WA remains committed to transport infrastructure projects despite removed federal funding

Date: 17.11.2023

While the WA government is disappointed by the infrastructure funding pull, it’s still looking to complete all transport projects

WA remains committed to transport infrastructure projects despite removed federal funding

The WA government is committing to funding its own transport infrastructure projects

The Western Australian government has confirmed that it will continue pushing to complete major transport and infrastructure projects despite having funding from the federal government removed.

The federal government, as part of its infrastructure policy, has announced it is withdrawing more than $300 million from WA transport projects following a review into Australia’s infrastructure pipeline.

The WA government has since announced it is committed to all projects despite the withdrawal of funding.

The projects where funding has been withdrawn by the federal government includes $200 million for the Pinjarra Heavy Haulage Deviation, $48 million for the Marble Bar Road Upgrade, $48 million for the Moorine Rock to Mt Holland Road Upgrades and $6.4 million for the Great Southern Secondary Freight Network.

"We are naturally disappointed with the outcomes of this review," WA transport minister Rita Saffioti says.

"We're not immune from cost pressures - but the escalations being experienced here are significantly less than projects on the East Coast.

"We don't have projects worth tens of billions of dollars like Inland Rail – which is now estimated to cost more than $30 billion, or the suburban rail loop in Melbourne – which is now expected to cost well in excess of $100 billion – even the North-South Road Corridor in Adelaide is now costing well over $16 billion."

Saffioti says several of the impacted projects involved an innovative cost share model between the state and federal governments and the private sector.

The state government says the road projects are helping to unlock key resource projects, with the withdrawal of funding potentially impacting delivery timelines.

"Our position has always been that we did not want to see any projects cut, and that our preference was to work cooperatively on smoothing the pipeline of projects, rather than cutting support entirely," Saffioti says.

"We remain committed to these projects and will now engage with key proponents to look at funding and delivery options."