METRONET —
ELLENBROOK RAIL LINE — CONSTRUCTION
709. Ms L. METTAM to the Premier:
I
refer to the Liberal Party's local jobs guarantee that will ensure that
major contracts will be designed so that mid-tier Western Australian companies can compete. Can the
Premier confirm that today he announced that the preferred proponent for the Morley–Ellenbrook rail project is
a privately owned British company headquartered in the United Kingdom?
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
I can confirm that this government
is building the Morley–Ellenbrook rail line.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
Mr
M. McGOWAN: The member asked the
question. I can also confirm that in both 2008 and 2013, the Liberal Party
committed to that railway line and nothing
was built. It also committed to the Metro Area Express light rail. It even
had an advertising campaign around MAX light rail and nothing was built.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER: Members!
Mr
M. McGOWAN: This year we will
have seven Metronet projects underway across Western Australia, including
the Morley–Ellenbrook line that has
been talked about now for more than 12 years. This government has announced
a preferred tenderer and it is getting on with it. Obviously, when we build a rail
line, we go through a competitive process and we have to get a bidder and a builder
that can do the work. It is a competitive process for a company that will employ thousands of Western Australians
and hundreds of Western Australian subcontractors and build an
outstanding railway that the Liberal Party could not do.