Division 37: Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure—Services 1 and 3: Transport; Services 2 and 4
Mr Stephen Pratt, Chair.
Ms Rita Saffioti, Minister for Transport.
Mrs Jessica Stojkovski, Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport.
Mr Ashley Vincent, Acting Director General.
Mr Iain Cameron, Managing Director.
Mr Peter Parolo, Executive Director, Finance and Procurement.
Mr Patrick Seares, Managing Director, Westport.
Mr Leo Coci, Managing Director, Office of Major Transport Infrastructure Delivery.
Mr Ross Verne, Chief of Staff, Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport.
Mr Peter Laing, Principal Policy Adviser.
(The witnesses were introduced.)
The Chair: The estimates committee will be reported by Hansard and the daily proof will be available online as soon as possible within two business days. The Chair will allow as many questions as possible. Questions and answers should be short and to the point. Consideration is restricted to items for which a vote of money is proposed in the consolidated account. Questions must relate to a page number, item or amount related to the current division, and members should preface their questions with these details. Some divisions are the responsibility of more than one minister. Ministers shall only be examined in relation to their portfolio responsibilities.
A minister may agree to provide supplementary information to the committee. I will ask the minister to clearly indicate what information they agree to provide and will then allocate a reference number. Supplementary information should be provided to the principal clerk by noon on Friday 11 July 2025.
If a minister suggests that a matter be put on notice, members should use the online questions on notice system to submit their questions.
I give the call to the member for Cottesloe.
Ms Sandra Brewer: Good afternoon, minister, assistant minister and advisers. I refer to page 66 of budget paper No 3, which states:
Commonwealth Funding for Jointly Funded Transport Projects
This Budget assumes that the State will receive Commonwealth funding contributions across a range of jointly funded major transport projects …
Does this passage mean there are major transport projects for which Commonwealth funding is assumed but which the Commonwealth has not yet confirmed?
Ms Rita Saffioti: In relation to Commonwealth funding across all budgets and across all years, we enter negotiations with the Commonwealth about funding. In some instances, we assume that there will be some funding. In other instances, we do not make that assumption. We constantly work with the Commonwealth to get our fair share. We have been really successful so far on projects like Metronet for which 50% of the transport, stations, rail lines and the car parks have been funded from the Commonwealth. On some roads, we initially got 80% of the funding. We work with the Commonwealth. Through both the midyear review process and the budget process, we aim to secure our Commonwealth funding.
Ms Sandra Brewer: Could the minister please provide a list of the major projects for which Commonwealth funding has not yet been confirmed?
Ms Rita Saffioti: It is a bit of a rolling program so I do not think we can provide a list because it could also then potentially jeopardise some of our negotiations. As I said, we constantly negotiate and secure funding, and we have been really successful. We have a very collaborative approach to working with the federal government on both existing projects and new projects. I do not have that list in front of me, because, as I said, I think it may jeopardise some of our negotiations.
Ms Sandra Brewer: I will ask a further question, perhaps in another way, minister. What are the biggest projects for which funding is yet to be confirmed?
Ms Rita Saffioti: Funding is confirmed for most of our biggest projects. As I said, we try to work with the Commonwealth's budget and midyear review processes, and we constantly estimate how much funding we think we will get and then allocate that funding. It constantly moves and we are constantly negotiating how we can get our fair share of funding.
Mr Shane Love: I refer to page 561 of budget paper No 2 and the regional airfare zone cap. No funding seems to be allocated beyond this year. Can the minister confirm whether that is the case and, if so, why?
Ms Rita Saffioti: It has been the case for many years that we continually make budget decisions to support the regional airfare zone cap, and this budget is no different from what existed last year and the year before. Again, in relation to the airfare zone cap, we work with the airlines in particular.
I am glad the member asked that question because I want to say something. There is one particular airline, which I will not mention by name, that we are trying to strike a better deal with on the subsidy scheme and the cost to taxpayers. We have seen some airlines participate very well in the airfare subsidy scheme. Remember, the airfare subsidy scheme works by having a guaranteed fare, and the difference between what the fare would have been on any given day and the guaranteed fare. Most airlines have worked with us really well and made sure that that differential was not a significant cost to them. How do I explain the cost to taxpayers? It is the difference between those two airfares. We are working with one airline very closely because that price differential has significantly increased over time. We want to get to the bottom of that to make sure that we can continue to deliver best value for money.
We are absolutely committed to the program. We initiated the program. The scheme has seen strong uptake, with 540,000 capped fares used by regional residents from July 2022 to March 2025. It is a very, very successful program. As I have said, we use the same budgeting process that we have used since it commenced; that is, we continually roll it over and work to make sure we can deliver the best value for money scheme for taxpayers and also deliver for regional residents.
Mr Shane Love: An allocation from Royalties for Regions had been funding at least part of the program, but no further allocations from Royalties for Regions have been made for it and there appears to be no space for that to happen. How will the government fund the regional airfare zone cap going forward?
Ms Rita Saffioti: Like a lot of things we fund in regional WA, we do not solely rely on Royalties for Regions. In fact, much of the infrastructure that I have rolled out, in particular roads and other services, we fund outside Royalties for Regions. Luckily, Western Australian regional residents do not rely only on RforR for funding from this government. We have infrastructure funding of, I think, $10 billion over the next four years, and only part of that is from Royalties for Regions. We have further billions of dollars to fund services, and only part of that is from Royalties for Regions.
I would say this is one of the biggest priorities for funding allocation in the transport portfolio for regional WA. We are 100% committed to it. We are funding it in this budget in a way that is very similar to the way we have funded it in previous budgets. We want to make sure we continue to support our regional residents.
Of course, we have other issues in relation to Rex Airlines, for example, that we are working through. We anticipate, hopefully, some finalisation by the administrator in relation to Rex. We have seen the startup of Nexus Airlines, which the government supports in its ambition to continue to support regional connections with its inter-regional flight network. I think this budget contains further funding for the inter-regional flight network. As I said, this is probably a core 100% commitment from the state government.
(2:10 pm)
Mr Shane Love: Is the minister pledging to fund the regional airfare zone cap scheme from consolidated revenue in the future?
Ms Rita Saffioti: I think we have already provided some funding from the consolidated revenue fund. I will get further information on that. We fund regional assets and regional services from the consolidated fund over many areas of my portfolio. As I said, our commitment to regional WA does not start and end with RFR. We do not run two budget processes, as happened under the previous government. We have a consolidated budget process to make sure regional Western Australians get a fair share, and a significant share, of our budget spend.
Mr Shane Love: Is the minister aware that there appears to have been a change in policy, so the various postcodes that used to qualify for the airfare zone cap no longer do so, especially in the Mid West? If someone does not have a Geraldton postcode, I am reliably told that they cannot book through the normal channels to get the airfare zone cap.
Ms Rita Saffioti: I understand a mistake was made in relation to Morawa, which has been addressed and fixed.
Mr Shane Love: I heard the same thing about Chapman Valley and Northampton.
Ms Rita Saffioti: I am happy to investigate that and get back to the member.
Mr Yaz Mubarakai: Can the Deputy Premier outline some of the benefits that the regional airfare zone cap has had for regional Western Australians, and is she aware of anyone who has tried to claim credit for the scheme that she initiated?
Ms Rita Saffioti: I thank the member very much for that question. As we just outlined, the capped airfares scheme has seen a massive uptake. Between July 2022 and March 2025, over 540,000 airfares were capped. When we came to government, for residents in Kalgoorlie and the Kimberley—Kununurra, in particular—$1,000 airfares were the norm and not the outlier. We very much promoted and delivered this program. It was an initiative of this government. It has been claimed that somehow it was someone else's idea, but it was actually our idea and it was based on our public transport zone fares. We are very proud of it. We continue to work to make sure that these accessible airfares are available, in particular through the Mid West, the Kimberley, the Pilbara and, of course, the Goldfields. As I said, I vividly remember going to regional towns like Kalgoorlie, Kununurra and even Karratha, where people were very much complaining about the $1,000 airfares. In many instances, it was put to me directly by those who work for the major mining companies that some get capped airfares but all those retail and hospitality workers in the services industry and other government workers providing services to those companies did not have access to those subsidised fares. This program really made sure it was fair and equitable.
Ms Sandra Brewer: I refer to Westport at the top of page 549 of budget paper No 2. What main pieces of work will the Westport office undertake this year and what is the expected timeframe for the completion of that work?
Ms Rita Saffioti: I will refer that question to Patrick Seares, who will go through that in a bit of detail.
Mr Patrick Seares:
The current work program in Westport consists of a range of different activities. First of all, we will be progressing the design for the Kwinana Bulk Terminal, which requires replacement by the end of 2032. We will be progressing the environmental impact assessment and all the modelling and analysis that needs to go into that for the approvals for both the container terminal footprint and the Kwinana Bulk Terminal. We will be commissioning and undertaking geotechnical assessments in the water for channels, turning basins and structural support. A substantial amount of optimisation and design is starting for the actual container terminal and port precinct itself and, of course, also to support the definition of road and rail infrastructure. A vast array of activities sit under that, which we can go through another time.
Ms Sandra Brewer: The second part of my question related to the expected timeframes of completion for that work.
Ms Rita Saffioti: That work is ongoing. It is part of a package of ongoing works. There will be different completion times for different parts. One of the key things is the planning and design in particular and submitting into the approvals process. We expect that to occur over the next two years.
Ms Sandra Brewer: How many full-time equivalents are working in Westport and what is the office's operating budget for the financial year?
Ms Rita Saffioti: The Westport office is currently budgeted to operate with staffing levels of between 64 and 69 FTE staff between 2024–25 and 2027–28.
Ms Sandra Brewer: I have a further question based on that answer. Can the minister be more specific about the additional $23.3 million for Westport office operations? Obviously, 64 to 69 full-time employees may comprise a great deal of that amount, but are there other expenses—for example, for consultants?
Ms Rita Saffioti: It includes 15 FTE for three years, for example, to determine a commercial framework for the new port, sustainability issues, change management and other issues, and legal services and other services in maritime policy to support the modelling and also the plan for Westport.
Ms Sandra Brewer: Is the minister able to table that breakdown?
The Chair: There is no ability to table documents during the estimates process.
Ms Sandra Brewer: Thank you. I will ask a question on notice.
I have another question relating to Westport. Again, I refer to page 549 and the paragraph on Westport. In relation to the figure of $17.4 million, what does "implement a suite of strategic initiatives … ensure the procurement of sustainable materials from … Western Australia, improve supply chain efficiencies" mean in the context of Westport?
Ms Rita Saffioti: We are initiating a number of initiatives early. The phrase "social licence" is sometimes overused in public policy, but I will use some "social licence". More particularly, it means implementing initiatives to help support the approvals process. For example, we are supporting artificial reefs to support Recfishwest. The replacement of the horse beach is a major issue; we are making sure we are working early to have a replacement horse beach. We are also scaling up seagrass replanting.
In relation to alternative materials, one of the concepts is to support the delivery of this major port in the new lower carbon environment and to look at new products that can be delivered to have a smaller environmental impact. We are also looking at how we can engage Aboriginal workers and trainees; for example, on Wilman Wadandi Highway, the undertaking of specific training and employment opportunities for Aboriginal workers in the region was highlighted. I think it actually won some awards for being one of the best training and employment packages for Aboriginal workers. These are all the things that we are starting early to make sure this port not only delivers the best port in the nation, but also has a lower carbon imprint and creates opportunities for the local Indigenous workforce.
(2:20 pm)
Mr Adam Hort: I refer to budget paper No 3, page 286, under "Metronet and Westport Roads Account". It states:
Forecast payments over the four years to 2028-29 comprise $545 million for roads associated with METRONET and $368 million for Westport road projects.
Can the minister provide a list of the roads associated with Metronet, broken down by the amount, adding up to $545 million?
Ms Rita Saffioti: Metronet is included in the Public Transport Authority section, which we are happy to answer under the PTA division. We are currently under the Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure division.
Mr Adam Hort: This is under roads attributed to Metronet and Westport. Is that not under the Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure ?
Ms Rita Saffioti: No. We are under Main Roads Western Australia or PTA.
Mr Shane Love: Under "Ongoing Initiatives" on page 548 of budget paper No 2, volume 2, there is an allocation of money for "Freight Rail Network - Commercial Options Analysis". I note that $1.2 million is expected to be expended this year—or has been, as it is now July—and $7.9 million for next year. Can the minister give me some idea of what has been purchased specifically with this allocation. Have consultants been engaged? What exactly has the money been spent on thus far?
Ms Rita Saffioti: We have employed some commercial advisers to support us in providing very detailed commercial and legal advice about bringing the rail network back under government control. As the member would expect, this is a very sensitive matter. It requires very detailed and thorough analysis and advice from both a legal perspective and an evaluation and commercial perspective. Initial advisers have been appointed. We are working with that advice and getting further information about how we proceed. As I was saying, this is not going to be easy. It is not going to be simple. It is going to be very complicated, but we think it is worth doing to support the farming community and the resources industry, and to make sure we can manage our road network across the regions. We know that decisions have been made that have sometimes meant we have not put freight and rail where we should and that we are sort of an interested bystander as negotiations happen between the privatised rail owner and industry. We believe this is fundamental to the economic growth of the state to seize opportunities for not only the farming industry but also the resources industry, which ensures that we can get onto the rail network stranded assets that may be more costly to take on road. It is something, I have to say, that all industries—farming and resources—and regional communities have very much backed.
Mr Shane Love: Are various commercial options being considered as an outcome, or is it all aimed at only one outcome—the state regaining ownership and control of the lease?
Ms Rita Saffioti: We really want to regain control. That is our number one objective. As I said, a week does not go by in which I do not get feedback from industry and industry participants saying how they have not been able to maybe commence operations or conclude a financial deal that allows them to, for example, develop a stranded resource out there because they are not able to access the rail network at a price that supports their profitability. As we know, there has been a lot of conjecture and discussion in the farming community over many years ever since Westrail was privatised and the freight network was leased. There has been a lot of discussion from farming communities about some of the net loss of profits from WA that are now going to an overseas-owned entity and how it would be great for the farmers to be able to, in a sense, pocket that or have that funding. They would rather those profits stay in WA than go offshore. As I said, this is not easy. I cannot actually think of it ever being done before. We are treading carefully to protect taxpayers and to make sure that we can get the best outcome for WA.
Mr Shane Love: In regard to the work that is being done, does the minister expect that there will be a full cost–benefit analysis done and presented to government? Will that eventually be made public?
Ms Rita Saffioti: It really depends on the price that is settled; that will drive the cost–benefit analysis. I can tell the member that, already, the massive economic loss of the privatisation of that network is significant. As I said, whether it is industry not being able to put its freight onto the rail, the maintenance and wear and tear on local roads and the impact that has on local communities, or some of the profits that are currently going offshore, there is significant economic justification for this. In relation to the price, I think the National Party or the Liberal Party tried to put a price on that to impact our negotiations, which I do not think was a wise thing to do. Trying to somehow over-inflate the expected price or go into bat for the private owner rather than taxpayers has not been a positive contribution to the debate.
Mr Shane Love: Do the considerations also involve a partnership with the Australian Rail Track Corporation insofar as the east–west rail line goes and splitting that from the rest of the network or not?
Ms Rita Saffioti: There has been a lot of discussion about freight rail over east, such as the Inland Rail project, which I think has cost billions of dollars already. I cannot remember the estimated cost of Inland Rail, but it is to the tune of billions and billions of dollars. That is all about making sure there is better freight connectivity on the east coast. Of course, supporting economic growth over there is a good thing, but we have always taken the view that we need to look at how we can better partner and get more benefits. The Albanese government has committed money to improve the state of the east–west rail line, particularly through South Australia. Issues of flooding and its impact on rail over the past few years has shown that we need to invest more across the nation. The Australian Rail Track Corporation, which owns and operates that rail line, has now been given significant money to help support that.
Some figures have been given to me. Again, these may not be completely verified, but what I have heard from industry is that, in some instances, it costs as much to move a container from Sydney to Kalgoorlie as it does from Kalgoorlie to Perth, which is interesting given the length of travel. With ARTC being a national company, there could be some huge benefit for it and us, but nothing has been concluded. There are a lot of interested parties who want to be part of this because they can see this being a nation-leading generational decision in Western Australia that will benefit the economy and the people of regional towns for decades to come.
(2:30 pm)
Ms Sandra Brewer: Will the minister provide a list of the resources companies or resources projects that are asking for the freight rail network buyback?
Ms Rita Saffioti: When we announced the commitment—I remember it was a hot day in Pinjarra—we had representatives from the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia and Co-operative Bulk Handling Ltd standing with us to back the commitment. They represent many companies—the biggest companies in the state—and some of the biggest economic players in the state. CBH, of course, is a major contributor to the state's farming industry and a big employer of people around the state. We stood next to the CCI, CBH and CME. In relation to who has asked me, it is more like who did not ask me to do something about the freight rail network. I think we should all recognise—this is not being political—that this was a very, very bad privatisation and the results have not been positive for the state. There have been committees. A parliamentary committee went through and assessed it. I hate to say it but it is one of those issues that everyone who has dealt with this area agrees on. I will not provide a list of companies, but what I will say, and maybe I can pass over the pictures from the press conference, is that we had the CME, CCI and CBH at that press conference.
Mr Adam Hort: I will be so bold as to return to page 286, but this time from a Westport perspective. I refer to the statement that forecast payments over the four years to 2028–29 comprise $386 million for Westport road projects. Can the minister provide a list of roads associated with Westport road projects broken down by the amounts adding up to $386 million?
Ms Rita Saffioti: I can tell the member that it is the Kwinana Freeway widening and some of the associated works around Thomas Road.
Mr Adam Hort: Can I just confirm that those two projects make up the $386 million?
Ms Rita Saffioti: Just in relation to the scope of works, I can provide further information under the Main Roads division. Sorry; Thomas Road is part of the Tonkin Highway extension. That is the other project we are delivering at the moment. It is primarily the Kwinana Freeway widening.
Mr Adam Hort: I have a new question, but this time I refer to page 561 of budget paper No 2 and the details of controlled grants and subsidies. I refer to the allocation of funds for road project development in relation to Westport. What road projects are being funded and developed by these funds, and are they different from what has been described so far?
Ms Rita Saffioti: It includes the associated Westport road projects, which are the widening of Kwinana Freeway, Anketell Road and Roe Highway, and the removal of the North Lake Road level crossing.
Mr Shane Love: I refer to page 561 of budget paper No 2 and the details of controlled grants and subsidies. The line item for coastal projects and zone management has an allocation this year of $4.7 million and then it falls in each of the out years to a little over $1 million. Why is this money falling away in the out years? Does the minister not understand that there are some serious coastal erosion issues up and down our coast?
Ms Rita Saffioti: In relation to the funding, some funds continue to go through the coastal adaptation protection grants and there are some specific initiatives that we roll out. We make those decisions over years as issues arise. There is baseline funding that will continue over the next four years, but those numbers are impacted by dedicated election commitments. For example, we still have one commitment for Drummond Cove that we have not finalised or rolled out because there has been some, I suppose, discussion, contention or lack of agreement in the community about what project we should be funding on that one. There is some funding for one-off projects in 2025–26, but, again, we take this very, very seriously. We have funded a whole range of initiatives. We work with councils on adaptation and mapping, noting that some of the responses and solutions differ up and down the coast depending on the approach by councils. We continue to roll out funding and will continue to make sure that we fund it over the forward estimates.
Mr Shane Love: Is there any capacity for local governments that have received a grant under this program to change the use of that allocation? In the case of Lancelin, one area of town was being slowly eroded, but, suddenly, a different area of town is now being eroded very rapidly and there is imminent threat of inundation in Lancelin.
Ms Rita Saffioti: I know about that issue. I have received a letter from the shire. We are working on that and hope to be able to provide an answer in relation to the switching of funds or funds more generally in the next few weeks.
Mr Shane Love: Has any thought been given in the development of future programs for there to be some sort of emergency funding and response ability for the state going forward?
Ms Rita Saffioti: There are the disaster relief payments. When infrastructure is impacted, it can be recovered through disaster relief payments if a disaster is declared. The other point that I think continues to be a big discussion between the Commonwealth and the state is whether, with disaster relief payments, it is funding for like-for-like infrastructure or it can be funding to improve the infrastructure. We know it is an issue, particularly in relation to roads and other infrastructure. Discussion has been had between emergency services ministers and Ministers for Transport like me about whether we can replace something that has been washed away or impacted by flooding or other impacts like coastal erosion or extreme weather events with better infrastructure to try to prevent the same thing from happening again. We had this discussion when the Fitzroy River Bridge was washed away. Initially, we were going to be funded 50–50 on a like-for-like basis, but we said that we wanted to make the bridge stronger, wider and a bit more resilient to the natural environment. As a result, we negotiated in that instance to be jointly funded for a strengthened piece of infrastructure.
Mr Shane Love: Thank you for the answer, minister. In the case of Lancelin, there has not been a disaster because it has not yet flooded. If we want to prevent it from becoming a disaster, surely it would be wise to be able to respond quickly in a situation such as that, which can happen very rapidly.
Ms Rita Saffioti: As I said, the letter from the shire is on my desk and we will be working through that very quickly.
Ms Sandra Brewer: I refer to budget paper No 2, page 550, under "Outcomes and Key Effectiveness Indicators", and learner drivers' licences and testing. Why is there no OKEI on the average waiting time for applicants, such as learner drivers, to sit a practical driving test to get their licence?
(2:40 pm)
Ms Rita Saffioti: I will refer that to the minister assisting.
Mrs Jessica Stojkovski: Thank you, member, for the question. There has been quite a bit of movement in driver's licence practical assessments over the last few years, predominantly driven by the number of people moving into Western Australia. We then had an issue in the system with practical driving assessment (PDA) slots being taken up by what we call bots, which was impacting the time taken for people to get into the system and book a driving assessment. PDAs are still being carried out by the Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure, and the time that is taking is reducing now because of ongoing recruitment of both assessors and staff in the driver and vehicle service centres. We have implemented a process to remove those bots from our system. Additionally, we have increased the number of specific driver and vehicle assessment centres, such as at Joondalup, and we are extending the hours at other centres as well. The member may have noticed that, as of yesterday, we extended the hours at Cannington, Mirrabooka and City West from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. In 2004 and 2005, we did what we called Saturday blitzes to move through those assessments. I might just hand over to Iain to give the member a bit more detail about the timing of those assessments.
Mr Iain Cameron:
We are chasing further KPIs in this space, and we are not the only state that is in that space. The system is live all the time. Essentially, it depends on where the candidate is, where they want to do their test, what sort of test it is and booking availability. As the minister said, in the last couple of years in response to population growth and the bots, we moved the booking system behind our firewall, if you like, so it is now part of DoTDirect. That enabled us to provide more security and more protection, which cut out the bots almost completely. It was part of a worldwide phenomenon I am told. My counterpart in London tells me they did not want to talk about graduated licensing; they wanted to talk about bots. They had, I think, about 630,000 people trying to get a test, but bots were snatching the bookings.
With the system being live, people can book online. The bookings are changing all the time, so we cannot get a reliable indicator or KPI. New South Wales uses a sort of surrogate figure of how many tests are left at the end of the day and average that out over a month and things like that. We do know that since those peak population growths and the bot use, complaints have dropped away dramatically. The short answer is that it is a live system and it depends on what class of vehicle people want to book for, so we cannot report an average wait time.
Mr Shane Love: Minister, I refer to completed works on page 557 and the line item "Towing Industry Reform Program". There was $130,000 spent this year on that program. That program is complete and various tow operators are concerned that the fee schedule is insufficient for them to continue in the business. Will the government reconsider the fees, which I think are set in regulation, so that these operators, who are longstanding family businesses in the metropolitan area, can continue into the future?
Ms Rita Saffioti: I refer that to the minister assisting.
Mrs Jessica Stojkovski: These reforms are not complete. This was phase 1 of the reforms, with two further phases to come. It is important to note that the maximum charge of $485 is for the first 50 kilometres of a tow. The regulation covers crash towing within two kilometres of the site, and the $485 maximum is for the first 50 kilometres of a tow. We have had extremely good feedback from many operators in the towing industry about these reforms. Many of them have contacted my office and that of the Minister for Transport and the former Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport to talk about how happy they are with the changes that have been made to their industry because they have impacted on the number of incidents on the roadside. We have seen that they have dramatically decreased. Anecdotally, Main Roads Western Australia has told us that instances of dangerous driving, down the edges of the freeways in particular, have substantially reduced. We have seen a decrease in the number of altercations on the side of the road. Essentially, we have cracked down on some of this behaviour around crash towing, which has meant that when people are in a crash tow situation and are at their most vulnerable on the side of the road they are not being ripped off by unscrupulous tow truck operators.
Mr Shane Love: Minister, I do not dispute that the reforms were needed and that there was a positive behavioural change, but that does not change the fact that these operators of family businesses came to me when I was the shadow Minister for Transport and outlined their case that they simply would not be able to continue in business under this fee structure. I am asking again whether there will there be a reconsideration of those fees.
Mrs Jessica Stojkovski: At the moment, we have, I think, the second highest crash towing service fee in the country, and it is only for the first 50 kilometres. We have had feedback from industry and from other operators who are saying that the existing system was not workable—potentially because some of the practices they were using were probably not to a standard that Western Australian drivers would expect from tow truck drivers. It is essential to remember that it is $485 for the first 50 kilometres, but after that distance, there is an option for differentiated levies.
There are two more phases to come in the tow truck reforms—one being for the driver and the other being for the businesses themselves. As we have seen in the media and heard from contacts made to my office and other members' offices, some unscrupulous behaviour is happening in other parts of the tow truck industry. We are open to how we might address that behaviour in upcoming reforms, but this reform is not completed, as the member claimed in his first question. This is definitely something that is ongoing.
Mr Shane Love: Would the minister be willing to meet with some of these smaller family businesses that claim they are unable to continue under the current fee structure?
Mrs Jessica Stojkovski: The department has met with a number of owners in this area. It has held a number of information sessions. That is the best way for owners to engage, because the sessions with the department are at a technical level, about very specific things. We are aware that some of the people the member is talking about have actually attended the department's briefing sessions and have been able to ask questions directly of the departmental staff.
Mr Rhys Williams: Minister, my question is in relation to the taxi services referred to on page 555. Is the minister concerned about compliance standards in the taxi industry?
(2:50 pm)
Ms Rita Saffioti: I thank the member. It has actually been drawn to my attention, and I will also ask the minister assisting to comment about some other reforms in the taxi industry, particularly the taxi user subsidy scheme. Numerous members of the public have drawn to my attention issues in relation to compliance in the taxi industry. A couple, in particular, relate to the use of the meter. Unless a journey has been pre-booked at a contracted fare, a taxidriver must set the meter in operation at the start of the journey and stop it at the end of the journey. That was part of the regulations when we undertook reform of the on-demand taxi industry. I have received a lot of emails and correspondence about taxidrivers not doing that. I have taken taxis in which I have been told that the meter is not working, and they try to set fares that I know would not be the metered fare. Another issue is identification and making sure that the driver's identification is prominently displayed in the vehicle. That is another key safeguard as part of our taxi reform—making sure that identification is clear. Of course, there are other regulations about taxidrivers having to accept any person as a passenger; there are strict reasons why they can refuse someone. As I said, it is something that has been brought to my attention a lot by members of the public, particularly the metering issue. That actually happened in Victoria quite a bit and had to be stamped out there, too. That was in relation to taxidrivers saying that their meters were broken—or setting fares. In relation to meter rates, sometimes they use the wrong fare per kilometre; that is another issue that has been raised with me.
I have asked my agency to undertake a compliance blitz to ensure that people who use taxis can do so in a regulated industry with regulations in place. For example, there is the "mystery shopper" concept, whereby undercover transport officials use taxis to make sure that the regulations are being adhered to. We want to make sure that we can continue to provide excellent services. On-demand transport reform was not easy; I brought that in, and it was a pretty hard few years, but the whole aim was to make sure that we lifted the standards across the industry and, in relation to other on-demand services, making sure the on-demand transport company was very visible. Again, there are some instances in which the signs for Uber, for example, are not as visible as we would like. We are very much keen to do that, and, as I said, I have instructed my agency to undertake a compliance blitz to make sure that those regulations are operating as they were intended.
I might refer to the Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport in relation to some of the changes in the transport user subsidy scheme.
The Chair: Minister assisting, I note that this division ends at 3:00 pm.
Mrs Jessica Stojkovski: Thank you, Chair. I thank the member for the question. As the member might be aware, we also operate a passenger transport subsidy scheme in Western Australia that historically has been a paper-based scheme. Understanding that there have been some compliance issues, we are actually moving this to a new card and mobile app system. This will not only help to weed out any of the compliance issues, but also make it a lot easier for passengers who use that scheme, some of whom have mobility issues or a variety of other issues that make them eligible for the passenger transport subsidy scheme. This will also allow taxidrivers to focus on making the drives as comfortable and safe as possible for this cohort of passengers. It is legislated in WA that all taxidrivers accept PTSS journeys. That will form part of this crackdown on making sure that taxidrivers are doing the right thing.
Ms Sandra Brewer: In relation to the total cost of services, I am going to refer to page 551 and strategic infrastructure policy and integrated planning. There is growth in the number of full-time employees that I want to understand, with 73 full-time equivalents and 27% growth in the number of staff in this particular unit. How many of those are due to the transfer of the Office of Major Health Infrastructure Delivery?
Ms Rita Saffioti: Page 552 notes:
The increase in the 2025-26 Budget Target is due to the progression of planning for the Westport program of works and the transfer of the Office of Major Health Infrastructure Delivery to the Department.
Ms Sandra Brewer: The further question is: how many full-time equivalents are involved in the transfer of that department?
Ms Rita Saffioti: We are just making sure we can get a full breakdown of that number.
I can give the member the breakdown of where those staff are coming from. Some are coming from the major projects unit in the Department of Finance; others are coming from the Office of Major Health Infrastructure Delivery; and there are some additional staff into the Westport office. That is the breakdown of those three. It is sort of a collection. Some are coming from the Department of Finance because they have specific skills in major procurement; some are coming from the Office of Major Health Infrastructure Delivery, which rests in the Department of Health; and some are coming from our additional staff in Westport. There is a breakdown of that number.
Ms Sandra Brewer: I have a further question. The Office of Major Transport Infrastructure Delivery is also in that team. I refer to the establishment of OMTID and I ask how many FTEs are in that unit.
The Chair: I note that there is only a bit of time left, minister; there is only a minute left for this section.
Ms Rita Saffioti: The Office of Major Transport Infrastructure Delivery has been established now for about four or five years. It was established in 2020—five years ago. This means that OMTID will report to OMID. The Office of Major Infrastructure Delivery will comprise OMTID and other areas like Westport, Metronet, health infrastructure and other major projects.
The appropriation was recommended.
(3:00 pm)
