Canning MP Andrew Hastie has extended an olive branch to Mandurah MP David Templeman, offering bipartisan support for the building of the long-awaited Lakelands Train Station after new polling showed overwhelming community support for its immediate construction.
Mr Hastie polled 1602 voters in Lakelands, Madora Bay and Meadow Springs late last year and a massive 90.6 per cent said they wanted the station now.
The Lakelands station, which was first planned in the early 2000s when the area was developed, is on hold after the incoming McGowan government instead chose Karnup as its priority for the next station.
Mr Hastie has been campaigning to encourage the state government to build the station in Lakelands.
“There is a clear level of support for it,” Mr Hastie said.
“And now I want to reach out to David Templeman and say, ‘Let’s work together on this, let’s pursue this on a bipartisan basis’.
“He’s a minister in the state government.
“He’s in a unique position to deliver on this and I’m in the unique position as a government backbencher to deliver for Canning as I have done on other projects.”
The government bought the site from Lakelands Private Estate developer Peet in 2001, with the company committing $10 million towards the construction of the station in 2008.
Since then, the project has been shelved by successive Labor and Liberal state governments.
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Mr Templeman said he was more than happy to talk to Mr Hastie about the station, but the state’s finances were in a “parlous financial situation caused by the reckless financial management of the previous Liberal Government and we don’t have the cash to build additional stations at this point in time”.
“WA Labor built the Mandurah train line and, at the 2013 and 2017 State elections, committed to build a new station at Karnup,” he said.
“In the meantime, the state Liberals made no commitments to any station north of Mandurah for the nine years they were in government.
“But I’m more than happy to talk to Mr Hastie, no olive branch required.”
Mr Templeman said building a station at Lakelands remained a “personal priority” but pointed out no Liberal member of parliament, including Mr Hastie, had ever asked to meet with him about the project.
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