Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recent Senate budget estimates have confirmed what Western Australians already knew, and that is that the Albanese and Cook Labor governments are mismanaging our state's infrastructure projects. Whether it's the huge cost blowouts in the METRONET or the constant delays in getting the flyover bridge built at Nicholson Road in Canning Vale, Western Australians are stuck in traffic because Labor can't manage even the simplest of infrastructure projects.

Take the Garden Island Highway. This is the route that has been gazetted in the Perth Metropolitan Region Scheme in 1975. Despite the first AUKUS rotation commencing in 2027, all Labor's managed to do so far is a $2 million traffic feasibility study that still hasn't even seen the light of day. Then there's the Kwinana Freeway fiasco. It was announced with great fanfare before the state election, but most of the funding isn't due until the end of the decade. Amusingly, the federal minister for infrastructure recently announced the expression of interest, the EOI, for the project and optimistically reiterated that construction is expected to begin in early 2027—subject, of course, to regulatory approvals. The year 2027 looks to be a blockbuster one for road construction. By then, it's hoped, the Nicholson Road/Garden Street flyover bridge will finally have been commenced after years and years of delay. This project was first announced by the coalition government in 2022. Since then, there have been a few gas relocations and a few photo ops for Labor MPs, but there's been no progress. Canning Vale locals still battle this dangerous intersection every single day.

Labor talks a big game when it comes to infrastructure, but, in reality, they just keep reannouncing the same projects while racking up delay after delay after delay. Western Australians want to see these projects delivered on budget and on time.