Campaign marked by claim, counter-claim

STATE opposition leader Mark McGowan has sought to distance himself from the struggling Gillard government in the lead up to the March 9 state election, as the federal Liberal Party launched an attack on the alternative premier’s credibility.

Federal assistant treasury spokesman Matthias Cormann questioned whether Mr McGowan would stand up to Prime Minister Julia Gillard over the Minerals Resource Rent Tax, which he said was “expressly designed to unfairly target Western Australia”.

“People across WA deserve to know whether, as premier, Mark McGowan would stand up for WA like Colin Barnett and help the federal coalition to scrap this anti-WA mining tax,” Senator Cormann said.

It was revealed last week that the MRRT had raised just $126 million in its first six months in operation. The tax had been forecast to raise $2 billion for the entire 2012-13 financial year.

Mr McGowan told reporters earlier this week he would support the mining tax only if WA received its fair share of the revenue it raised.

He did not support the federal government’s carbon tax, however.

The opposition leader also affirmed his personal support for euthanasia and same-sex marriage in an online question and answers session, although he stressed both matters were conscience issues.

The latest Newspoll found that despite Mr McGowan outscoring Mr Barnett on a number of personal indicators, including trustworthiness and likeability, the Liberal Party maintains an election-winning lead over Labor.

The Barnett government received a further boost late last week with Treasury’s pre-election financial update indicating that a previously forecast budget deficit in 2013-14 could become a $390 million surplus if the iron ore price remains strong.

Both parties have continued to make major spending commitments, with Transport Minister Troy Buswell announcing that the government’s Metropolitan Area Express light rail plan had been costed at $1.8 million and would be in operation by 2018.

The proposed light rail will span 22 kilometres and will connect Mirrabooka to the CBD, and continue across to Nedlands and Victoria Park.

The government’s figures have been questioned, however, with Department of Transport director general Reece Waldock denying Mr Buswell’s claim that the Public Transport Authority had costed the plan.

Labor treasurer spokesman Ben Wyatt said the government was taking part in “yet another coordinated campaign of deceit” regarding its costings.

“In his first term as transport minister, the only thing Mr Buswell has delivered is broken promises, traffic congestion and burning buses,” Mr Wyatt said.

Media reports this week revealed Labor’s costings will be undertaken by an accounting firm, rather than by Treasury, following accusations that Mr Buswell had one of his political staff members secretly attend a Treasury briefing of Labor MPs.

The anticipated cost of Labor’s Metronet heavy rail plan has been an ongoing issue of contention, with Mr Buswell putting the cost at $6.4 billion, well above the $3.8 billion forecast by Labor.

Meanwhile, the government announced this week it would commit $22 million and government land towards the construction of a university campus at the historic Railway Workshops in Midland.

Mr Barnett said the government was in talks with Curtin University to establish a medical school at the site, with the campus also offering a range of courses catering for students in the east metropolitan region.

“For too long, people from Perth’s eastern suburbs have been under-represented in tertiary education and this is due, in part, to not having easy access to a campus,” he said.

“Tertiary attainment rates in the region are 10 per cent lower than the rest of the metropolitan area. Clearly, this is not acceptable.”

Plans to establish a university campus in Midland were flagged by the Richard Court-led Liberal government in 1995, but did not eventuate.

Singaporean group Raffles Education Corporation launched a high-profile bid to establish a Midland campus in 2009 but withdrew its application two years later.

Australian Medical Association WA president Richard Choong dismissed the plan as an election stunt.

“The state government knows a decision on any new medical school is one for the federal government that has not yet been made and is not close to being made,” he said.

“It seems that this promise is little more than cheap electioneering.”