Skip to player
Skip to main content
Skip to footer
Search
Connect
Watch fullscreen
Like
Comments
Bookmark
Share
Add to Playlist
Report
Anthony Albanese vows to support WA Labor buying back state freight rail network
ABC NEWS (Australia)
Follow
4/27/2025
The Prime Minister was also talking up increased resilience for WA's transport routes including by rail. He's promised to back a state Labor bid to bring the freight rail network back into public hands, if re-elected.
Category
📺
TV
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
The Prime Minister's keen to show he supports WA.
00:05
Who's your favourite Premier?
00:07
Roger, obviously.
00:09
Using a business breakfast to announce he's backing in one of Roger Cook's key policies,
00:14
pitched in light of global uncertainty.
00:17
Securing Australia's future prosperity means building new economic frameworks.
00:22
And it means building and planning the infrastructure that drives growth.
00:26
He wants that to include WA's freight rail network coming back into public hands.
00:31
The PM promising two and a half million dollars for a feasibility study
00:35
to consider what role the Federal Government could have.
00:38
We're prepared to take direct control of those parts of the network that the Liberals privatised
00:44
including the Eastern Goldfields Railway.
00:47
That line links Fremantle Port to Kalgoorlie under track run by ARC Infrastructure.
00:52
To the east of Kalgoorlie the line is run by the Federal Government owned Australian Rail Track Corporation.
00:58
So as soon as you come to the western side of that bridge there's a different price that rail operators have to pay.
01:04
Critics say that price is too high and the line's not well enough maintained.
01:09
It is crippling our industries.
01:11
I'm thinking today about our grain farmers, our magnetite miners, our juniors and our senior miners.
01:17
The idea of either the State or Federal Government taking back control of the network
01:21
is all about making it cheaper to move anything from freight to critical minerals to grain.
01:26
The big question though is what that costs the taxpayer.
01:29
The State Opposition says the Government hasn't provided enough information for it to make up its mind.
01:35
We just don't know enough about it at the moment.
01:38
There's no business case, there appears to be no modelling for what is being proposed.
01:42
Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management Elizabeth Jackson says a buyback should be money well spent though
01:48
because its benefits will ripple through the economy.
01:51
It's that economic story and that economic support in terms of strategic freight thinking,
01:59
freight resilience to this State that really needs to be incorporated into the financial equation.
02:05
And this is where governments really step up to the plate.
02:09
The current owner of the WA network, ARC Infrastructure, declined to comment.
Recommended
1:58
|
Up next
Anthony Albanese in WA campaign launching on Sunday
ABC NEWS (Australia)
4/12/2025
1:27
NSW government admits it needs to do better on public transport reliability
ABC NEWS (Australia)
3/25/2025
1:49
Rapid bus services the Labor promise
ABC NEWS (Australia)
3/1/2023
2:17
Albanese visiting WA after state Labor win
ABC NEWS (Australia)
3/14/2025
1:54
QLD government promises permanent fifty cent transport fees if re-elected
ABC NEWS (Australia)
9/15/2024
0:57
Rail chaos looms with 'whatever it takes' worker push
Australian Community Media
12/19/2024
2:03
WA Labor announces plans to negotiate rail network buy-back ahead of state election
ABC NEWS (Australia)
1/24/2025
1:47
Sydney’s weekend of free train travel amid threat of disruptions to cost taxpayers up to $3.5 million
ABC NEWS (Australia)
9/21/2024
2:20
Sydney train network running at reduced capacity as govt backs down against transport union
ABC NEWS (Australia)
2/22/2022
2:12
NSW government considering train fare refund amid delays across rail network
ABC NEWS (Australia)
1/16/2025
1:23
Transport Secretary blames unions for rail strike
ODN
12/13/2016
3:16
Rail union backs down, cancels plan to switch off Opal card machines across Sydney network
ABC NEWS (Australia)
9/18/2022
2:00
Federal Government backs Canberra's light rail
ABC NEWS (Australia)
5/8/2024
1:37
Western Australian Labor promises public transport fare cuts if re-elected, while Liberals propose drug rehabilitation regime
ABC NEWS (Australia)
1/20/2025
2:10
WA receives small fraction of federal road and rail budget; Treasurer says state deserves ‘fair share’
ABC NEWS (Australia)
3/27/2025
1:57
Sydney commuters could face interruptions as rail worker strike
ABC NEWS (Australia)
9/19/2024
2:03
NSW Premier, Labor respond to leaked Sydney trains report
ABC NEWS (Australia)
3/14/2023
0:44
'Light-on' pay offer bump won't stop trains disruption
Australian Community Media
1/14/2025
1:10
Next stop 'overdue' for TransPennine Express says Labour
ODN
5/11/2023
3:17
Labor makes $25m funding pledge to boost language schools
ABC NEWS (Australia)
4/27/2025
1:43
Government to introduce legislation for new high speed rail network
ABC NEWS (Australia)
9/7/2022
2:12
NSW government presses on with legal bid to block industrial action
ABC NEWS (Australia)
1/22/2025
0:48
PM pledges to fix 'Victorian Era' northern transport system
ODN
3/28/2025
1:26
Bouncing brush-tailed bettongs released into the wild
Australian Community Media
today
2:00
What’s happening with rent caps around Australia
Australian Community Media
today