Shadow infrastructure minister Anthony Albanese was at the Mandurah Station Tuesday morning, campaigning for Labor’s Canning candidate Matt Keogh.
The Abbott government’s record on infrastructure and public transport would be a key issue for Mandurah in the coming byelection, Mr Albanese said.
“The people of Canning can do something for the people of Australia and that is to send Tony Abbott a strong message that his performance just isn’t up to scratch,” he said.
“What we’ve seen here in Western Australia is neglect when it comes to infrastructure.
“Of the top ten congested roads, seven of them were right here in the West.”
He said a recent report by Infrastructure Australia indicated that the Mandurah rail line would reach capacity by 2031.
“Upon being elected, Tony Abbott cut $500 million public transport funding that was included in the 2013-14 Budget,” he said.
"Tony Abbott's ideological opposition to public transport is just absurd.
“They've said they won’t fund public transport, but you can’t deal with road congestion with just more roads.
“It’s about the interaction between roads and buses and trains and we saw a great example of that working this morning at the Mandurah Station.”
Mr Keogh said infrastructure not just in Mandurah, but around the state, was an issue for the people of the Canning electorate.
“For example, the Perth Gateway project is so important for FIFO workers,” he said.
“They already have to travel so much for work, they don’t want to be driving in from Mandurah and battling traffic as well.”
While Mr Albanese did not make a specific funding commitment, he said if Labor was elected to government, it would focus on increasing the capacity of public transport through collaborative partnerships with state and local governments.
A spokesperson for infrastructure minister Warren Truss rejected Mr Albanese’s criticism.
“The Abbott Government is investing $5.3 billion on land transport infrastructure initiatives in Western Australia over 2013-14 to 2018-19,” he said.
“This includes funding for key initiatives in Perth, such as the Perth Freight Link ($925 million in federal funding) and NorthLink WA ($894.4 million in federal funding) projects.
"Anthony Albanese and Labor will say anything in the lead up to an election."
