Media Statement - 30th October 2007

Laurie Ferguson - Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Urban Development & Consumer Affairs

Sharon Thiel – ALP Candidate for Kalgoorlie

A Rudd Labor government, in partnership with the Western Australian government will invest $160 million to deliver a $200 million upgrade of roads vital to the Pilbara mining and pastoral industries’ export hub of Port Hedland.

Federal Labor’s $160 million plan will make the Great Northern Highway great again. It will straighten the road and disentangle it from the railway, eliminating three right angle bends and three rail crossings to access the port.

The project will boost safety and improve the efficiency of this critical link in the export chain.

Trains already cut the road between South Hedland and Port Hedland townships for long periods throughout the day, and without action the problem will get worse with more iron ore trains headed for the port.

An extra 150 million tonnes of iron ore need to be moved across the system in the next five years – a doubling of the freight task.

Despite generating more than $18 billion in export income for the national economy, the Howard-Costello government has refused to be part of a solution for the Pilbara iron ore export supply chain.

These are the sort of nation building projects that Labor is passionate about.

The reconfiguration is vital to not only improve road access and safety for the communities of South Hedland and Port Hedland, but to maintain the efficiency of the Pilbara iron ore export supply chain.

The proposed works include:

    * Immediate addition of a fourth lane on the Great Northern Highway between Port Hedland and South Hedland to increase capacity and safety for traffic between the two communities
    * Immediate improvements to ‘at grade’ intersections of the Great Northern Highway with Wallwork Road, Pinga Street and Port Hedland Road to better cater for increased numbers of road trains, which will use new berths at Utah Point
    * Subsequent grade separation of Wallwork Road over the Goldsworthy iron ore rail line providing an uninterrupted link between the Port Hedland and South Hedland communities
    * A grade separated intersection at Port Hedland Road-Great Northern Highway intersection primarily to allow free flow of traffic between the Port Hedland and South Hedland communities
    * Grade separation between Port Hedland and Wallwork Roads, which will allow for a new corridor to take heavy vehicles to Utah Point and separate freight from passenger vehicles
    * A new corridor to the north and west of Wedgefield Industrial Estate for heavy vehicles
    * A grade separation of Goldsworthy railway from the Great Northern Highway approaching Wedgefield from the south

These upgrades will vastly improve road safety and ease of access for residents in South Hedland and Port Hedland – while at the same time improving the freight corridors that are vital for exports.

The Howard-Costello government has shown no interest in Hedland communities or the port, even knocking back a funding application to start planning this road.

This comes on top of Peter Costello’s abject failure to properly address access issues on iron ore railways, leaving all iron ore producers in a state of investment uncertainty and putting tens of billions of dollars of iron ore exports at risk.

An efficient and effective access regime for rail haulage for all Pilbara iron ore producers, including new entrants such as Fortescue is essential.

The risk to both BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto posed by third-party access arrangements that could limit their ability to recoup any investment or operate their facilities at maximum efficiency must also be addressed.

Peter Costello has put this in the too-hard basket and in doing so put the future of one of Australia’s biggest export industries at risk.

Just as we are prepared to make this investment in Port Hedland’s future today, we will have the courage to tackle other hard issues head on.

A Rudd Labor government will not ignore the contribution that the hard working communities of South and Porth Hedland make to Western Australia’s and the nation’s wealth.

And we will not ignore the need to maintain Australia’s most efficient export supply chain.

Federal Labor’s $759 million Auslink 2 commitment to Western Australia so far:

    * $160 million towards the $200 million upgrade of Port Hedland roads
    * $180 million towards the $225 million Great Eastern Highway upgrade from the Graham Farmer Freeway to the airport
    * $48 million towards the $60 million grade separation of the Great Eastern Highway and Roe Highway interchange
    * An additional $160 million towards the $660 million New Perth Bunbury Highway
    * $65 million towards the $130 million Mandurah Entrance Road
    * $136 million towards the $170 million Bunbury Port Access and Outer Ring Road
    * $10 million towards a new interchange at the Reid Highway/Alexander Drive intersection (a Strategic Regional project)