Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is my great pleasure to be able to stand and support this very important motion. Last year, in the Albanese government's first budget, my very great state of Western Australia saw the first budget cuts to infrastructure, the first no doubt of many. They were certainly the first cuts in a long line of budgets because, while we were in government, we had a very proud record of continuing to invest into the infrastructure needs of Western Australia. We've seen some cuts, unfortunately, that have hit Western Australia's infrastructure spending. I think it's a great shame. I do take pride today in standing up and bringing this to the awareness of the Senate.

This government likes to talk the talk in Western Australia. They said they were going to put WA first and, to their credit, ran a very WA-centric campaign over there. They didn't have eastern states ads run over in WA, which was a very good move by the Labor Party, I have to say, and something we should take a leaf out of in the next campaign. I'll be making sure that that point is made when we're designing our campaign again. They did make a claim that they were going to put WA first, but what we're seeing is that it's all just talk. They kind of hoodwinked the Western Australian people into supporting them. The Western Australian people, sadly, did put a lot of strength behind their decision. They made a decision to elect the Albanese government, and in Western Australia we lost a lot of Liberal seats. It was on the back of the fact that they ran a campaign that said they were going to put Western Australia first. But what we're saying is that they are not doing that and haven't done that. It's across many areas, and, in particular, in relation to infrastructure they're all talk and no action.

All up, infrastructure programs in Western Australia saw cuts over the forward estimates, including $22 million from the Northern Australia Roads Program, $114 million from Roads of Strategic Importance and $1.3 million from the road Black Spot Program. Let's look at some of these cuts and what they represent to the southern suburbs of Perth, where I'm from. My office is down in the southern suburbs, and I live down in the southern suburbs of Perth. There's a $17.8 million cut and a completion delay of one year to the Kwinana and Mitchell freeway barrier upgrades. There's a $1.3 million cut and a project commencement delay of one year to the Leach Highway and Stock Road grade separation project—a very important project to take freight off that very busy intersection and to deal with the grade separation. There's a $3.5 million cut and a project completion delay of two years for the Nicholson Road and Garden Street grade separation in the electorate of Burt. There is a $101 million budget cut from the 2022-23 budget and a cut of $17.8 million in the forward estimates for the Tonkin Highway stage 3 extension in the seat of Canning. And there is a $99.7 million cut from the Pinjarra Heavy Haulage Deviation stage 1 and 2, and the project is delayed for two years.

These are significant projects that were necessary, that were committed to by the previous government—because they're needed—and we're seeing this government cutting them. These are just a couple of the projects where the Albanese government has made cuts from the last budget or put delays that directly impact Western Australians, and it is a shame. The Western Australian Labor government are not very good at delivering projects. They keep delaying them. We saw the airport rail link delayed for many, many years. It actually started under the Barnett government and now, two terms in, they've literally just completed that project. It was delayed significantly. And of course that is not to mention the cancelling of the Roe 8 and Roe 9 project. This is important. The freight link to Fremantle is a vital project that has been abandoned by this government. We kept it in the contingent liability when we were in government, and this lot over here have taken it out. It's a real shame, because more than $1.8 billion, I think it was, was earmarked to go into delivering that project, and this Labor government is turning its back on Western Australia. (Time expired)