By Alex Condon
Perth’s Metronet Yanchep rail extension has officially opened after heavily criticised cost and time blowouts.
The project extends the Joondalup Line 14.5 kilometres north from Butler – connecting tens of thousands of people in the city’s north to the rail network for the first time – and includes three new stations in Alkimos, Eglinton and Yanchep.
The new line was unveiled at the new Yanchep station, where Premier Roger Cook and deputy Rita Saffioti were joined by hundreds of other passengers – including other MPs, rail workers and members of the public – on the first train journey on the route.
(From left) John Quigley, Roger Cook, Rita Saffioti and Tracey Roberts open the Yanchep extension on Sunday.Credit: Facebook/Roger Cook
However, the state opposition was quick to seize on the many delays and cost blowouts that have plagued the project.
“The Cook Labor government is today celebrating opening the Yanchep extension after it took twice as long and cost two and a half times as much as they promised taxpayers,” WA Liberal leader Libby Mettam said on Sunday.
“The Yanchep extension alone has cost WA taxpayers the equivalent of almost $460 million per station.”
Deputy leader Steve Martin said “across the whole project, Metronet has blown out by $10 billion, so far”.
However, Saffioti hit back: “No, it’s not correct [the $10 billion blowout]. And I’ve explained it a number of times ... in relation to the stage 1 projects, it’s about $6 billion, up from $3 billion as I’ve said on a number of occasions.”
“So ... they want to tear down public transport, they closed the Fremantle line, they closed the Midland workshops, they failed to deliver Ellenbrook, they failed to deliver MAX [light rail]. They don’t care about people living in the suburbs.”
The Premier focused on the positive outcome of the project, connecting rail to the fast-growing northern coastal corridor.
“Thanks to the hard work of 1300 workers, we are finally happy to say, ‘mission accomplished’,” Cook said.
When asked about the headline of the day, where the world was rocked by the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, Cook spruiked Australia and particularly WA’s gun laws as a reassurance that such events are not a major threat Down Under.
“It’s frightening stuff, isn’t it? And look, it’s incredibly sad that people revert to violence in these sort of situations,” he said.
“It also gives us an opportunity to be grateful for the fact that we live in Australia, where we don’t have the same level of gun violence as you see in the US, and reinforces my commitment to making sure that we’ve got modern gun law reform in Western Australia.”