SMART FREEWAYS INITIATIVE
— MINISTER'S COMMENTS
583. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Transport:
I
have a supplementary question. As with most major projects that the minister
has responsibility for, both the budget and time frame for the smart
freeway project has clearly blown out. Why is the minister so incapable of
delivering projects on time and on budget?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER: Members, I am
sure the minister can answer this on her own.
Ms R.
SAFFIOTI replied:
When members go around Western Australia
at the moment, what do they see? They see construction. They see works
happening. They see people employed.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER: Member for
Vasse, you had a question and you had a supplementary. I call you to order for
the first time.
Ms L. Mettam: Bayswater!
The SPEAKER: Now I call you to order for the second
time. Is there something on in Vasse tonight?
Ms R. SAFFIOTI: I am glad
that the member for Vasse yelled out ''Bayswater''. Let us go
through Bayswater station. When the Liberal government committed $1.9 billion
to the Forrestfield–Airport Link, how much did it allocate to improving
Bayswater station? It allocated a few million dollars? It was going to let —
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
Ms R. SAFFIOTI: Member for
Vasse, listen and learn! The Liberal government was going to leave a 1960s station
there with inadequate disability access and a bridge that basically every truck
got stuck under. That was what it was going to do.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
Ms R. SAFFIOTI: The member
for Vasse talks and talks and talks and talks. She talks and talks and talks.
The SPEAKER: Member for
Vasse, I call you to order for the third time. Member for Darling Range, I call
you to order for the first time.
Ms R. SAFFIOTI: The member
talks and talks and talks like she did in government. The Liberal government
was going to build the Thornlie–Cockburn link, was it not? It never did
anything. It never actually did anything when it was in government.
Mrs A.K. Hayden interjected.
The SPEAKER: Member for
Darling Range, I call you to order for the second time. That is not even your
question.
Ms R. SAFFIOTI: What was
that, member for Darling Range? The successful small-businesswoman from
Kalamunda! Where was that small business, member for Darling Range?
Where was it? Where was that successful small business in Kalamunda, member for
Darling Range?
Mrs A.K. Hayden: You know
nothing.
Ms R. SAFFIOTI: No, come on.
You wanted to interject.
The SPEAKER: Member for
Darling Range, I call you to order for the third time.
Mrs A.K. Hayden: She asked!
The SPEAKER: It does not
matter! You do not interject. You give it out, but you do not like it to come
back.
Ms R. SAFFIOTI: I will let
her tell me where that successful small business was in Kalamunda.
Point of Order
Mr Z.R.F.
KIRKUP: Mr Speaker, the minister cannot continue to bait a member on
this side who you then call to order. I ask you to return the minister to her
question.
The
SPEAKER: Let me just put this point to the member. I have been in
this chamber for 20 years. When an opposition member attacks someone in the
government and the government member gets up to have a go back, the opposition
cannot say, ''Oh, no; you can't do that!'' Members cannot
interject when someone is on their feet. It does not matter who you are.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Ms R. SAFFIOTI: Can the
member for Darling Range let us know where the successful small business was in
Kalamunda? The member for Darling Range has said there was no successful small
business in Kalamunda. Is that what the member for Darling Range put on her
form when she ran for Mayor of Kalamunda?
The SPEAKER: Minister,
through the Chair. No, the Chair is this way, minister. Through the Chair.
Ms R. SAFFIOTI: Sorry, Mr
Speaker. When you go through Western Australia, as we often do —
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER: You are on
three calls, member for Darling Range.
A member: Member for Vasse.
The SPEAKER: Sorry. Member
for Vasse, you are on three calls so it is a toss-up on who wants to go home
early. We need a little bit of discipline here. Let the minister finish and we
will get on with question time.
Ms R. SAFFIOTI: All that
negativity just rolls around. Where are the opposition's policies?
Today we learnt that the opposition is taking our commitments and claiming them
as its own. Yesterday, it took our policy on planning reform and did a fundraising
breakfast to promote our planning reform bill. It was a bill that the Liberal
Party said was corrupt. Again, where are the opposition's policies?
They are nowhere. The opposition is a ball of negativity. It is knocking,
knocking and knocking while we are out there creating jobs and delivering
projects that it could not dream of delivering.
FAMILY
AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE — FUNDING
584. Mrs R.M.J. CLARKE to the Minister for Prevention of
Family and Domestic Violence:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's $5.5 billion recovery plan, which includes a comprehensive
package to support victims of family and domestic violence.
(1) Can the minister outline to the house what this
government's $28 million package will mean for those who are
experiencing and/or fleeing family and domestic violence?
(2) Can the minister outline to the house how this
funding package will build on the government's unprecedented record
of supporting victims and, in particular, its investment in women and children's
shelters?
Ms S.F.
McGURK replied:
I thank the member for the question
and for her interest in the safety of women and children in her electorate and
the broader Western Australian community. I know the Premier has made the point
a couple of times that when we talk about this recovery package of over $5.5 billion
in spending, the figure can just roll off the tongue, but the actual supports
on the ground for the people who need them are significant. This commitment of
$28 million, which includes $5 million in
federal funding, is a significant contribution to the particular needs of those
experiencing domestic violence during the COVID-19 period. We know that
more domestic violence is being experienced. We already had high levels, but
particularly since the COVID-19 period started in February and March and
onwards, there have been more family-related
assaults and threatening behaviour being experienced and being reported to police.
(1) I want to go
through the details of what the recovery package will mean for victims of
domestic violence because it is important
that people understand it. Out of the $23 million in new funding from the
government, $8.6 million will help to employ 23 additional outreach
workers across the state. That is 23 additional workers who will be lodged with
women's services who will be able to be deployed in refuges to support women and children experiencing domestic violence
in their local communities. In addition, an extra 17 family and domestic
violence response teams will get extra community-based resources with those co-located response teams. At a price tag of $6.7 million,
there will be 17 additional staff in those co-located response teams. That is, again, actual resources,
new resources, 17 extra people who will be based around in those
co-response teams around the state. In addition, over $100 000 will be
allocated to a job retraining program that will be made available for women in
refuges in the metropolitan area. Of course, they also have access to free and
discounted TAFE courses, which has been announced as part of the recovery
program. Also, $1.1 million over two years will be made available for
counselling, advocacy and support services.
(2) The member
asked specifically about refuges. She and the Parliament would be aware that we
are building two new refuges: one in Peel and
one in Kwinana. The Premier, the member and I were at the Peel build to
make this announcement a few weeks ago, with Anne Moore from Lucy Saw Refuge
and the Women's Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services. That
additional money for those refuges will effectively double the capacity of
those two new refuges. That is a significant investment in crisis support. Of
course, the Peel refuge will be a therapeutic refuge, the first of its type in
this state.
All in all, with this new spending
and our existing commitments, we will have invested over $76 million in new
funding to tackle domestic violence. Of course, that is on top of significant
law reform through the Family Violence Legislation Reform Bill. Just yesterday,
with the Minister for Corrective Services, we were able to announce the
commencement of a trial—$15.5 million for 100 new electronic monitoring
devices that will be available for courts to
put as a condition if perpetrators breach family restraining orders and
commit further acts of violence. That is the actual devices as well as
community corrections staff and police to respond to any of those breaches.
This is a significant investment by this government. We are taking this issue
seriously. The extent of domestic violence in our state will not be tolerated.
The people of Western Australia, the women and children of Western Australia—we
have their backs.