Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to grieve about a matter that I have spoken about many times before in this place and one that I find deeply frustrating in my electorate of Stirling. It is a problem that I had considered that I had solved in the past, but every time we get very close to finding a solution there is a change in the political landscape that seems to rob us of that progress. I am talking about the building of the much-needed overpass at the intersection of Mirrabooka Avenue and the Reid Highway—one of Western Australia’s worst black spots.

The Reid Highway went through my electorate some years ago and sadly, due to a lack of funding at the time, it was interrupted at various other main roads by traffic lights where there should have been overpasses on what is a freeway. This creates an exceptionally dangerous situation and people are continually killed and injured at this intersection. It is something I have campaigned on extensively since I won the seat and prior to that and one that I had the former government commit money towards. But, sadly, the state government has failed to live up to its responsibilities to date, although I am hoping that is about to change.

My constituents need to be safe when using the roads in their community. I have lobbied very hard for federal funding to build the overpass at Alexander Drive and Reid Highway, which is an intersection slightly farther on down the Reid Highway from the Mirrabooka Avenue intersection. I am pleased that the federal government has committed that funding. Prior to the last election the former WA state Labor government committed $17 million towards the $34 million cost of the construction of an overpass at the Alexander Drive-Reid Highway intersection, which Labor determined was a higher priority than the Mirrabooka Avenue overpass, with the promise that they would consider funding for the second overpass.

I had previously secured a $20 million promise for federal funding from a re-elected coalition government, and the Labor candidate, as he did with all our promises, matched that promise and secured unconditional funding under AusLink 2 from an elected Labor government. Following on from this Labor commitment, I wrote to the federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Anthony Albanese, after the election to ask what steps he had taken to ensure that the commitments made by federal and state Labor were going to be honoured. I received correspondence from the minister confirming that discussions between the two governments had commenced and that funding arrangements under the AusLink 2 program for the 2009-10 year and the 2013-14 year would be finalised as part of the process.

Since receiving that letter, there has been a change of state government, so I subsequently wrote a further letter to Minister Albanese requesting him to advise me at what stage the discussions were and if they were going to be ongoing with the new Liberal state government. I have also written to the newly appointed state Minister for Transport, the Hon. Simon O’Brien, asking him to advise what the state government now plans to do and inviting him to come with me to visit the Mirrabooka Avenue intersection so I can impress upon him the urgent need for this overpass to be built.

We must have an overpass at the Reid Highway-Mirrabooka Avenue intersection, as we must build overpasses over all of these intersections. They are manifestly unsafe. Every year the costing for these overpasses goes up. Initially, about a decade ago, I think they would have cost about $2 million each. They are now costing up to $35 million each. The longer we delay, the worse the problem gets and the more expensive it becomes to resolve.

I wanted to take the opportunity in this grievance debate to update the House on a project that I am very pleased about, and that is the closed-circuit television cameras that have been installed in the Nollamara shopping centre in my electorate. If I could provide the House with some background, late one night last year a customer at the Commonwealth Bank ATM was violently attacked with an axe. Luckily, the person did survive this attack, although he suffered terrible injuries. Together with the City of Stirling, the local council within my electorate, we applied to the previous, Howard government to have closed-circuit television cameras placed at the Nollamara shops to help prevent a heinous attack of this nature from ever happening again.

The funding was secured through the National Community Crime Prevention Program, a tremendously effective program which was set up by the previous government and a wonderful initiative. Unfortunately, this program has been cut by the current Rudd Labor government and there are no future grants like this available for communities such as mine. Nevertheless, on 21 November, together with the Mayor of the City of Stirling, Councillor David Boothman, I will have great pleasure in turning on the camera at the Nollamara shops at an event aptly called ‘Be seen at Nollamara shops’.

On another matter of grievance: I have been working to implement an upgrade for the closed-circuit television cameras at Scarborough Beach. Scarborough Beach is a wonderful part of my electorate, but unfortunately every summer it becomes something of a hoon magnet. People, apparently from all over Perth, come in and behave in an antisocial way that is deeply unappreciated by the local community. With summer upon us again, people from all over Perth and Western Australia will want to continue to enjoy Scarborough, which is a magnificent beach, and in doing so support the local businesses there.

We had an example of antisocial behaviour last month, when a group of drunken louts attacked surf-lifesavers who were trying to resuscitate somebody who had passed out drunk. This behaviour is totally and utterly unacceptable and has been condemned by everybody in my community. I expressed to the new WA Minister for Police, the Hon. Rob Johnson, my strong support for any extra policing measures being considered at Scarborough Beach during summer. Like everybody in my electorate, I was appalled by the recent violence of a few. Violence directed towards hardworking community lifesavers is really quite extraordinary and unacceptable.

The former Howard government actually committed to an upgrade of the CCTV cameras at Scarborough Beach to the tune of $150,000, in an effort to combat this problem. I still consider this to be an exceptionally worthwhile project, worthy of consideration by the new government for funding. These funds were provided under the National Community Crime Prevention Program, which I mentioned earlier and which, I repeat, the current government has seen fit to discontinue.

Whilst cameras are a very useful tool in a holistic approach to maintaining law and order, I firmly believe that there is no better deterrent than the physical presence of police on patrol, especially in places where large crowds gather. The new member for Scarborough, Liza Harvey MLA, has a strong association with Scarborough Beach and the surrounding community and local businesses. Together with Liza, I have had discussions with the Scarborough police to offer whatever assistance I am able to give in order to help them work to keep Scarborough one of the safest, most family-friendly beaches in Perth throughout the busy, hot summer months. I have written to the Minister for Police to support a proposal to provide local police with two quad bikes which could be used for beach patrols during summer. This would be an innovative and cost-effective way to maintain order on the beach by having a highly visible but non-intrusive police presence along the beach strip.

Scarborough Beach is an amazing beach, full of life. It is a wonderful place for families and tourists. Scarborough has also been a recent recipient of a litter prevention award in the national Keep Australia Beautiful beach awards. The surf-lifesavers there provide a vital service on a voluntary basis. As I have done in the past, I would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of these people. Today in my office I received a letter from Surf Life Saving Australia outlining their achievements over the past 12 months. They completed an extraordinary number of rescues and saved countless lives, as they do every summer, and they logged over one million volunteer hours watching over the millions of Australians who visit our beaches every year. I am very lucky and very proud to be patron of the Scarboro Surf Life Saving Club, vice patron of the Trigg Island Surf Life Saving Club and vice patron of the Western Australian Surf Life Saving Club. I congratulate Surf Life Saving Australia on the wonderful year that has gone by and I wish them all the best for the summer ahead.

In the brief seconds that are left to me, I would like to record also that I spent a wonderful Sunday at the Maccabi sportsgrounds in Yokine, part of the Carmel School and the Jewish Community Centre, for the annual Yokine Community Fair. The fair is organised by Here 2 Help, a not-for-profit organisation which does valuable work to help disadvantaged groups in the city of Stirling. The fair was a fantastic family fun day and there was a great display of community pride on show. I would like to congratulate the organisers, Here 2 Help, for their wonderful work in helping community organisations in Stirling. I commend them heartily for the efforts that they have put in. (Time expired)