papalia; Dr Kim Hames; Mr Roger Cook; Mr Fran Logan; Mr Peter Tinley; Ms Janine Freeman; Mr David Templeman; Mr Dean Nalder rail for $1.5 billion and the Yanchep passenger rail system—it had done some work on that, member for Butler—for $500 million. Then scratched at the bottom by the then minister, who knew that Labor was planning an airport route, was, “Airport rail link”. That is the level of analysis done by the Liberal Party on this project just for the election. “Airport rail link” scribbled by the minister on the bottom of an Infrastructure Australia submission to the department is the level of preparation done by this government. How about this: “Airport rail link” in handwriting? I understand that Hon Ken Travers is talking to people at Perth Airport and perhaps I should cover myself a little bit. It was only because Labor promised it that those guys over on the other side had to try to match us. That is why we are here today. Let us consider question time today. The government cannot even get the planning right. It has one station to properly plan and it cannot even get that right. Its own agencies are criticising its plan about the Forrestfield rail station. Let us go through it. There are 10 reasons why we cannot trust the Liberal Party on public transport. Mr B.S. Wyatt: Only 10! Ms R. SAFFIOTI: They are just for this term of government in the past eight years. In doing a bit of research, I came across a 2008 Liberal Party transport plan in a transport election policy document. I want to outline what the Liberal Party promised to the people of WA in 2008. Back in 2008 it promised that a Liberal government would deliver a blueprint for a future integrated public transport system, including planning for rail services from Fremantle to the southern rail line; a new rail service to Ellenbrook; extension of the northern suburbs line to Butler, Brighton and Alkimos and beyond; extending the Armadale rail line to Byford and examining the case to Mundijong; and the extension of high speed future services to Bunbury with possible extension of tourist services to Busselton. Those projects are nowhere to be seen. Mr F.A. Alban: Tell us about your great achievements in your two terms of government. Ms R. SAFFIOTI: Okay, I will. Several members interjected. The ACTING SPEAKER: Members! Mr F.A. Alban interjected. The ACTING SPEAKER: Member for Swan Hills! Ms R. SAFFIOTI: I just want to let the member for Swan Hills know the outline of events for today. First, I will outline the government’s failures; second, outline our achievements; and third, discuss the particulars about the bill. That is the order of events and I hope all members are comfortable with that for today. The second failure is the Liberal Party plan for the first 100 days of government. Everybody will be surprised to learn that one of the Liberal Party’s key priorities for the first 100 days of government was to immediately commence work on developing a blueprint for an integrated public transport system. That was in the first 100 days. It is seven years later, and still there is no integrated plan for WA. How many days is that? I did not have time to count, but it is more than 100 days since the 2008 election, and still we have no integrated plan. My good friend the member for Warnbro tells me it is 2 555 days. Can anyone guess the third reason why we cannot trust the Liberals on public transport and rail? A member interjected. Ms R. SAFFIOTI: The Ellenbrook rail line! I am glad the member for Swan Hills is here. Several members interjected. The ACTING SPEAKER: Members! Member for Armadale! Several members interjected. The ACTING SPEAKER: Member for Swan Hills, I will have to call you for the first time if you do not desist. Members, through the Chair, thank you. Several members interjected. The ACTING SPEAKER: I should have called you twice, member for Albany, for questioning the ruling of the Chair. I will do that if you like. Mr P.B. Watson interjected. [2] Extract from Hansard [ASSEMBLY — Tuesday, 15 September 2015] p6274b-6341a Ms Rita Saffioti; Mrs Michelle Roberts; Acting Speaker; Dr Tony Buti; Mr Colin Barnett; Mr Nathan Morton; Mr Mark McGowan; Mr Bill Johnston; Mrs Glenys Godfrey; Ms Lisa Baker; Mr Chris Tallentire; Mr Peter Abetz; Mr Ben Wyatt; Mr Paul Papalia; Dr Kim Hames; Mr Roger Cook; Mr Fran Logan; Mr Peter Tinley; Ms Janine Freeman; Mr David Templeman; Mr Dean Nalder The ACTING SPEAKER: Member for Albany, I call you for the first time.