Dennis Jensen (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This report of the House of Representatives Transport and Regional Services Committee inquiry into the integration of regional road and rail networks and their interface with the ports highlights areas of critical need in our transport infrastructure and very carefully documents what is required at each of the various ports to increase capacity, which is a very important aspect of keeping up with the demands of freight in Australia. Having said that, I will be focusing on the port of Fremantle, which is my local port. What is very interesting—and this is something this report highlighted is at just about every single port that we visited—is that, when major cities and regional centres in Australia are building roads and ring-roads to protect suburbs and towns from heavy traffic, heavy through-traffic and road freight, the Western Australian Labor government has been dismantling crucial components of the Metropolitan Region Scheme. This is a magnificent forward-thinking plan for the future growth and transport network needs for the south metropolitan region well into the 21st century. This is a plan that has been in place for over 40 years.

The components of the scheme were the Fremantle Eastern Bypass and the final stage of the Roe Highway—stage 8. The Roe Highway road reserve was first set aside in the Metropolitan Region Scheme in 1963 and it forms part of the ring-road system which surrounds the Perth metropolitan region. More than 40 years of planning of a sustainable transport network has now been absolutely destroyed by the Gallop and Carpenter Labor governments. Why? To serve the short-term political gain and self-interest of Labor MPs.

The alignment of Roe Highway stage 8 was to have run from the Kwinana Freeway to the Fremantle Eastern Bypass, allowing a controlled, purpose-built transport road to the port of Fremantle. I say ‘was to have run’ because the Fremantle Eastern Bypass has been deleted from the Metropolitan Region Scheme by a Labor government which saw no use for an essential integrated transport system. This action flies in the face of the assistance that AusLink was to give the states.

The state Labor government’s decision to delete the Fremantle Eastern Bypass and not complete stage 8 of the Roe Highway effectively destroyed a safe and efficient route for freight and traffic. This has resulted in the ever-increasing lethal mix of commuter traffic and heavy freight on the major highways running through my electorate of Tangney, which is mainly residential with schools, colleges, Murdoch University, retirement villages, a major hospital campus, hospice and shopping centres.

The increases in freight vehicles and other traffic also negatively impacts on the electorate of the federal Labor member for Fremantle, who conveniently forgot to represent her constituents who wanted to retain the Fremantle Eastern Bypass.

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