WAFarmers
WAFarmers urges the Gallop Government to act on the advice given by four of Western Australia’s most experienced structural experts.
The State simply cannot afford the project cost blowouts on the Perth-Mandurah rail line.
The likely $2 billion cost is more than the State can afford, particularly when it is coupled with the cost of subsidising the predicted operating losses that would continue to burden the State budget well into the future.
If the government was prepared to lift its vision beyond the next State election it would hand the project over to private enterprise to build and operate the rail project.
Rural Western Australia continues to feel the effects of State Government cutbacks to regional and rural road infrastructure, medical programs and funding to the Department of Agriculture.
The recently released Auditor General’s Public Sector Performance Report has also identified major shortfalls in the funding of the Water and Rivers Commission.
The findings contained in this report must be setting off alarm bells within the Government.
The Gallop Government must get away from its high-flying dreamtime excesses and get back to reality by readdressing priorities and directing resources to areas of need such as rural roads and infrastructure in the productive sector.
Failure to do this will simply create a mountain of debt and severely limit the ability of the State to pay its way and bring in balanced budgets in the future.
The track record of the Gallop Government clearly indicates that this situation will only lead to the need to increase taxes – many of which are already a burden on industry.
The Government’s Hope for the Future document states that "future generations will not thank those of the early 21st century if their legacy is one of substantial financial debt".
How true. It’s time for the Government to take on board some of its own rhetoric and make a tough decision that will benefit the State as a whole.
Colin Nicholl
