Roe Highway Stage 8- Opposition in Coolbellup

ROE HIGHWAY STAGE 8 — OPPOSITION IN COOLBELLUP

906. Hon LYNN MacLAREN to the Minister for Transport:

(1) Is the minister aware that the Coolbellup Community Association set up an information stand at local shops last weekend to inform residents about the planned Roe Highway extension?

(2) Is the minister aware that feedback indicated that only one in 20 people in the Coolbellup area support the plans to build Roe Highway stage 8 through the Beeliar wetlands?

(3) Will the minister please explain why there is such a large discrepancy between the feedback from the Coolbellup Community Association information stand and the results from the consultation process carried out by the government earlier this year, which claims that 85 per cent of local residents are satisfied with the planned project?

Hon SIMON O’BRIEN replied:

(1)–(3) No; I was not aware that a stall had been set up at Coolbellup for this purpose last weekend. Perhaps those local members who might have known about it might have been more diligent in conveying this important information to me. However, I thank the member for bringing it to my attention now; better late, than never.

I am surprised at one level about what the member has had to say. The fact of the matter is that the very large and extensive community consultation that has been professionally performed in an unbiased and competent way by the South Metro Connect team has indeed yielded results that show overwhelming local support, including in Coolbellup, for the building of the Roe 8 extension.

The member has asked me to explain the apparent discrepancy. I can only assume that the people—possibly they were associated with Greens (WA); I do not know—who set up this stall on Saturday may have been less than objective in the way in which they set about gauging public opinion and collecting the data upon which the honourable member forlornly relies. The fact of the matter is that the extension of Roe Highway west of Kwinana Freeway is essential for a number of reasons. Certainly, the success of the Murdoch activity precinct relies upon the southern access, and that has to happen. It is fundamentally important to the future of north–south freight traffic connected with ports current and future in the vicinity because it connects through to Stock Road, or the Perth–Bunbury Highway as it is officially known, which is something that has been on the planning books for many, many years.

I do not know about the stall, but I thank the member for bringing it to my attention. Clearly, some pockets still exist that persist in the view that this essential infrastructure is somehow something that can be trivialised and does not matter. The truth is that it is something that has to be done, and I wish the member would stop being so blinking negative about all the good things this government is doing. It really is most upsetting.