Following calls by Mandurah City Mayor Marina Vergone for a train station to be built in Lakelands after more than a decade of promises, state and federal members of parliament have weighed in on the debate.
Canning MP Andrew Hastie has called on Premier Mark McGowan to “get the job done”, but state transport minister Rita Saffioti said “Lakelands can be considered in the future” and a station at Karnup was her priority.
Mandurah MP David Templeman, who had been a vocal supporter of a train station for Lakelands, said he remained “committed to ensuring that Lakelands is delivered as a future station” and called for a business case to be drawn up.
Mr Hastie said the population in Lakelands had exploded over the last decade and a train station for the suburb should be a priority over Karnup.
“It’s just time for this thing to be built and I call on the Premier [Mark McGowan] to get the job done,” he said.
“Alannah MacTiernan [former transport minister] is on Hansard, she’s in the media, arguing the case for Lakelands.
“David Templeman as recently as four years ago was arguing for Lakelands, he even said that was his preferred location over Paganoni Road; Karnup wasn't even mentioned.”
But Mr Templeman said the new Labor government had committed to building a train station at Karnup, north of Lakelands.
“People need to be aware that the Karnup station was always a commitment of the McGowan government and has been actually a commitment going back to the 2013 election,” he said.
“But as local member my view has not waivered that the station at Lakelands is needed, it should be progressed as a future station and that’s what I'll be focusing on working for.”
Mr Templeman said he was disappointed he wasn’t consulted about Mayor Vergone’s call for the station.
“I hope it’s not just throwing out a thought bubble because this is an important strategic plan for the city which needs to be scoped,” he said.
“My view has always been that we’ll need two stations in North Mandurah, one is Karnup and one is Lakelands and I haven’t deviated from that at all.”
Ms Saffioti said the Karnup station was locked in as an election commitment and would be delivered.
“A new station at Karnup was our election commitment and I’m surprised anyone would want us to walk away from that,” she said.
“There was a package of works agreed to with the federal government and would it would be unusual that any member of parliament would want to undo the $2.3 billion road and rail package, which will also create thousands of jobs.
“Lakelands can be considered in the future but not as part of our stage one Metronet priorities.”
But Mr Hastie said building Lakelands did not mean Karnup would have to miss out on a station.
“Both can be done, but the priority is Lakelands,” he said.
“We’ve had the most amount of population growth, you can just look at the map; it’s exploding, there’s lots of families and to be able to live close to the coast and only 45 minutes by train to the CBD is fantastic.”
He said he had spoken with the Prime Minister, federal urban infrastructure minister Paul Fletcher and cities minister Angus Taylor, who were all supportive of the project.
“But they said if we want to unlock those Commonwealth funds we need the state government’s support, that’s crucial,” he said.
“There is Commonwealth money there, they just need to unlock it and we need to make a business case.
“If you look at the $10 billion rail infrastructure fund, one of the strategic rail lines identified across Australia is the Perth-Mandurah line, so we want money put where it’s needed most and that’s where the population is and that’s in North Mandurah, Lakelands.”
At the time of writing, 359 votes had been cast on the Mandurah Mail’s train station poll, with 70.5 per cent in favour of building the train station in Lakelands.
Nathan Hondros
Senior Journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, and Fairfax Media.
Senior Journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, and Fairfax Media.
