ROAD SAFETY — NARRIKUP
378. Mr P.J. RUNDLE to the Minister for Transport:
I have a supplementary question. On
behalf of those travelling on Albany Highway, when will that engineering
solution be delivered?
Ms R.
SAFFIOTI replied:
That is underway now. Tens of
millions of dollars have been spent across Albany Highway.
Mr P.J. Rundle: I am talking
about Narrikup.
Ms R. SAFFIOTI: Honestly!
The Nationals WA were in government for eight and a half years. They did not
care about budgets. The only budget the Nationals cared about was the fact that
they were never going to spend money on roads! Do the Nationals think that
people do not realise that? Does the member know what everyone in regional WA
is complaining about? It is the amount of roadworks; they have to slow down
because there are so many! Today I addressed
the Regional Chambers of Commerce WA in West Perth and outlined the record
spending. They all understood, and they all agreed, that we are spending
more on regional roads than ever before. For eight and a half years, members
opposite did not care about the budget. They purposely did not spend money on
roads, and now they are coming in here and trying to make road spending an
issue in this Parliament. That will not work for them! I find it disgraceful that rather than the National Party spending
on roads, it is the Labor Party that is out there spending record
amounts on road and rail. We are talking with CBH about how we can move grain
better. We are spending a record amount on local government roads and
supporting local governments through another set of freight improvements, and
we are spending money on ports like they have never seen. This is transport
spending for the whole of regional WA. In eight and a half years, members
opposite never had the ability to develop a policy to reduce airfare costs for
regional Western Australians. They never did anything on that. Our two-zone cap
on airfares is very much supported in regional
WA. We are doing all we can to catch up on road spending, rail spending
and port spending, and on making airfares more affordable. We are doing all we
can. In five and a half years, we have done pretty well and we will continue to
work hard to deliver.