DOWERIN TRAIN STATION —
DEMOLITION
384. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Minister for Transport:
I have a supplementary question.
Does the Public Transport Authority plan to demolish other heritage train
stations without consultation with the community, as has occurred in Dowerin?
Ms R. SAFFIOTI
replied:
I think that there were
asbestos-related issues and so forth and that is one reason the work is being
undertaken.
Our commitment to regional rail and
rail transport across the state is second to none. Everyone knows that the
previous government shut down rail services, sold them off or tried to cancel
their services. That is its record. I am negotiating for funding to inject more
money into regional rail projects across the state. Members opposite should be
embarrassed to walk in here and discuss anything to do with transport, given
that during their eight and a half years in government, all they did was to
shut down rail lines in regional WA. They let them completely die with grass
growing over them and easements being lost. They completely destroyed the
fabric of towns. They contracted out the entire Main Roads WA maintenance
program. They removed people from the regions to the city. Their policies saw
people move from regional WA to the metropolitan area. As a result, we are
trying to reverse all that. Everyone knows
what members opposite did. Everyone knows that they cannot be trusted. The only
thing that they can be trusted to do is to deliver signs and bumper
stickers. That is all they did—signs and bumper stickers. When we go
through regional WA, we see airports that were not finished under these guys,
runways and roads that need to be upgraded and those old, green ''RFR''
signs. We see more evidence of their signs than actual work that was delivered
over the eight and a half years under their government.