METRONET
— ELLENBROOK RAIL LINE
598. Ms J.J. SHAW to the Minister for Transport:
Before I ask my question, on behalf of the member for Mount
Lawley, I welcome the winners of the Mount Lawley Society quiz night. I understand that he shouted them lunch as atonement
for not making it to the quiz night this year.
The SPEAKER: The question, thank you.
Ms J.J. SHAW: I refer to the McGowan Labor government's
unprecedented investment in job-creating public transport infrastructure,
including Metronet. Can the minister update the house on the construction of
the Metronet Morley–Ellenbrook line
and outline what opportunities are being created for the community through the
construction of this transformational project?
Ms R. SAFFIOTI
replied:
I thank the member for the
question.
Work is well underway to build the
rail line to Ellenbrook. Last week, we were at Ellenbrook Christian College to start works on the critical part of the Metronet
rail line that goes through that college. There is a dedicated transit way
between the school buildings and the oval at
Ellenbrook Christian College before it reaches Ellenbrook station. That section of land has been dedicated for a rail line
since the early 1990s. I remember meeting the board and the principal of that college over many years. Initially, they
did not think a rail line would be built because the Liberal Party was
in office. Of course, we won government and we got on with building the railway
line. We sat down with them and they have been excellent to work with. They
understood that there was a transit way and they understood that we committed
to a rail line.
We have been working to make sure
that we minimise disruption to the students and also that the college has a win
as well. That includes new dedicated STEM
courses that the contractor is delivering for girls at high school. A number
of girls are studying dedicated courses in engineering and that is all being
sponsored by the local contractor. The government
is making sure that the underpass is exactly as the college requires it to
ensure good accessibility between the
college oval and academic area. We are also contributing towards the building
of a dedicated sports pavilion near the
oval to ensure that the students, particularly primary school students, can
access the sports pavilion and the oval and will not have to go back and forth through the underpass under the
railway line. It is a massive win for the college. I thank everyone who
has been involved to realise those negotiations to deliver not only benefits to
the school, but also the rail line.
Work is underway across the area.
Anyone who has been up there will have seen the work that is underway on the Ellenbrook, Whiteman Park, Malaga and Noranda
train stations, and work is about to commence on the Morley train
station. The dive structures under the Tonkin Highway, both north and south,
are nearly complete. Other key things such as the dive structure under Gnangara
Road are very much underway.
We
are very excited about this project. We are very excited that the people of
Ellenbrook will get the train line they deserve, particularly when they
were promised that train line not once, but twice, by the Liberal Party. I have
been thinking: Liberal Party members are
such hypocrites about public transport that they will probably be running
around the week before we open the
Ellenbrook rail line saying, ''It was our idea'', as they did
with the Forrestfield–Airport Link project. The people of
Ellenbrook know they can trust Labor when it comes to public transport. Work is
very much underway.
Dr D.J. Honey interjected.
Ms R. SAFFIOTI: Seriously!
It took me a while, but finally! I dangled that hook. Patience is not my
virtue, but that hook was in long enough that he bit. I thought he would just
swim past, but he actually turned up and bit.
Let us remember the flyer that was
sent out in 2008 to everyone living in Ellenbrook saying that the Liberals
would build a rail line to Ellenbrook. After that commitment I walked in here
and asked where was the Ellenbrook rail line and was told, ''We didn't
commit to it.'' I acknowledge the late Frank Calabrese who heard a radio
interview saying that they did commit to it—it
was a Gareth Parker program. This pamphlet then appeared, which showed that
everyone in that corridor had received the pamphlet saying that the Liberal
Party would deliver a rail line. When we asked, we were told that it was not a first-term
commitment; it was a second-term commitment. In eight and a half years, nothing
was done. Not only did the former government not start the project; it did not
even begin to plan the project. From scratch, we planned and we funded, and we
are delivering the rail line to Ellenbrook. That is a project that we are all
very proud of.