GG 55/12
14 October 2012
The Barnett Government must reveal the truth about funding for the major Western Australian infrastructure projects depicted in its new advertising campaign, Special Minister of State Gary Gray said today.
“The ‘Get the Bigger Picture’ advertising campaign squanders $1.5 million of taxpayers’ money to try to persuade the same taxpayers that the Barnett Government is solely responsible for eight major infrastructure projects in Perth. It’s just not true,” Mr Gray said.
“The TV and print ads are branded by the Barnett Government and make no reference to the Federal Government.
“Yet these projects have only been able to proceed with a massive injection of money from the Federal Labor Government.”
Mr Gray said there was a big difference between “productive” infrastructure, which were genuine projects that enhanced the lives of Western Australians, as opposed to “political” announcements about infrastructure designed purely to enhance to electoral prospects of the Barnett government.
The campaign refers to eight infrastructure projects of which half - light rail, Elizabeth Quay, Riverside and a new Perth football stadium – are in their infancy.
The four major projects underway have benefitted directly from Federal Labor’s unprecedented investment in Western Australia under its Nation Building Program to modernise and extend the state’s road, rail, port and public transport infrastructure.
For example, the $1 billion Gateway WA project is getting 69 per cent of its funding, or $686.4 million, from the Federal Government. Gateway WA is a major upgrade of the roads around Perth Airport, including widening the Tonkin and Leach Highways from four to six lanes and building new interchanges along the highway.
Other projects mentioned in the “Get the Bigger Picture” campaign:
“The people of Western Australia deserve more than Barnett's ‘bigger picture’ advertising - they deserve the whole picture,” Mr Gray said. “And the whole picture is that the Gillard Government is investing in every major infrastructure project in WA.
“It seems that Premier Barnett becomes more forgetful the closer he gets to election day.
“State-wide, the Gillard Government has almost doubled annual Federal infrastructure spending from $154 to $261 per Western Australian. All up, we are investing a record $3.7 billion over six years to modernise the State’s transport infrastructure.
“This massive investment contradicts Mr Barnett’s claims that WA has ‘missed out’ through GST payments.”
Mr Gray said the Federal Government expected work to complete on the following projects by the end of June next year:
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