Hansard

Address-in-Reply

Address-in-Reply

Motion

Resumed from 8 April 2025 on the following motion moved by Mrs Lorna Clarke:

That the following Address-in-Reply to His Excellency’s speech be agreed to —

To His Excellency the Honourable Christopher Dawson AC APM, Governor of the State of Western Australia.

May it please Your Excellency —

We, the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the State of Western Australia in Parliament assembled, beg to express loyalty to our Most Gracious Sovereign, and to thank Your Excellency for the speech you have been pleased to address to Parliament.

Mr Shane Love (Mid-West—Leader of the Nationals WA) (3:14 pm): Thank you, Acting Speaker, and welcome back.

The Acting Speaker (Mrs Lisa Munday): Thank you.

Mr Shane Love: I rise to respond to the Governor's address. As the Leader of the Nationals WA, I am very aware of the great diversity that we have in Western Australia. Right from the Kimberley through to the Wheatbelt and from the Goldfields down to the Great Southern and across to the South West, Western Australia is an area of great diversity and, increasingly, we are seeing within Western Australia some very complex issues that need to be addressed. But before I get to those, I would like to talk a little bit about the past election.

Over the 112-year history of the National Party, there have been rumours of our extinction many times. If we think back to 2008, which was the one vote, one value election, when the seat of Greenough disappeared and was merged into the seats of Geraldton and Moore, which is my own area, we know that many regional voices were silenced. Once again it was said at this election that the Nationals faced an existential threat with the changes to the upper house, the Legislative Council, and the representation in that chamber. But, in the face of that attack, the Nationals have fought back. In fact, we have come back with double the number of members we had in the Legislative Assembly prior to the election. I congratulate all my colleagues who have been elected to Parliament—the four individuals behind me—and have taken their place this week for the first time in Parliament, just as I congratulate members of the Liberal Party who have also similarly been elected.

For the first time since the 1940s, the Nationals have had a member elected for the seat of Geraldton, so congratulations to the member for Geraldton. It was the 1950s when Albany was last held by the Nationals at an election, and we have here our member for Albany. It is a fantastic achievement for both the party and those individuals concerned, not to mention the returning members for the seats of Central Wheatbelt and Roe. The seat of Warren–Blackwood has come back into the fold after one small term of voter regret, when they happened to have a dalliance with the Labor Party, but it did not last too long and they are back in the fold now.

We know that the path back to winning Geraldton and Albany has been a long and, at times, hard one. I remember when Hon Paul Brown—he is still an honourable fellow, but he was given that title because of his position in the Legislative Council—resigned from the Council to contest the seat of Geraldton in 2017. He was unsuccessful, but, in doing so, I think he set the path towards reclaiming that seat. It is often from smaller beginnings, when we start with a lesser result, that, over time, a seat is finally taken.

I believe the campaign in Geraldton was very remarkable. I put it down to a number of things. First of all, I would like to acknowledge Rob Horstman, who was the chair of the campaigns for Geraldton and the Mid-West. He played a big part in seeing the resurgence of the Nationals in that general area. Despite a four-cornered contest, because a strong independent former mayor of the City of Geraldton ran, as did candidates from the Liberal and Labor Parties and a bunch of other people, our fantastic candidate had a stunning result and pushed me into fourth position on the leader's table in terms of margins held by the National Party in Parliament. It was a fantastic result for Geraldton. Well done to Kirrilee Warr.

I would like to make some note about Northampton. People might be aware that the Northampton Football Club, the Rams, is known for producing AFL players well above the weight of the numbers in the town, including Daniel Chick and Andrew Lockyer, who I think was the first AFL player to come from there. Of course, other players include Paddy Cripps, who is the reigning Brownlow Medallist and a dual Brownlow Medallist. The Northampton Rams show that Northampton punches above its weight as a footy club and as a community.

The Northampton branch of the Nationals WA was actually defunct when I became member for Moore, and Moore included Northampton until the last election. With the help of people like Peter and Ann Cripps, Hon Murray Criddle and others, we got that branch up and running. Quite extraordinarily, I think there are about 30 members in the entire branch. There are now three members of Parliament serving in the 42nd Parliament from that branch. We have Kirrilee here from Geraldton, Rob Horstman, member-elect for the Legislative Council, and Julie Freeman. One comes from Mullewa, the member for Geraldton is the former President of the Shire of Chapman Valley and Rob Horstman was Deputy President of the Shire of Northampton. There truly is something in the air or the water around the Northampton – Chapman Valley – Mullewa environs. It is a great sadness to me in a way that they are no longer part of my constituency, but I have now moved on to other areas that I need to represent.

Although we are not on the government benches, I think progress has been made towards government. I feel that in the last couple of days in this chamber, there is a renewed enthusiasm, and fresh minds are being applied to the task of opposition. I think this is going to be a very exciting time as we head towards the 2029 election and the change of government that will inevitably occur in 2029 when the people of Western Australia wake up to the fact that this government has run out of ideas and has no idea what it is doing next and no comeback. It will come across to a side that has fresh ideas, fresh voices and fresh people willing to make a difference for their state and their community.

Talking about people wanting to make a difference for their state and their community, I would like to particularly thank the Nationals' campaign director, Nathan Quigley. It was a fantastic result. With scant resources, Nathan really put together a great campaign that was highly targeted and made sure that we made the most of every dollar and every interaction with a potential voter. Nathan is not one to waste time with people who have already made up their minds. He is very much aware of making sure that those people who can be persuaded are persuaded to change their views and to make sure they throw their support behind our politics and our side.

I would also like to thank state director Julie Kirby and our campaign chair and state president Julie Freeman and a whole bunch of people in the state secretariat who did a lot of work, including the former member for Moore in the Youth Parliament in two terms, Peta Humphreys, one of the outstanding young people coming through from the electorate of Moore, now Mid-West, who are going to make a big impact in WA politics into the future.

To my Leader of the Opposition (LOOP) team and now leader of the second party (LOSP) team, thank you very much. Thank you very much to all of those people who made such a tremendous contribution to the campaign. To Heather York, my chief of staff, and to all of her crew—some of them are up there actually—Erin and Kate, thank you very much. Cale, Holly, Zoe, Heather and a whole bunch of other people who have been involved—

Mr Peter Rundle: Coral.

Mr Shane Love: Coral, yes. I do not want to leave anybody out. They have all done a tremendous job—so thank you very much—as we made our way through the state. The loss of a seat in the Legislative Assembly occurred when Moore was abolished and merged with sections of the old seat of North West Central, which was also abolished. That occurred at a time when we already faced a situation in which 18 dedicated voices were being lost from regional WA. The six members who were dedicated to the Agricultural Region, the six members dedicated to the Mining and Pastoral Region and the six members dedicated to the South West Region are no longer dedicated to any geographic footprint. The 37 members who will make up the chamber now all represent the whole of the state. We know that nobody can represent the whole of the state as a representative and represent that district or region. That is a nonsense. We will see that instead of a chamber in which there is a level of representation of a constituency, it will morph into a chamber in which people will represent the views of a particular political party and nothing else. It will fundamentally change over time the structure and the demeanour of that chamber, and I think it is a change that will not serve the state well.

Returning to the seat of Mid-West, this new seat has an extensive area of 423,508 square kilometres. I do not know whether or not there are any fewer hectares extra in there, but that is a fair whack of country—about twice the size of Victoria and 16.8% of the state's landmass. It stretches from the outskirts of the Perth metropolitan area. If you go to Two Rocks and about two kays north of where the Atlantis statue is, that is the start of the Mid-West electorate. It runs all the way up to Coral Bay, skirts around the seat of Geraldton, which is now extended a little bit and goes up and encompasses Northampton, Chapman Valley and the old Mullewa shire, which used to be in the seat of Moore. Elements of the seat of Moore have also shifted into Central Wheatbelt. I will no longer be able to go as the local member to Toodyay and hold court at the Toodyay Bakery.

Mr Lachlan Hunter: They still love you.

Mr Shane Love: I might go there for the federal election if you will let me and I will stand at the booth there for you. We know that this is a vast area that not only goes up the coast that way, but also heads inland from Muchea up past Meekatharra, nearly to Newman, in fact. That is the extent of it. The area has extraordinary differences in landscapes. There are the Chittering foothills in the Perth area. It runs up through the inland plains right up into the more arid pastoral country, across to the coast where there is some desert coast in the Gascoyne Coast, the Ningaloo Reef and Shark Bay et cetera down into areas just outside of Perth, such as Guilderton, Lancelin and others. It is a diverse area with a diversity of industries.

People might not know that the Mid-West electorate, for instance, has very significant connection to space exploration with the Square Kilometre Array, which is at the old Belardi station in the Murchison area. There is also significant satellite tracking and packaging facilities in the Mingenew shire. Some of them are run by NASA; a lot are run by private enterprise. That is a little untold story that people know nothing about.

Also, of course, down in Gingin, people know the Gravity Discovery Centre down there but they might not know that it played a significant role in proving the theory of relativity and being one of those areas that helped to establish—

Mr David Michael: I reckon you guys need a bit of that!

Mr Shane Love: Oh, yes, you keep quiet. It is an amazing and diverse variety of very high-tech space and exploration and satellite support networks through to the more traditional industries such as fishing and tourism, mining and mineral processing and a huge range of cultural industries from broadacre farming, horticulture, viticulture, pastoralism—you name it and it is in that region. People may not know that the Gingin area is one of the largest horticultural and vegetable-growing areas in the state. It is right on the doorstep of Perth. Although Carnarvon is much better known for its magnificent produce, I think by scale it is somewhat smaller than what is produced around Gingin as a total amount of product. There are some very huge vegetable operations in that area.

Of course, there are significant mining industries. There is a lot of iron ore, mineral sands and mineral processing. We are seeing communities from as far apart as Meekatharra down to Cataby and Eneabba, where there is a huge amount of industrial development for mining. At Eneabba, Iluka is developing its rare earths refinery facility. It is a multibillion-dollar project and, of course, at Meekatharra and other areas we are seeing the development of vanadium and other critical minerals into the future.

One of the other major industries in the area is construction, because an awful lot of houses are being built in that area, as well as industrial complexes, with the construction that goes with those. We are seeing a huge amount of construction and new housing going in to communities like Jurien Bay, Gingin, some of the Chittering communities and Dongara. Most of the Mid-West and Gascoyne regions encompass those large, expansive industries of mining and agriculture, shared with the seat of Geraldton, and together they produce the equivalent of about $7 billion worth of products.

As I have said, the area has some of the most unique and iconic destinations in the state, from Ningaloo Reef, up near Coral Bay, down through Shark Bay—all World Heritage areas—and across to Mount Augustus, also known as Burringurrah, which, of course, is the largest rock in the world. I will not get into whether it is a monolith or an anticline—I will leave that to the experts—but it is a big rock. I have climbed it, and I got lost when I was coming down. My son, Kieran, who was here yesterday, had to go up and find me. I said I was not lost and I was just having a look around, but, no, I was lost! Fortunately, I did not come to any harm.

Of course, the communities are very, very much focused on sometimes getting together and having fun. There are amazing events such as the Gascoyne Food Festival, the Gascoyne Dash, and the Meekatharra Outback Festival and Races, which is one of the major events right across the area in the south. The area has a lot of shows, although Moora has both a show and a race meeting. There are race meetings in a lot of other communities like Mingenew and Dongara. Poor old Mingenew has had a couple of cancellations of late and had a hard time with its race meetings, but they are still a big part of the town. In other areas such as Landor, Mount Magnet, Gascoyne Junction and Carnarvon the race rounds are vital for the community. I note that during the election campaign a policy for a $25 million country racing infrastructure fund was being worked through with the then Minister for Racing and Gaming and the industry. Then, all of a sudden, it was not a thing; it was just something the government had been discussing. So of course the Nationals WA came to the party and we said we would back that $25 million of infrastructure for country racing for them. I am happy to say that the government backflipped and listened on that occasion. That was a bit of a pattern through the election campaign. We would make an announcement and the next thing the government was doing it. We had a $100 million announcement about the Patient Assisted Travel Scheme because it is woefully inadequate.

(Member's time extended.)

Mr Shane Love: We know that is woefully inadequate and so we stumped up $100 million, and Labor put in place a similar policy. We will call that a win for the National Party in both country racing and the PATS policy.

There is also greater protection for the fishing industry. The fishers came to us and said that the government had done away with the Aquatic Resources Management Act, something the Premier called a dog of an act, and that we would go back to the Fish Resources Management Act. There was no effort on that from the government. In fact, the government refused to provide greater security of tenure for fishing industry licences. So we said we were right behind the fishing families and the industry. The Liberal Party then also said the same and, lo and behold, the government caved in because it did not want to face up to concerted campaigns in towns like Geraldton, Albany and other areas that were shaping up to be very, very difficult for the government to win as it was, let alone without having the fishing families on its back. That was a great outcome for the fishing industry. If only everybody else could get such a backflip.

This government has let communities down in so many ways. One of the great bugbears of most communities in regional WA that I have been through, from Kununurra all the way through to the south, but especially in the north and in the Goldfields, has been rising crime. It was a big issue in Geraldton, and it is a big issue in the Kimberley, the Pilbara, Kalgoorlie, the Mid-West and in so many communities. People feel unsafe in their own communities. We put together a very strong package to address that. The police recruitment that this government has said it will do is yet again another measure it announced, but nothing ever changes. There does not seem to be an end to the crime and the problems. We see under-resourced police, and other services are leaving the community and therefore communities are losing heart.

Our primary producers and farmers face uncertainty. The live sheep export ban of the Albanese government is wreaking havoc right across WA. I and other members have attended rallies with Keep the Sheep and other groups. There is also a lot of support from people in the farming industries who are very, very concerned, quietly concerned, about it as well—not necessarily going to those protests, but putting up signs on their fence and making sure that their voices are added to the concern about that real problem.

The record of this government on regions is not good. It shut down the native forest logging industry. We saw the botched Aboriginal cultural heritage legislation, which has let the genie out of the bottle in Western Australia. We now see the farming industry and local governments somewhat hamstrung in their ability to go about their business because of the ramifications that flow from that Aboriginal cultural heritage situation. This government says that it backed live exports but it actually did very little to make its voice known in that regard.

This government also set about to demonise a significant number of people in the community who happened to be law-abiding citizens who owned a firearm. That has been, I think, one of the stories of the election. I have had people who have been long-time union members, some of them union officials, tell me they will never vote Labor again because of what it has done with firearms. I make a genuine and sincere appeal to the Minister for Police, the member for Baldivis, to adopt a fairer and more considered approach towards firearms law reform. There was a bloody-minded attitude from the former Minister for Police, who seemed to want to make people feel that their neighbours were a threat to them and to actively divide and cause fear in the community without providing any benefit. I think that has been one of the reasons that many regional people turned against Labor at the last vote.

The pressures our communities face are still there. There needs to be a genuine commitment to regional development. It is no good to strip away regional representation and ignore the regions and then suddenly say, "Remember, the former government back in the day had regional ministers." Now we will have some city-based minister responsible for ensuring that all the problems in the Kimberley or the Pilbara are fixed. What about the government's member for Pilbara or member for Kimberley? Why does the government not start listening to them? It has not been listening or maybe they are not speaking. We suspect that is what has happened. That is what happened in Geraldton, Albany and other places like Warren–Blackwood. People had enough of that. They wanted someone who would have a voice and speak up for them.

Under this government we have seen the progressive watering down of royalties for regions over the years, to the point the program has often been used to subsidise government services. It is still being used to subsidise or to pay for the entirety of the orange school bus fleet, even though some of those buses actually operate in the city. It has also been used to prop up TAFE services. The government talks about how cheap TAFE services are but it does not tell people that it is raiding royalties for regions to help to pay for some of that.

We know that this is a government that has actually had very little regard for regional development. A number of times in the last Parliament, with the last Minister for Regional Development, I held up a very thin—I think, 13-page—glossy, which was the sum total of the regional development policy of the government of Western Australia. What a disgrace. That will not happen under a government that we are part of. We would make sure that Royalties for Regions is protected and that the people in regional Western Australia are actually understood and listened to. We would be a party in government that would make sure that there were processes in place and a pathway for people to come forward and bring their ideas to government. We are a party that is connected to local communities and we understand those local communities. That, I think, is one of the reasons our message resonated with many people in Perth.

I spoke earlier about "from little things, big things grow". I would like to pay particular tribute to all the candidates who stood for us in the state election, including those people who stood in the metropolitan area. They have taken the first step on a very large journey. Every big journey starts with one step and those candidates have taken that step for the National Party. I thank them for their participation. I also note that our message is resonating with many people who are coming forward wanting to form branch structures within their local communities in the metropolitan area, so that they can further develop the National Party presence in the metropolitan area. Once upon a time the National Party had one amorphous metro branch that covered the whole metropolitan area. We still have such a branch, but we are increasingly seeing new branches being developed that are more electorate-focused or geographically focused, such as the hills branch, the Applecross branch and the South Perth branch. These are people who are coming forward with the genuine understanding that they need the commonsense politics that the National Party brings to this chamber and to the Parliament.

What else do we know? We know that our democratic process is very, very precious and we know that the situation in this last election was anything but perfect. The conduct of the 2025 state election revealed very serious weaknesses in the government's stewardship of our democratic processes. Reports of ballot paper shortages, poorly trained staff and administrative failings were widespread. In some cases, we have heard about voters being turned away and denied their democratic right to participate in the election. The Governor, in his address to Parliament yesterday, noted the importance of trust and political stability in Western Australia, and that we, Western Australian elected representatives, should remain ever-vigilant in keeping our representative democracy working effectively. What we saw in the 2025 state election fell well short of that. As I said, we have seen all the things that we have highlighted in the press and in Parliament, and we know that that is unacceptable for any democracy—least of all a mature democracy in a state as prosperous as this one. This is the 42nd Western Australian Parliament; one would have thought that, after 42 Parliaments, we would actually know how to do it. This time around, the Western Australian Electoral Commission had the benefit of knowing the exact date on which the election would be held. That has not been available to electoral commissioners in the past.

Amendment to motion

Mr Shane Love: In view of that, I move the following amendment to the motion for Address-in-Reply:

That the following words be added to the motion:

but respectfully regrets the conduct of the 2025 state election and condemns the Labor government for failing to ensure the election was conducted in a competent, fair and orderly manner, resulting in widespread reported ballot paper shortages, poorly trained staff, and administrative failures that undermined public confidence and, in some cases, denied Western Australians their democratic right to vote.

Mr Basil Zempilas (Churchlands—Leader of the Opposition) (3:44 pm): I wish to rise to contribute to this important amendment on behalf of the opposition, and I thank the Leader of the Nationals WA for his leadership in this space. As we all know, elections are typically a proud exercise in democracy here in Western Australia. Fortunately, they are very peaceful, they have typically been reliable, and they have been conducted with integrity, and that is something that we all hold very dear to our system here in Western Australia. It is precisely because these standards are so deeply ingrained in our civic life that the serious issues surrounding the 2025 state election are cause for concern.

From the outset, I must emphasise that we support the government's announcement of an independent special inquiry into the conduct of the state election, and I acknowledge the Premier—who has just left the chamber—for his willingness to consult the opposition on the terms of reference. I took a call from the Premier—I know that the Leader of the Nationals did also—before the government framed the terms of reference for the inquiry and the membership of the reference panel that will support that inquiry. Quite rightly, the inquiry's terms of reference go to the structures and processes that protect our democracy. This should not be about assigning personal blame and it should not be about singling out individuals' failings. However, it is very clearly about accountability, as it should be. Where does that accountability reside, and how was it exercised, or not exercised, in the planning and delivery of this election? These are not abstract questions, and the people of Western Australia really do deserve some answers.

There are a number of questions, notwithstanding the independence of the WA Electoral Commission and given the importance of electoral integrity, and questions that should and rightfully will be raised. Did cabinet consider the decisions around the outsourcing of elements of the planning and management of the election? If not, why not? Specifically, were the Premier, the Attorney General and other senior ministers aware of the changes made to deliver this election? Did they support these changes? If they were not aware, why were they not informed? As the Leader of the National Party rightly pointed out in his contribution, the problems that have been highlighted across the state were not just theoretical; they were real and visible to thousands of Western Australians on polling day.

I was on a television panel on election night with Minister Carey opposite me, and one of his opening addresses on the panel was to highlight to everybody around the state that he had been at his polling booth directing people to another polling booth. That was clearly a concern for a minister of this government on election night. Voters across the state experienced lengthy wait times and polling stations ran out of ballot papers. We still do not have any clarity on whether voters were turned away and, if so, how many and where were they turned away to?

The problems that marred the 2025 state election cannot be dismissed as minor glitches or unfortunate coincidences. We know that there were too many of them for it to be in that category. They reveal a deeper and more concerning issue—namely, a breakdown in governance, transparency and, I think, accountability in the administration of our democracy. At the heart of this election's failure was the WA Electoral Commission's decision to outsource responsibility for the recruitment, onboarding and deployment of approximately 7,000 personnel across 682 polling locations statewide. That is a lot of people and a lot of polling booths—7,000 personnel across 682 polling locations around this state.

We need to be clear on this: PersolKelly was not tasked with assisting around the edges. It provided a lot of people, and this responsibility was central to the delivery of the state election. Unfortunately, the exercising of this responsibility did not occur as intended, and issues were identified at polling centres right across the state, including some of those in Churchlands; I saw that firsthand. Despite claims that every polling place was staffed, reports from across the state reveal that the system was stretched beyond its limits. There were understaffed booths, inadequately trained workers and confusion over the basic voting procedures. In some locations, polling stations ran out of ballot papers early in the day. As members know, a number of our counts were heavily scrutinised. We counted, recounted and recounted again. I am looking at the member for Kalamunda sitting behind me—the very reason that seven of us are sitting over here! I had messages coming from the member for Kalamunda saying that scrutineers observed with their own eyes hand-written ballot papers. There are a lot of things that we expect in the state of Western Australia, but that is not one of them. We do not expect in Western Australia a great number of hand-drawn ballot papers.

Training was described by some as minimal to non-existent, with booth workers left unprepared for the complexities of managing election day processes. These problems were not just inconvenient. They were a serious breach of the standards expected in the conduct of a democratic election. I hear from somewhere over there that these are standard practices. No, they are not. In Western Australia, they are not.

Several members interjected.

The Acting Speaker: Go ahead, Leader of the Opposition.

Mr Basil Zempilas: Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

These problems were not just inconvenient; they were a serious breach of the standards expected in the conduct of a democratic election, yet we hear chatter and laughter from over there. In reality, however, only 557,000 of the 1.8 million eligible voters had voted by 8 March—350,000 fewer than expected. Despite the Western Australian Electoral Commission's planning assuming that 50% of voters would vote early, in line with turnout patterns in 2021, that was not the case. There was a miscalculation of early voter turnout; something went wrong.

I would like to reiterate that our concerns are not just about a flawed delivery contract. It is also about a systemic failure in decision-making. Due diligence was evidently lacking and no contingency was in place when things began to unravel. Governance in elections is not a luxury. It is not something to laugh about; it is a necessity. The people of Western Australia deserve a system that is not only operationally sound, but also transparent, accountable and subject to oversight.

The cornerstone of any democracy is trust—trust that the systems underpinning our democratic processes are fair, reliable and properly administered. When that trust is eroded, as it was during the 2025 state election, it demands not just reflection but also reform to ensure that the same mistakes are not repeated. They should never be repeated. We should never again have an election like the 2025 state election. As I stated earlier, the opposition supports the government's decision to establish a special inquiry into the planning and conduct of the election. The inquiry is quite rightly independent of the agencies it is tasked with reviewing. It must be comprehensive and it must examine not just what went wrong, but how and why and who is accountable, and it must provide recommendations to ensure that the shortcomings of this election are never repeated. The people of Western Australia deserve no less.

I do not intend to go through the terms of reference one by one in order, but they are supported by the opposition and include the resourcing of polling places, training quality, ballot paper allocation and the slow counting of votes after election day. However, we consider particularly important the review of the decision-making process around outsourcing, as outlined in the inquiry's scope. The inquiry must examine whether the current governance model provides sufficient oversight and accountability. The fact that significant changes to election delivery occurred potentially without cabinet briefing or ministerial awareness is deeply concerning. If no due diligence was conducted at the executive level, no risk assessments reviewed and no mitigation strategies discussed in the event of a system-wide failure, that is not merely an oversight; it is a dereliction of duty. The public has a right to know: Who authorised this contract? Why was no red flag raised internally about the scope and risk of this arrangement? Why was no mechanism in place to ensure political accountability for decisions with such profound implications? We believe serious consideration must be given to whether change is needed to ensure that cabinet is informed or even required to sign off on substantial structural changes to election delivery in the future. This failure did not happen in a vacuum; it happened in a system in which no one sounded the alarm, critical decisions were made, perhaps without scrutiny, and those ultimately responsible claimed they were unaware.

Before I conclude, I take this opportunity to thank the many workers who signed up for the day or for the additional periods, whether it was via PersolKelly or directly through the Western Australian Electoral Commission—those many hardworking people who did their duty, did their jobs and worked very hard to make sure that procedures and processes ran as smoothly as possible despite other difficulties at their polling booth. We owe all those people a great debt of gratitude. In particular, many of them worked under severe pressure because of the circumstances that we have described, and for them and to them we say a significant thankyou. They helped us and helped Western Australia serve its ultimate democratic right and duty to make sure that our elections are fair, open, accountable and balanced.

The Liberal Party will stand behind any reform—legislative, procedural or structural—that strengthens the integrity, transparency and resilience of our electoral system. Public faith in democratic institutions is hard won and, as we know, easily lost. We cannot risk that. The damage caused by the 2025 election does not just affect those who waited hours in line, were handed handwritten ballots or were turned away altogether; it affects every member of our community who relies on a stable, functioning democracy to uphold their voice.

Ms Sandra Brewer (Cottesloe) (3:55 pm): It is my pleasure to support this amendment today. Parliaments exist to express the will of the people. The ceremonial commencement of the 42nd Parliament yesterday reminds us of the grave importance of the process of electing our representatives, having them speak on our behalf and make decisions that will shape our collective future. The opportunity to express one's will is the very cornerstone of individual participation in civil society. In the electorate of Cottesloe, which has a very large proportion of older people, their determination to participate democratically was evident every day at the pre-polling booth at the Cottesloe Civic Centre. Elderly and infirm Western Australians overcame significant obstacles, both physical and practical, to cast their vote in person. These elderly Western Australians were driven to exercise their individual right to hover the pencil over the ballot paper and express their choice of candidate, the one who best represents their values and aspirations for WA, our economy and our society. Consequently, the Cook Labor government's mismanagement of the WA state election is far more than a bitter disappointment; it represents a fundamental violation of public faith in the very foundation of our democracy. Western Australians who trusted the government to deliver a fair and independent election process have had that trust shaken. After following years of media drama from the United States filled with accusations of elections being "stolen" or "rigged", Western Australians thought we would never see the day we would doubt the veracity of our own election process.

When the Governor spoke yesterday in the Legislative Council, he said that when he swore in this government's ministry, he remarked:

… trust is a privilege.

This is a compact of trust between the people and their chosen representatives.

You must cherish that trust and protect it fiercely, because, as we can all observe in some parts of the world, that trust and faith in the democratic process is being undermined.

He went on to say:

Democracy does not just happen. It requires constant effort and vigilance to keep our representative democracy working effectively from all sides …

He said to ministers:

It is expected that you work to strengthen our democracy.

That you undertake your responsibilities with integrity, diligence, respect and humility.

The concern from members of my community in the electorate of Cottesloe is palpable. Individuals are disillusioned, dismayed and deeply concerned by what has unfolded, like my constituent from Cottesloe, who shared her concern that her father in hospital was unable to vote. According to my notes, she wrote:

"I currently have a family member in hospital … and he was told that someone from the electoral commission would deliver and collect ballot papers to everyone in his ward on election day. But this never happened. As I write this,—

At the end of March—

he had still not had opportunity to vote. If this is indicative of the lack of access all hospital patients have had to voting this year, I would feel … concerned."

She further wrote that this seems like an appalling oversight. This incident raises serious concerns about whether the right to vote was upheld in all circumstances.

Another Western Australian contacted me to share his experience of working in the state election, and his appraisal was brutal. According to my notes, he said:

I have worked on about ten elections in both New Zealand and Australia and this was the worst experience I have ever encountered.

He provided a detailed account of the online registration and induction program handled by the private, outsourced labour hire firm. He described a recruitment and training process so disjointed that he was left confused as to whom he was actually employed by and working for—the Western Australian Electoral Commission, PersolKelly or Go Programmed. His account of working on polling day was a tale of disaster too long to share in Parliament today, but his conclusion sums it up:

… although I am an experienced Electoral Polling Booth Officer, I don't think I would offer my services to the WAEC again. The whole experience left me feeling that the management of the election was ill conceived, poorly planned and badly managed.

Training was negligible and staff were not appropriate for the skills required of the positions they were given. On the day staff had to work long and hard ... and a month on I am still waiting to be fully paid. This is totally unacceptable, and I felt for both the punters who queued up for hours only to be told they could not vote due to lack of papers, as well as my staff who had to tolerate frustrated and angry voters. None of us thought we would be subject to this …

Regrettably, these accounts are not isolated anecdotes of electoral mismanagement. These scathing assessments of the electoral process echo concerns issued by countless Western Australians. The problems detailed a hospital patient denied their vote and a polling booth officer appalled by inadequate training, insufficient staffing, delayed payment and compromised voter participation. They are not exceptions. They are indicative of the systematic and structural failures in the management of this election—a breakdown of the very systems foundational to our democracy.

As someone with extensive private sector experience, I understand that good management, systems and processes are critical to achieving goals. The WAEC had one simple goal: deliver a fair and independent election to allow every Western Australian to express their view on who would best represent them. On that simple mandate it failed, and the government failed in its oversight. It seems to me to be a case that the government relied on assurances of the leadership of the WAEC. This is simply inadequate. Any qualified company director knows that the role of the oversight of organisations is not to simply accept what the CEO tells you; it is to inquire, delve and verify. The government's announcement that Hon Malcolm McCusker AC KC will lead a comprehensive, independent special inquiry into the management of the 2025 state election is welcome, but the fact is that it should not be necessary and, frankly, it is cold comfort to those Western Australians outraged by this electoral mismanagement. Our democracy should be upheld through strong foundations and proactive government oversight, not rescued through retrospective damage control.

The Cook Labor government had a responsibility to provide adequate supervision and oversight of the management of the WA state election in 2025, and it failed in that responsibility. It had the sacred task of overseeing the processes that safeguard our democracy. The government has failed the people of Western Australia, and, as a community, we deserve to feel aggrieved.

Mr Peter Rundle (Roe) (4:03 pm): I also wish to draw a brief conclusion to the amendment moved by the Leader of the Nationals WA and express my distress, I would say, about the running of the WA election. I will give some examples from my electorate of Roe, where early on in the weeks leading up to the election, we heard about experiences of competent electoral staff from previous elections who were basically being ignored or overlooked or not contacted to work. I remember hearing while driving back to the farm in Katanning the WA Electoral Commissioner say on the radio with Nadia Mitsopoulos that the electorate of Roe was having problems with staff and that it looked like it was not going to be able to man all the pre-polling booths or the polling booths. Some of these issues were cropping up weeks ahead of the election. We heard that Narrogin was going to be bypassed because of a lack of staff, when, in actual fact, I later found out it was the location that was the trouble, and the staff who wanted to work on the election were concerned. We then of course heard the rumblings about the outsourcing of the core business of the Western Australian Electoral Commission to run the WA state election. Little did we know how incompetent that partnership was going to be, and the added bonus cost of $86 million over two elections. It is right to investigate this debacle as it is taxpayers' money.

Over time, we have heard former Premier Hon Mark McGowan say that electoral reform was not on the agenda: "We are not going to change the upper house." Seven times he answered the same question from Dan Mercer in the seat of Albany. Standing there one day, he said, "Look, it is not on the agenda. We're not going to change the structure of the upper house." Sure enough, the first piece of legislation that he and the former Attorney General came back with was to change the structure of the upper house! Therefore, members can understand the cynicism from this side of the chamber when we saw the performance from the previous Premier, and now we have seen this latest performance. It is quite amazing.

I remember the budget estimates process when the former member for Central Wheatbelt, Hon Mia Davies, time after time questioned the then Attorney General—the Electoral Commissioner was sitting over there—asking, "What is going to happen with the next election?" There was not one word about outsourcing the WA state election to an overseas company. That is the disappointment. She had question after question. There were plenty of opportunities for the then Minister for Electoral Affairs; Attorney General to outline to us that he was coming up with a new model and he had taken it to cabinet and had approval for $86 million to outsource the WA Electoral Commission's one and only job. We did not hear a peep! Members can understand that we are very concerned, and they can understand why the Leader of the National Party has moved this amendment.

I want to tell people in this chamber about a quote that I have in my notes:

At a time when the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) found in 2024 exam results, Australian students' proficiency levels in civics and citizenship which teaches our children how our democratic process operate have fallen to their lowest level in two decades.

Members can see that we have a government that cannot model a competent election process. It is failing our future voters. It is failing those year 6 students who come up here to have a look at the democratic process and at what is going on in the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council. We are failing them. This state government and the WA Electoral Commission have failed them. It is inappropriate.

In Narrogin, as I said, we had many people with mobility issues coming into our office and the nearest pre-polling booth was 100 kilometres away. This created major issues for them actually being able to lodge their vote. We have heard examples from the member for Cottesloe, the member for Churchlands and the Leader of the Nationals. A couple of examples I have from people in the electorate of Roe include obviously the handwritten voting slips because they had run out of the printed versions; voters waiting hours to vote, with one story of a very frustrated voter getting to the desk and ripping up their voting slip in front of the officers and walking out; staff untrained and lacking basic knowledge of the need for confidentiality or having any systems to adhere to; and voters being turned away having had their names ticked off to avoid a fine.

We had a classic example at one of the smaller polling booths in the outer reaches of my electorate. People were handing out how-to-vote cards to voters and then someone at the entrance to the polling booth would not allow the voters to take their how-to-vote card inside. That was quite a classic. Despite the strong argument put up by our people that the reason they were there was to hand out how-to-vote cards, the voters were not actually allowed to take them into the polling booth. Those are just some of the examples.

The Western Australian Electoral Commission has one job and that is to run elections, whether it is for the state government, CBH or the unions. It has to run those elections. One job is all it has to do. There is no need to outsource it. As I said, we did not hear one word about it from the former Attorney General; Minister for Electoral Affairs. We need to go back and have a good hard look at that process.

I look forward to the responses from the Premier and others about who took this decision to cabinet. Did it go to cabinet or did the former Minister for Electoral Affairs just say, "That's not a problem, Electoral Commissioner. You can spend $86 million. That's no problem." What was the process? I look forward to hearing the explanation because $86 million of WA taxpayers' money is a lot of money. We deserve an answer. We certainly support this investigation by Hon Malcolm McCusker. I look forward to the results and hearing the answer to "Who was responsible?" because no-one can convince me that the WA Electoral Commissioner had the authority to spend $86 million without any oversight from a minister. Thank you.

Mr David Michael (Balcatta—Minister for Electoral Affairs) (4:12 pm): Thank you for the opportunity to contribute on this amendment. The government will not be supporting the amendment, but I understand some of the concerns that have been raised by both opposition parties because they are concerns that the government has as well. I, like most of us in this chamber, have been around politics for a long time. I joined the Labor Party in 1998 at the University of Western Australia's O-Day. Over time, people volunteer and help out at elections. People end up at polling booths either handing out how-to-vote cards and scrutineering on the day or, in the case of a recount, scrutineering in the weeks after an election and dealing with the WA Electoral Commission and its hardworking staff and those who get brought on to work, or sometimes the AEC when dealing with federal elections.

Over many decades, democracy has improved in many parts of the world, but in the last few years we have seen that slip back. Making sure our democracy is strong and can be relied upon and the WAEC is independent of government is important. There were issues on election day. I suspect that most members in this place received emails from constituents who had worked on elections previously or who had a bad experience on election day. I also suspect that some of us saw things ourselves during pre-polling and as we drove around our electorate on election day. I think a few people in the chamber were scrutineering in the days after the election. We are well aware of those issues. It is important that members, candidates and parties have confidence in WA's electoral system and how the Electoral Commissioner conducts the election. But, most importantly, the public has to have confidence in it because we do not want to see what is happening in some other countries in the world where we might not expect it happen in Australia and Western Australia.

Acknowledging those issues and that things on the day could have been better, I am very grateful to the opposition parties, including the Greens, for their assistance in agreeing to a special inquiry by Hon Malcolm McCusker. I will go through the terms of reference and elaborate a little on each of the points. A special inquiry, as members would know, is established under the Public Sector Management Act. It was used for the Langoulant inquiry and some of those bushfire inquiries. It almost has the powers of a royal commission to look into things and it is quite a powerful committee. I note that we are also setting up a reference group, in which I think all four parties will be involved. That group does not run the inquiry but is a reference point to assist the special inquirer on some of those matters. Its terms of reference state:

1. Were polling places adequately resourced having regard to:

allocation and suitability of staff

the procurement, appointment, training and management of staff

monitoring of staffing?

Opposition members have mentioned things like training. I have heard that some of the training was delivered quite late and might not have been as good as it could have been. Again, none of us was trained because we were not able to be, so I look forward to the inquirer looking into that and seeing what was different from the 2021 election and previous elections and what we can do better in future elections. The next term of reference has been spoken about a lot:

2. What was the decision-making process for outsourcing aspects of the 2025 WA State election?

There has been some speculation today and a bit of talk about who could have approved it and who should have known about it. If we went through a stargate and lived in an alternate universe and were having this conversation, the opposition would be saying that the government was too involved in these things. Again, the special inquiry will look at that issue having regard to the utmost independence of the WAEC. It is an appointment by the Governor and it has to be independent. It is one of the most independent roles and a bit like the Auditor General's role. Those roles are independent of government for very good reason. The inquiry will look at the Electoral Commission's process and the outsourcing aspects of the election. I hope that opposition members are kind of getting used to the idea that privatisation is not a good thing in this kind of situation, but we will get to those issues at another time.

In terms of outsourcing, I understand that electoral commissions around the country, including the Australian Electoral Commission, outsource a heap of services. The WAEC has outsourced services in the past, including the management of the labour pool that swells into many thousands on election day. Again, we need to look at the decision-making process and where that line was drawn in terms of how much was done by a supplier versus what used to be done in-house. I hope that will come out of this inquiry for future reference.

The terms of reference continue:

3. Was ballot paper allocation appropriately managed having regard to:

availability of ballot papers …

where and why there were shortfalls …

how ballot paper availability was monitored and managed?

Again, the inquiry will look into the predictive models that the Electoral Commission used in terms of supplying ballot papers to booths. Having a ballot paper shortage at booths is not new. It happens. Handwritten ballot papers are sometimes used around the state, but not to the level that we saw. Getting to the bottom of what happened in terms of ballot paper supply is critically important. It cannot happen to that level ever again. The terms continue:

4. Was there adequate planning and management of polling places having regard to:

communication to electors, candidates and parties of changes to electoral boundaries …

Every four years we have a redistribution. In the past when an area is changing seats, the electoral commissions, whether they be the AEC or the WAEC, sometimes write to people on the electoral roll advising that their electorate is changing and the location of their nearest polling place. When I got home yesterday, I noticed that I had received a letter from the AEC reminding me of the upcoming federal election. We need to look at how we communicate with electors and whether we can do things better. The terms continue:

enrolment activities prior to the election

I think WA still has one of the lowest enrolment rates of all states. We need to do better at that and it is the responsibility of both the WAEC and the AEC. Making sure we use best practice in accordance with other states to ensure that people who should be enrolled are enrolled is an important thing to get right, especially in our regions. The terms of reference continue:

adequacy of number and 1ocation of polling p1aces

voter access, wait times and queuing delays and the way they were addressed

communication between polling places and the Electoral Commission?

These aspects will deal with the staff shortages that happened on the day. We saw some large queues that people were quite understandably annoyed and angry with. Again, the inquiry will look at the commission's staffing model and make sure that it had enough people at the booths. A queue at an election booth is not unusual, but having one for so much of the day is. At my polling booth at Tuart Hill Primary School, which I live very close to and where I vote, there is always a queue at eight o'clock in the morning. It has happened at every election since 1998, when I first started handing out cards there. It clears pretty quickly and there are not too many other queues during the day. Obviously, having queues so often and at so many booths is something that we do not want to happen ever again.

The next term of reference states:

5. Was the processing and counting of votes efficient and effective having regard to the systems for processing, counting and recording votes before, during and after election day?

Obviously, finalising the count for some of our seats took a little bit longer than I had experienced before. I think the last day for postal votes to come in is the Thursday after the election. Normally, by Friday we can have the final vote for a very close seat and, if there is a recount, it can be done in the next week. Obviously, the count went a little bit longer than that. I think the Premier said yesterday that this election has been one of the quickest in which the writs have been returned. It is the quickest one in the last five elections—within 55 days—with the next closest being in 2008 when the writs were returned within 58 days.

This is where the parties can come in. Some members here and our hardworking volunteers and scrutineers will be able to provide some assistance in determining how that process could have been managed better. Again, were enough staff on hand to count the votes for the seats that we needed to do in the time that we needed to do them in? Was the Western Australian Electoral Commission's response to issues arising on election day adequate? Again, problems will always occur. An election is a massive logistical undertaking. We know this because our parties do it, but this is even bigger than that. We know that problems will always occur, but it is how the commission responds to the issues. How are returning officers empowered to respond to issues of shortages of staff or ballot papers or something else going wrong?

The most important part that captures all of that is what changes should be made by the WA Electoral Commission to improve the planning and delivery of future WA state elections. That is what we want. We want to know what we have to do for the 2029 state election. We need to know what improvements need to be made and we need to work with the Electoral Commission to implement those.

Again, I am not going to pre-empt the inquiry. Obviously, we have someone of the esteem of Mr McCusker doing it for us, with the help of our reference panel, and I look forward to receiving their recommendations a little later this year—hopefully by 30 June or soon afterwards.

It is critically important that we recognise the independence of the WAEC. It has to be. All members of Parliament need to make sure that we keep at the front of our mind that it needs to be independent and it needs to have the capability to make some decisions without reference to the government, because that would interfere with those decisions. That is something that we need to make sure that we continue to do.

Again, we will not be supporting the amendment, but we understand the concerns. After the terms of reference for the inquiry were announced, the Electoral Commission put out a media statement saying:

The WA Electoral Commission welcomes the announcement of the independent inquiry into the management of the 2025 WA State Election by Government.

We recognise this will deliver to Government and the community a better understanding of the events on election day and any contributing factors.

The WA Electoral Commission is relied upon to administer the critical democratic function of the WA State Election on behalf of the WA community, and we recognise that on this occasion community expectations were not met.

From that, the Electoral Commission is willing to look at its processes into the future. I imagine that there will be a number of recommendations. I look forward to working with the Parliament and the Electoral Commission once that happens to implement them and to make sure that the 2029 election is a much better experience for all Western Australians.

Division

Acting Speaker (Mrs Magenta Marshall)Amendment put and a division taken, the casting her vote with the noes, with the following result:

Ayes, 13Noes, 44

Amendment thus negatived.

Motion

Mr David Scaife (Cockburn—Parliamentary Secretary) (4:31 pm): It gives me great pleasure to be one of the first government speakers on the Address-in-Reply. It is a true privilege to have been returned as the member for Cockburn and to speak on the Address-in-Reply four years after I gave my first speech in this chamber. In, this, my first speech, I want to reflect on the three main themes I talked about in my first speech four years ago as important policy priorities. They were public education, the development of greater mental health services in my community in Cockburn and the delivery of greater local manufacturing jobs and capacity in Western Australia.

During the election campaign the Cook Labor government was able to do two things that are critical to election success. The first was that it was able to run on its record. It was a government that was able to point to its record as establishing its credibility, showing people what it had delivered and using that to establish its credibility in areas like delivering health infrastructure, upgrading our local public schools and making essential investments in training and education that will drive jobs and industries of the future. That is the first thing that the Cook Labor government was able to do at the last election.

The second thing it was able to do was run on a plan. The Cook Labor government showed its record, it showed that it had delivered, it showed it had the credibility on those issues and then it went to the people with a plan. It went to people with plans on our health system and regional towns. I know other members, like the member for Collie–Preston, will speak later about the plan we have for that community going forward that builds on the exceptional work that the McGowan and Cook Labor governments have done in that community as we go through the transition of decarbonising the economy.

We went as well with an economic plan. We have our Made in WA plan, a blueprint for how the government will take Western Australia forward over the next four years to keep ours the strongest economy in the nation and the envy of the nation, in which people can get a great job and, as much as there are challenges in our housing system, they can still buy a house much more affordably here in Western Australia than there is any chance of doing in Sydney or Melbourne. We will make sure that those opportunities continue for working families in my electorate, regional WA, the inner city and right across Western Australia. What was extraordinary about the offering from the Liberal Party was the lack of an economic plan. The self-appointed party of economic rationalism and the manifest destiny of the free market did not present an economic plan to the people of Western Australia. The Liberal Party had no plan for which industries it would grow and develop. There was no plan, for example, for defence industries in respect of my electorate. I will go to this later on. There was no policy whatsoever when it came to defence industries. Later in my contribution I will outline why that is such an extraordinary absence from the Liberal Party's offering during the election campaign.

There was a clear choice at the election. That is what elections ultimately are. Elections are a choice. Who do you want to lead the state of Western Australia? Who do you want to be forming government, appointing ministers, running departments and deciding on things like the budget, policy priorities and legislative reform? It is a choice, and we have to give the people of Western Australia choice. I was enormously proud to be part of a team that put forward standout candidates, and I am so pleased to see so many of our new members here in this chamber today. We are joined by an absolute cavalry of new members who are quality and disciplined members, and I will talk about discipline a little later on, and are talented and experienced people from a variety of sectors, whether that is the legal profession, economic regulation, the fourth estate or performing public service at local government or within government departments. We are replete with talent amongst our new members. I was very pleased to stand with those new members and the experienced team we were bringing as well—ministers who knew their briefs and were more than capable in press conferences. The Premier went out every day. Every day we had a major announcement to make and every day we faced the media, took questions and faced the people of Western Australia. Unfortunately, it cannot be said that the Liberal and National Parties did that.

We had a plan. We have our Made in WA plan. We put a clear choice the people of Western Australia, and Cook Labor government and every member of this team takes very seriously the trust that was placed in us by constituents not only in our own electorates but also the broader electorate of Western Australia for the Labor Party to form government for a historic third term, the first time a government has been elected to a third term since the introduction of four-year terms. The last time there was a three-term government was in the 1980s, but that was before the advent of four-year terms. This is an extraordinary moment and we take seriously the trust was placed in us.

I will now talk about those three themes that I called out earlier, and the first is public education. As I said in my inaugural speech around four years ago, I am a very proud product of the public school system here in Western Australia. I grew up just outside of Bunbury. I went to Australind Primary School and Australind Senior High School. I was very fortunate to win a scholarship to then go on and study law and arts at the University of Western Australia. I would not have been able to make that choice if I had not won that scholarship. I am a very proud product of the Western Australian public school system in regional WA as well. I know other members of this chamber feel the same way. We must protect our public school system and make sure it is available to absolutely everyone, whether it is people who are aspiring to study in specialist fields through a specialist music or sport programs, whether it is people who are academically talented, whether it is people who want to go on to vocational education who want to do workplace learning, or whether they are from the suburbs, the regions or the remote communities, they should have the fundamental right to get that quality education at a public school. That is something I hold really dearly. I want to reflect on the way that I have been fortunate to be part of a government that has delivered in public education, particularly in my local patch of Cockburn.

I want to say to new members that one of the great privileges of being part of this government is being in government and getting to deliver. I think we all know that, but I want to say that I knew that intellectually when I was elected four years ago but I have actually been part of it for four years. As the member for Butler said yesterday in her inaugural speech, the Labor Party can only do the good work that it needs to do when it is in government. I want to point to a few of the things we have done in my electorate over the last four years.

The first, most significant, one is more than $12 million worth of upgrades at Lakeland Senior High School. I will give a big shout-out to the new member for Bibra Lake, who shares the catchment area for Lakeland Senior High School and has already been working with me and texting me within the last 30 minutes to set up meetings about it. Lakeland Senior High School is a fantastic school in South Lake. It does a tremendous job with small student numbers. It has just over 500 students, and it is difficult to run a public high school with that level of numbers. It has a cohort that falls lower on the Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage scale than other schools in my electorate and has a significant population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and migrant families. It is a school that has those sorts of special demands placed on it. It is also an older school. It is not as old as schools in some electorates, but it is an older school and it is in desperate need of an upgrade.

I am really pleased that we have fully delivered two projects over the last four years. The first was the building of a new education support unit and classroom block. That classroom block is a general classroom block, available to all students, but there is also the dedicated educational support area. It is just a really extraordinary facility and families are crying out for access to those specialist education support facilities in our public schools. I want to give a shout-out to Cathy Baron, the principal of Lakeland Senior High School, for the work she did in delivering those upgrades, and also deputy principal Natasha Tempest, who is in charge of the education support facilities there. They have done a stunning job of delivering those new facilities through funding that was provided by the Cook Labor government. The second project was the refurbishment of the performing arts and sports facilities at that school. The gym has had its flooring ripped out and re-laid, and significant upgrades have been carried out to the performing arts area sitting alongside the gym. There are new dance studios and new music studios, where they offer a specialist music production program, and new sound booths—just exceptional stuff.

In one of those moments you have as a member from time to time, the breath caught in my throat when I went out to the school to tour the work that had been done on those facilities and I realised that the builder had gone into administration and the refurbishments had been only half done. What were we going to do now? I was proudly looking around at how things were looking, but it was not finished. Knowing the way that the construction market is, I had concerns about how long it would take to deliver the refurbishments, but the education and finance ministers at the time, and the department, were straight onto it. Those refurbishments were completed about 18 months ago, and it is a sensational facility. It probably took only about six months after that time to get everything done. Those are the sorts of facilities that can make a difference in people's lives.

The second thing we have delivered in the last four years that I am really proud of is not a bricks-and-mortar commitment; it is the commitment to put careers practitioners into our public high schools. Both Atwell College and Lakeland Senior High School have had funding for careers practitioners, and I give a shout-out to the new member for Jandakot there. I am being a bit cheeky here, because Lakeland Senior High School is in the member for Bibra Lake's electorate, but half the intake is in my electorate and Atwell College is actually now in the member for Jandakot's electorate. I said to him during the campaign that he would get a big swing to him in Atwell, because he picked up Atwell from me in the redistribution. I said, "You'll get the 'Yay, Scaife is leaving!' swing to you!" I have not checked the booths, but in any event, that is good to hear.

Atwell College and Lakeland Senior High School have careers practitioners. Those teachers are given dedicated training and resources to be able to work with students to identify career paths for them and the courses they need to take to connect with workplaces, advisers and teachers, to make sure that they can get on track to find the career that suits them. I sometimes think you could not possibly find enough money in the world to pay the salary of someone who does the job of a careers practitioner. How do you get a year 11 student to decide what they are going to do for a career? That is beyond me. When students say to me that they do not know what they want to do with their life, I tell them that I am still not sure what to do with mine, either! But I have met with those careers practitioners and they have done exceptional work with students, particularly students who are not engaged with school and who are not sure about what they want to do next. I thank them for their efforts and I point to that as something that is not big, fancy infrastructure that you get to cut a ribbon on, but that can really change lives.

The next thing I want to point out is fee-free and low-fee TAFE. This, I think, is transformative for all of us in this chamber. We would have seen the results of it in our communities. The former Minister for Training is here and will, I am sure, correct me if I get the figure wrong, but I think that under the former Barnett Liberal government it was the certificate III in enrolled nursing that cost about $10,000—is that right, member for Fremantle?

Ms Simone McGurk: It was $6,000 for a certificate III in early childhood.

Mr David Scaife: It was $6,000 for a certificate III in early childhood education. We are talking about $6,000 10 years ago, now—pre-COVID inflation and everything. We can imagine what it would be in today's money. That was the legacy that the Barnett Liberal government left us in TAFE and training. Instead, a certificate III course in enrolled nursing is now free under the Labor government. I see the results of those low-fee and fee-free places all the time. I get great feedback from the community about it. I am very fortunate to have Munster TAFE in my electorate, which is a campus of South Metropolitan TAFE that has historically provided oil and gas specialist training in the energy industry. I will get to that later. We have made a commitment to move into new industries and new forms of energy now, as well.

On the topic of where we are going to next, I turn to election commitments that this government will be carrying out through my area and I will be keeping a close eye on. There is $17 million for Munster TAFE to establish a centre for excellence for clean energy industries at that facility. That will be transformative. We will be leveraging the considerable knowledge and facilities that already exist at that campus, and we will be moving forward with the decarbonisation agenda to make sure that kids in my electorate, throughout the southern corridor and, in fact, throughout Western Australia, will be able to go and study at that campus and get their head start in the courses, training and apprenticeships for the industries of the future. I am sure that the member for Swan Hills knows more about this than I do, but it is some crazy number of electricians that we need to train over the next 10 or 20 years. What is it—15,000? Yes, 15,000 in the next 10 years or so. Extraordinary numbers.We have taken one out of the system in the member for Scarborough and kept him out of the system as well, despite the best efforts of our opponents! But I am pleased that he is here because, unlike most of us, he can do valuable work outside the chamber as well as in it, but I am glad he is here doing his valuable work.

In other commitments, there is $2.6 million for improving the grounds at Lakeland Senior High School. We are taking the work that we have already done on those old, dilapidated grounds, and we are upgrading them with landscaping and new outdoor furniture, and re-turfing the oval to make sure that it is a really fantastic place for all students to learn.

(Member's time extended.)

Mr David Scaife: There is $2 million for new education support outdoor learning areas at Atwell College. That is something that the current Attorney General and former Minister for Education came out and toured, along with the member for Jandakot over the last 12 months. There is also $2 million for new air conditioning at Coogee Primary School, funding for a new bus at Hammond Park Secondary College, and I made small commitments for every primary school in my electorate. There is a big program of work to deliver in my electorate and I am really looking forward to getting into it.

The next issue I want to deal with is local manufacturing. I want to talk specifically about the Australian Marine Complex, which everyone assumed was in my electorate, but was actually in the Premier's electorate. I am proud to say that, as of 8 March, it is now officially in my electorate, after the redistribution. I kept having to go to announcements with the Premier and they would line me up as the local member and he would get out of the car and I would say, "Premier, welcome to your own electorate", which was always a bit awkward! It is now in the electorate of Cockburn. The Australian Marine Complex will be the site of the most transformative, focused industrial revolution in Western Australia's history. That will be facilitated by Australia's commitment to the AUKUS partnership with the UK and the US, and the Australian government's commitment to continuous shipbuilding. I want to make the point that they are actually separate. AUKUS and the commitment to continuous shipbuilding are separate issues. People often just talk about AUKUS. They are not one and the same.

Pointing to us running on our record, the Cook government was able to run on its record in areas such as defence industries because the Cook government, when it came into office, established the portfolio of the Minister for Defence Industries. It established the agency of Defence West and it established the office of the Defence Advocate. When we came into government, there was none of that. There was no voice from Western Australia and no organised lobbying from Western Australia in relation to defence industries, and that was changed by the member for Secret Harbour with the Premier at the time, Mark McGowan, as well.

I am genuinely concerned about the opposition's approach to defence industries. To my knowledge, it did not announce a single policy about defence industries during the entire election. In fact, one of the journalists asked us at an announcement whether it was embarrassing for the Liberal Party that it had failed to make a single announcement about defence industries given the scale of the challenges and the opportunities there. Clearly, it is. To my knowledge, the Liberal Party did not visit Henderson during the election campaign at all. It did not go to the Australian Marine Complex, presumably because, as I said, it did not announce a policy; it did not have anything to say about defence industries.

The member for Vasse has now been appointed the shadow Minister for Defence Industries, but to my knowledge she has shown no interest in the policy area previously at all. As the leader of the party, she did not announce any policies, did not do any events and did not go down there. It is just extraordinary that the member for Vasse is now in charge of a portfolio that, to my knowledge, she has shown no interest in whatsoever. I am happy to be corrected. If the member for Vasse has been to Henderson, I am happy to hear it. If she knows the two pillars of AUKUS, I am happy to be corrected about that as well. I think she is the shadow Minister for Defence Industries and AUKUS, but it does not sound like it—but that is all right; I am happy to fill in.

There are two pillars to AUKUS. The first is the one that everybody is familiar with; namely, the pathway towards Australia acquiring conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines and hosting conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines from the United Kingdom and the United States at our bases here. That will include a lot at Henderson. The second pillar, which is often overlooked, is the sharing of technology and intellectual property between the partners in areas of advance technologies such as undersea capabilities and quantum sciences, like quantum computing artificial intelligence. There are huge opportunities there. I look forward to seeing what the Liberal Party has to say on defence industries, because so far it has been complete crickets.

Mr Basil Zempilas interjected.

Mr David Scaife: No—as I understand it. In fact, my understanding is that the Minister for Defence Industries was over there straightway after the election talking up the exceptional work that the Cook Labor government—

Several members interjected.

The Acting Speaker (Mrs Magenta Marshall): Members!

Mr David Scaife: And get this: we have the member for Churchlands piping in, but he had nothing to say earlier when I said that before 2017, the last time the Liberals were in power, it did not have a Minister for Defence Industries; it did not have an office of Defence Advocate.

Several members interjected.

Mr David Scaife: Yes, that is right—the last time you were in government.

Mr Basil Zempilas interjected.

Mr David Scaife: See, he is washing his hands of it already! You know, he has nothing to do with the Liberal Party! Is that because he was such a recent convert to the Liberal cause? Is that why it is?

Mr Basil Zempilas interjected.

Mr David Scaife: If you wanted interjections, give me a response.

Mr Basil Zempilas: Minister Papalia was mopping up for your lot.

Mr David Scaife: This is classic for the member for Churchlands. He dishes it out and he cannot take it. There were perfectly reasonable questions about the Liberal Party's commitment to this issue, not just before the 2017 election, but also in the most recent election campaign, and there were crickets from the opposition bench when I pointed out that it had no policies on defence industries, no announcements, did not run a single event or policy discussion in Henderson and to my knowledge had no engagement at all with the small and medium enterprises or the primes in the defence industry, and exactly the same in regard to training as well. Whereas we went out there. We have delivered in the last eight years of government. We in partnership with the federal government are continuing to deliver extraordinary and continuous shipbuilding. We have seen the federal government commit to 18 landing craft medium, eight landing craft heavy, and frigates being constructed at Henderson. Despite all that, we have gone out with the federal government several times. We have an absolute array of initiatives that I do not have time to go through at the moment, but we complemented that with things like, as the member for Fremantle said, our $11.5 million commitment to incentivise training in defence industries—a new commitment that builds on things that we have already done. It does not require a lot of work to understand the significant opportunities and advantages to Western Australia in the defence industry, and the Liberal Party chose not to do its homework during the election campaign. It never did its homework when it was in government and it chose not to do it during the recent election campaign either. It is not like the member for Churchlands did not have time to come down to Cockburn. He could have gone over to Henderson if he wanted to, but I guess it was convenient to just pop off the freeway at Cockburn Gateway Shopping City and not go into the heart of the electorate where any of the hard work is actually done.

I move on to mental health services. I spoke in my inaugural speech about the great need for more mental health services in Western Australia and in my electorate. One of the projects I pointed to was the private facility that was being built by Bethesda in Cockburn Central. That was a proposal that I strongly supported and that I embraced. I remember I was criticised by the former member for Cottesloe, David Honey. You know: "This is an example of the private sector stepping in because you are not doing enough"—blah, blah, blah. The funny part of that of course is that, tragically, Bethesda found that it could not make that facility work after it fully built it, and it had to mothball that facility six months after it had opened its doors. Who stepped in and took it over? The Cook Labor government stepped in and took it over and entered into a three-year lease for that facility. Through that negotiation, we immediately put 75 beds into our public mental health system. We have specialist women's eating disorder services being run there. We have capacity to expand our offering in relation to alcohol and other drug services, too, and, on top of that, in addition to acquiring that facility and leasing it, we in December 2023 opened the Kara Maar facility. This was the first specialist community eating disorder facility of its type in Western Australia, and it opened at Cockburn Integrated Health.

Those are the things that we have achieved, but of course we know there is more to do. Relevant to my electorate, huge commitments are coming down the pipeline, with $2.5 million committed during the election to establish a women's reproductive day procedure centre at the Cockburn health facility we have now acquired. That will be transformative for women seeking reproductive health treatments in the southern corridor. We have also committed to, and are going to get on with, the job of building a new women's and babies' hospital at Murdoch. I stood in the chamber before the election and offered the former Leader of the Liberal Party a sign that she could wobbleboard on the side of the road that said, "Honk if you oppose building the new women's and babies' hospital at Murdoch". I dared her to get out and wobbleboard with that in the electorates of Bateman and South Perth and Southern River. Surprisingly, she did not take me up on that offer, but she has done this incredible piece of doublespeak, where before the election, the member for Vasse declared that the election would be a referendum on the location of the women's and babies' hospital, but after the election has claimed that we do not have a mandate to deliver the women's and babies' hospital at Murdoch.

Dr Tony Buti: Amazing.

Mr David Scaife: It was amazing political calisthenics to get there. Before the election, she used that word referendum: "This will be a referendum. I am not one for turning on this. This election will decide this issue once and for all." Immediately after the election, after arguably the Labor Party's greatest victory, but certainly its greatest victory outside a one-in-100-year pandemic, she declared that we do not have a mandate for it. It is really just extraordinary. I look forward to seeing whether the Liberal Party takes seriously the points that it keeps making in the chamber about taking into consideration the trust and views of the people of Western Australia and whether it sticks to that position on the hospital, which is quite clearly against the position of the people of Western Australia.

In closing, I just want to acknowledge the many people who supported me during the election campaign. It takes an army to win an election, and I know that all the members in this chamber know that. I am going to list some people here very quickly: Abbey Tempest, Ajit Singh, Alenka and Iva Radonich, Alix Simatos, Aydin Simatos, Camille Le Geois, Cassie Murray, Claire and Murray Philipps, Craig Scott, Denis Tomasich, Glenn Elliott, Greg Nicholas, Ivor and Doreen Moulds, Jill Hugo, Jilly Regan, Joe Domeracki, John Di Re, Katherine Sutton, Kiran Kodukula, Kirsty Mansfield, Linda Baughen, Mark Cozens, Mark McDonald, Michele Hodgson, Ning Yan, Owen Myles, Paul O'Neill, Peter and Sally Newsome, Renee Garrity, Richard Dunbar, Rob Winchester, Robbie Bruce, Rochelle Airey, Ryan Soerja Djanegara, Sanna Andrew, Sarah Keegan, Sarah Rutherford, Su Wei Zhao, Tracey Bettridge, Vassil Balakrishnan, Vish Sreenivash, Wayne Wood and William Kennedy.

Thank you to all my volunteers for your support. Thank you to my unions, the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union and the Australian Services Union. Thank you to the staff and volunteers in our CHQ, and most of all, of course, thank you to the greatest state secretary and campaign director in the history of Western Australia: Ellie Whiteaker. She is the love of my life. She is the best director to have at home and in CHQ in West Perth. She ran the greatest campaign in the history of the Labor Party, in our more than 120 years, and we are all indebted to her, as am I.

Ms Cassie Rowe (Belmont—Parliamentary Secretary) (5:01 pm): It is my absolute pleasure to rise in this place to make a contribution to the Address-in-Reply, and it is also a pleasure to be following on from the member for Cockburn. He is always a hard act to follow, though, I find. The member is able to speak so eloquently, and in a way that appears to be off-the-cuff. Anyway, members will have to bear with me because I am not as confident at speaking as the former contributing member. I want to take this opportunity because it is my first time speaking since the elevation of our Speaker and Deputy Speaker. Although neither of them are currently in the chair, or indeed in the chamber, I want to take the opportunity to acknowledge their elevation to these really important roles. I know there is a certain ceremonial and somewhat antiquated element to the opening of Parliament that we all partook in this week, but it is also a reminder of how special this opportunity is and it is such an immense privilege to be here in the 42nd Parliament.

It is with great humility that I stand here as the member for Belmont for a third term. It is a deep privilege to be given that honour to represent the community that I live in and that I love for another term, and it is certainly a responsibility that I take very seriously. I endeavour to do my very best for the 31,000 electors across the breadth of my community.

I want to take this opportunity also to acknowledge, just as the former member did, that we do not get into these positions without great assistance from many people, and certainly in the campaign it takes a lot of people to come doorknocking with you in what feels like temperatures that are close to the surface of the sun and people who are willing to phone locals, letterbox drop, have a yard sign and talk to their friends and neighbours. Then of course they come and stand on a pre-polling booth, for hours at a time in extreme heat, as well as on polling day. Therefore, to all those people who volunteered in big or small ways, I am indebted to you. Thank you so much for all that you have done to help me be here today. Thank you, of course, to my family—to Patrick and the girls—who support me along this terrific and privileged journey. There is a lot of sacrifice involved in this role, and you cannot do that without the support of your loved ones at home.

Like the former member, I would also like to acknowledge the WA Labor Party. It ran an incredible campaign, and it was also really impressive that it was run by two women. Ellie Whiteaker and Lauren Cayoun, congratulations for running an impeccable campaign.

I also would like to thank the Premier for providing me with the opportunity to be a parliamentary secretary. It is a privilege to be sworn in as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Creative Industries; Heritage; Industrial Relations; Aged Care and Seniors; Women. I thank the minister, who is in the chamber at the moment, very much for providing me with the opportunity to work alongside her. I am sure there is a great deal that I can learn. She is incredibly competent and hardworking.

Some people may not be aware that I have some connection in a small way to a small part of the arts industry. Amongst other qualifications as a former financial planner, I also have a diploma of screenwriting. I was involved with the Film and Television Institute of WA for 10 years. I was on its board and was also its chairperson, so I do have small insight into that industry, and I have a very large and deep passion for all the arts. It is an area of particular interest of mine, and I look forward to participating in all of what that role entails.

In this speech I would also like to acknowledge the incredible result for the Premier. Labor has delivered a historic 46 seats in the lower house. Winning a third term of government has not been done by any political party in the state since the 1980s, so I want to congratulate the Premier and his incredibly hardworking and disciplined team for delivering this result for Labor—to see us into a third term. Although we have achieved a great deal, and I do intend to cover some of those major achievements in my contribution, we also have so much more to do. At this critical juncture that we now find ourselves in globally in terms of the geopolitical landscape, I think it is more important than ever that we have a stable, disciplined, incredibly experienced and steadfast team at the helm, so I am very grateful to be a very small part of that team, and I want to congratulate the Premier on his achievements there.

I want to touch on some of the things that we achieved in our previous two terms. Some of those things were really impactful in my electorate of Belmont, as I know they were across every electorate, pretty much. I think the fact that we did so much in regard to cost-of-living measures really speaks to the understanding that our Premier, our government and his team had, at a really intrinsic level, of the plight of working people, families and seniors in terms of being able to pay their bills and keep a roof over their heads because at every opportunity every single lever available to government was pulled. New ones were invented so that we could actually make sure that Western Australians were getting the help they needed during a really challenging period post-COVID.

The one that was incredibly helpful to my electorate was the power credits. The most recent one was $700, paid over two instalments—so $350 I think in June last year and then another $350 in the December period. A lot of people in my community had found it crippling to try to manage those costs, and so they were very grateful. The thing to bear in mind is that this was not the first time we had done it. Just after COVID we delivered $2,100 to Western Australia and householders in the form of relief for power bills, so this is incredibly impactful for so many people right across my community.

The other area where we have tried to assist with the cost of living is the public transport initiative, and that is around capping public transport fares to the single zone and allowing students to travel for free. Also, commuters can travel for free on Sundays. I know that the opposition is referring to ghost trains, which is deeply insulting. I know that in some of the electorates of the members opposite, people do not necessarily travel via public transport.

A member interjected.

Ms Cassie Rowe: Your side is always tearing down public transport—member, you will learn quick!

In my community, even though we are only six kilometres away from the CBD, a huge number in my community rely daily on the use of public transport. Not only do we have a lot of great bus services but, thankfully, we have Metronet. We have the fantastic train station at Redcliffe. I congratulate Minister Saffioti for persevering despite the ridiculous opposition every step of the way shouting down public transport. It is very appreciated by my community so thank you, minister.

The other measure around the cost of living is the very popular and very helpful student assistance payment to all school-age students. A sum of $250 was paid to every secondary school student, and $150 for kindy and primary school-age students. I am really pleased that we will be delivering on that again and that will be coming through for families in the first week of term 2. It is incredibly helpful for so many families. I think something like 400,000 families accessed that cost-of-living measure when it was introduced last year. Of course, we also provided free tickets to the Zoo and the Royal Show. Those were other measures around supporting families with the cost of living and giving them a reprieve from those costs. They probably would not necessarily have been able to enjoy those experiences.

The other one that I was really happy with was the initiative of $5.5 million that we put towards swimming lessons and water safety. We had the free VacSwim over the most recent summer holidays. I have a richly diverse community in Belmont and a lot of new migrants who make Belmont their home often tell me how it is something that is new to them—going to the beach and swimming in pools and so forth. A lot of the people in my community, if they were new migrants, were especially excited about that initiative and were able to take that up and really appreciated that. It was also a really great way to ensure that we are gearing our young kids to be safer around water. In a state like Western Australia it is incredibly important that we do that. The other very popular cost-of-living measure that we introduced was doubling the KidSport voucher payment from $150 per eligible child to $300. We also widened the breadth of what that could be used for. It was able to be used for not only club fees but also equipment, uniforms and similar things. It was an extraordinarily successful and popular cost-of-living measure, but it also saw an increase in participation in sport. I think that is a really great thing not just for health but for mental health for our young students as well.

The other incredibly popular cost-of-living measure was the reintroduction of the seniors safety and security rebate. This was something that the Liberal–National government scrapped, of course. It did not see any use for it in 2015, but I was really pleased that it was reintroduced in 2021 under a Labor government. It is a $400 rebate for eligible WA seniors to install safety and security in their homes. Again, when I let people know in my community—I wrote to seniors to let them know—they were incredibly grateful to see that that was being reintroduced. We have also delivered a cost-of-living rebate of $107 for singles and $160 to couples paid annually to WA Seniors Card holders and invested $6.3 million to continue to deliver the Seniors Card program. We are making sure that our seniors are also getting those cost-of-living measures, making sure we are not forgetting about them at all.

The previous member spoke a bit about the TAFE reforms that we have embarked on. I cannot stress enough how important they are and have been in terms of transforming not only workforces but the lives of so many young people right across this state. Under the previous Liberal–National government, we saw a 500% increase in TAFE fees. We just heard the former Minister for Training and Workforce Development say that it cost $10,000 to do a nursing qualification however many years ago under the previous Liberal government. That is pretty outrageous. We have made 130 TAFE courses free. There are also low-cost TAFE courses to encourage younger people to go into particular industries that we know are going to need those skills, especially when it comes to building and construction, for example. It has been incredibly transformational and something that we have been doing for many years. I look forward to seeing us continue to build on that and I certainly believe that that is what the Premier intends to do.

Just to finish off on that, we have invested $1.3 billion in cost-of-living measures for Western Australians householders. It is patently clear to the community that we understand what they are going through and the hardships that they are experiencing. We are not just talking the talk. These are not small measures. It has been continued support, especially by way of the power bill credits, and it is something that the community clearly appreciates, given that we have just been re-elected for a third term. That is very worthwhile and I just wanted to highlight for this house what we have done and I am sure we will continue to do.

There are other important reforms in our time in government that I want touch on more broadly, but I might need an extension of time.

(Member's time extended.)

Ms Cassie Rowe: I am very pleased that we have invested a record amount in mental health. I held a mental health forum a few years ago—I think it was last term. At the time, the then Minister for Health, now the Premier, came to that mental health forum. I invited the community to tell me and him what their concerns were. We heard them loud and clear. There needed to be more resources for young people especially and I am incredibly proud of what our former health minister did. Minister Sanderson took on that mantle after the Premier and there has been a record investment in mental health. A record $3.2 billion has been invested in health and mental health. I am really proud of that investment and it just shows how seriously we are taking these issues.

The member for Cockburn mentioned the investment into eating disorders. As you might recall, Acting Speaker, I have a very keen interest in how eating disorders are dealt with. I have spoken many times in this place about it. To have $31.7 million being invested to expand treatment services provided to those suffering from eating disorders across the state is a fantastic initiative. I think it will be really impactful for those sufferers and their families.

Another really important reform that we made last term was to the Residential Tenancies Act. That particular bill impacted so many in my community because over 40% of Belmont locals are renters. I hear from them very regularly about how hard it is for them when they were experienced quite constant rent increases from landlords. The rent bidding was incredibly difficult and challenging for so many right across the state. By putting in place that restriction of increase in rent to just once a year has gone a long way in providing some level of certainty for those renting. They can plan what their expenditure will be, with regard to rent at least, for the year ahead. Of course, banning rent bidding was a major thing.

We also introduced the WA rent relief program to help financially vulnerable people who are at risk of being evicted. A $5,000 payment was available to them to assist them to stay in their rental situation and not be evicted. It was another really important strategy.

As a Labor member, I fundamentally believe in the importance of providing public education. It should not matter what someone's postcode is; they should be able to access the same quality education wherever they live. When I learnt that we were undertaking a program in conjunction with the federal government to provide a $1.6 billion investment in schools, I could not have been more proud. That will be absolutely and thoroughly transformational, and I do not think anyone in this chamber would be able to dismiss that. It is tangible. It is a huge record-breaking amount. I really look forward to seeing the benefits of that for future generations.

We also did a huge amount for homelessness. I think 120 homelessness services were funded. We committed $92 million, in addition to the $47 million that was announced in January last year, so that these critical services can continue to roll out and provide assistance to the most vulnerable in our community.

As at the end of last year—maybe it has gone up a little, but it is unlikely to have gone down—we had created over 320,000 jobs in WA since first being elected in 2017. That is not a small number, especially when we think about it in the context of COVID-19 and a really complex environment subsequent to the COVID pandemic and looking down the barrel of a potential recession in light of what is happening in the US and the ensuing tariff wars. We have historically low unemployment. Importantly, we have restarted manufacturing railcars in WA, which is really fantastic.

Importantly, we are going to look at ways of decarbonising our economy into the future. It is really exciting that that is going to be a real legacy of our Premier in what he does over the next four years. I know that it is something that he wants to focus on. I think that is going to be incredibly important for our future.

I also want to take a little bit of time to touch on some of the programs that we have done. Importantly, the one that I want to finish on is the $233 million to establish our very own film studios in WA. In terms of the screen industry, I think it is fair to say that we have never seen an investment of this sort before. How do we stimulate a sector or an industry? We invest in infrastructure for sure and then, of course, we create jobs in that industry. But it is hard to create jobs if the infrastructure is not there to make the content right. In a global environment in which everyone can stream content on their phones or other devices—wherever they are, they can access content from streaming platforms—the world is hungry for content. We have some really great creative minds in Western Australia wanting to tell our stories, and now they will be able to make those stories in a world-class facility. I am so excited to see what that will look like and how it will stimulate the industry. It will be a cornerstone for the film sector. Yes, bring it on. It is going to be fantastic.

That is a fantastic legacy, and I have literally just touched on some of the things that we have done as a state. Going forward, one of the two things that I want to highlight is the home battery scheme. It provides $5,000 for people to make sure that they have their own home battery, which will permanently decrease their power bills. That is fantastic.

The second part of what will be a critical component of our economic strategy for this term is the Made in WA program that we will be rolling out as a government. That will focus on industries such as mining, agriculture and energy, but also, and excitingly, creative industries. That is really exciting. Again, it will be something that is part of a legacy in setting us up for the future. It is really exciting.

In my remaining six minutes, I am conflicted about whether I should talk about all the great things we are going to be doing in Belmont or some other great things that we are doing for the whole state. I cannot help myself; I am going to talk about Belmont! There are some fantastic things that we have delivered as a Labor government for my electorate. I am just going to do a little bit of a brag; it was such a huge list that I had to cull it for the purpose of today. I will give members the highlights, if you will.

Since being elected in 2017, we have seen the delivery of a $5 million upgrade to the Belmont Police Station. It allows for more police officers to be stationed there, which is fantastic. It has given them more room and state-of-the-art facilities—actually, I do not know whether "state-of-the-art" is the correct term, but it has really great technology. It is a fantastic facility and I am really pleased with it. Also, the opening hours have been extended. When I became the member for Belmont, the station closed at five o'clock. It is now open to the public until seven o'clock in the evening.

I have already talked about the Metronet train station at Redcliffe, but it is worth mentioning again. It is a fantastic $1.86 billion facility. It is great to have a train station right on our doorstep. The Tonkin Gap was a $400 million project. Yes, it was not a statewide project, but it was a major project in the metropolitan region. It has had a huge impact on my community because it eases the traffic flow hugely in and around the airport precinct. I was very pleased that the now Treasurer and minister listened to members of my community who had come to me to request noise walls be built over the Swan River. That upgrade has been very helpful for them.

Belmont City College has a beautiful new $5 million performing arts centre, which is well utilised daily. It often invites primary school age children to witness and be part of its terrific performances that a lot of the students do all year round. A huge amount has gone into schools since we were elected, partly under the WA Recovery Plan—the post-COVID stimulation package. Belmay Primary School received $2 million to put towards a brand-new kindy area, which is fantastic. Belmont Primary School received $1 million worth of refurbishments. Again, that school is over 100 years old, so that was terrific.

The Wilson Park netball courts received $2 million for an upgrade, which we put $500,000 towards. It has beautiful brand-new netball courts. We saved the Garvey Park wetlands. We saved and restored the Ascot kilns—the only kilns of that type in the Southern Hemisphere. We put $8.5 million towards that program. The Ascot Kayak Club received $300,000. It is now the state slalom centre. It is fantastic. It is right on the Swan River. The WA State Squash Centre, which is now based in Belmont, received $1.6 million, and it hosted the Australian national championships last year, which is terrific. There were upgrades to lighting for the Belmont Bombers down at Forster Park and there were science labs for Carlisle, Belmay and Belmont Primary Schools and Belmont City College. Belmont City College received brand new STEM rooms, which is wonderful. The school loves it. I am on the board of that school. It is terrific.

There is so much more that we have done. I could not get all of it down. As you can see, I am running out of time, Acting Speaker. There is a lot we could talk about in the remaining two minutes about the election commitments we made and that will be delivered going forward. There is $3 million for Belmont City College to be air conditioned. Kewdale Primary School will get $2 million towards air conditioning. Belmay Primary School will receive $1.3 million for air conditioning and a brand-new music room. A total of $2 million will go to an assembly area at Rivervale Primary School. Cloverdale Primary School will receive $400,000 for an upgrade to its undercover area. Carlisle Primary School will have $300,000 towards its kindy area and also $80,000 to install air conditioning in its library. There will be two new hard courts and a new playground at Redcliffe Primary School. Belmont Primary School will get new sporting equipment. Another election commitment of mine was $300,000 towards night lights for our sporting clubs at Peet Park. South Guildford will receive $225,000 towards its BMX tracks, which I might say are long-awaited. There is also beautiful Hazelmere Hall, for which we put money towards upgrading, and I forgot to include that in my list of things we have delivered for the electorate. We upgraded that hall and now we will put an art mural on it. I look forward to seeing all of those things coming to fruition over the coming months. It is my pleasure to conclude my remarks there.

The Acting Speaker: I call the member for Bicton.

Ms Kim Giddens (Bateman—Parliamentary Secretary) (5:31 pm): I have really enjoyed sharing the border with the member for Bicton. We work very collaboratively together, but I am very proud indeed to be the member for Bicton—Bateman; you have got me started, oh my goodness! I will get that right.

It is with pride that I rise today to give my response to the Address-in-Reply at the opening of this new parliamentary term. When I first stood in this place in 2021 to give my inaugural speech, it was also with pride, but probably also, it is fair to say, with a bit of naivety. With the benefit of four years of experience, I hope I bring that experience to this term—the privilege of serving and the trust of my community. Ministers, look out, with that experience I have become a little more dogged in delivering the things that I really want to my community.

I extend my congratulations to those members who are newly elected and joining us for the first time and welcome them to this place. It really is a very special privilege to be able to serve both our local constituents and also the people of Western Australia. One of the things I feel very passionate about is the importance of upholding and always being respectful to our institutions. We heard yesterday from both the Chief Justice and the Governor about how those institutions are being threatened and unwound throughout the world. Here in Western Australia and Australia we should be very proud that we live in a stable democracy and that we are able to hold our elections and transition power peacefully. It is really incumbent on all of us to speak with respect about this place and the institutions that serve our democracy. I really look forward to that goal working with all members in this term.

On the topic of congratulations, I too would like to pass on my congratulations to the newly elected Speaker, the member for Forrestfield, and the Deputy Speaker, the member for Kalgoorlie. I know both of them will do a great job, but the member for Kalgoorlie is a very fierce and passionate regional representative. I would also like to extend my congratulations to not only the former ministers who have found themselves supported to again serve as ministers in the cabinet, but also the newly elected ministers—Minister Stojkovski, Minister Hammatt and Minister Swinbourn. I am particularly grateful for the opportunity given to me by the Premier to serve as parliamentary secretary to Minister Swinbourn with the portfolios of environment, community services and homelessness. There is a lot to tackle in those portfolios and I look forward to supporting Minister Swinbourn and, of course, the Premier with that agenda.

I would like to take a moment to reflect on the 2025 election. The result from both Labor's and my own perspective was resounding. For me, it really represented renewal. In 2021 I stood as a candidate in what was a pretty extraordinary time for our state and, indeed, the world. In the 2025 election I presented myself as a choice for the community based on the work I had done over four years. I am humbled—it is a word that is often used—to have received the overwhelming support of the community in the work that I had done over the four years. The feedback I received from Bateman and the people in the community was honest. It is an extremely well-educated electorate. People are politically savvy. They know their policies and they know their politics, and they really sent a very clear endorsement of the fact that I had worked very hard over four years to deliver on what I said I would when I stood here first in 2021, and that was to be hardworking, accessible and always put the needs of my community front and centre. I cannot always deliver—none of us in this place can—everything that every constituent or stakeholder would like or want, but we can always be available, understand the issues and advocate. I am really proud to have done all of those things. I recognise the significance of being re-elected in a seat that typically has not been considered a Labor seat. Perhaps there was some expectation, entitlement even, that the course of time would see the seat returned to its so-called natural place, but what we now know about modern politics is that there is no such thing as a natural place anymore for a particular party. I spoke before about the importance of this institution, and what I will speak about now is that as representatives, we cannot take that for granted, no matter what side of politics, even if a seat is considered safe. One of the things I was really proud of as a member of the Cook government was that the message to us from the highest level, from the Premier all the way down, was that no matter what our margin, no matter what our seat, no matter what our position, it is our job first and foremost to get out into our community, meet community members where they are at, doorknock, make phone calls and be accessible. I am really proud that on the Labor side that is something we do exceptionally well. It has certainly served me very, very well in the community of Bateman. Again, I am very, very grateful for the support of my community to continue in this role.

As the member for Belmont noted, these elections are a very intense time. They take a lot of resources and they take money, and to have those conversations at the doors, they take volunteers. To that end, I take a moment to acknowledge the people who were important for me, not only in this election but who provided support over the last four years as well. I have a terrible habit in that when I do speeches, I prefer to do them off the cuff, and that has strengths and weaknesses. One of the weaknesses is that you can forget things. On election night when I was giving my speech, I did my best to remember everyone, but I did not take notes, so there are some people in particular who I will acknowledge up-front, first and foremost because I forgot to mention them on election night. I mention my mother-in-law—note to self, please do not forget your mother-in-law or father-in-law when handing out thankyous! My mother-in-law, Sue Moore, and my father-in-law, Richard Moore, were excellent in understanding that my mind was in lots of places on the night, and, in the selfless way of good country people, did not expect acknowledgement. But they did come all the way from Singleton in New South Wales, and they came about two weeks before the election and served the all-important role of cooking and having a meal on the table for my three boys. I did not have to worry that that was not being taken care of at home. For those who were juggling this job, and election and family, you know just how huge a contribution that is, so I am very grateful, and from the bottom of my heart would like to thank both Sue and Richard for their support. I would also—another failure—like to acknowledge who I call my "daughter-in-law in waiting", my stepson's girlfriend of many years, Kaylie Burnett, who provided significant support and help for me on my campaign. On the night, I was looking around the room and I do not know why I did not see her, but, Kaylie, you were very important. Thank you for being both part of our family and also for everything you did during the campaign. Kaylie was just one of those naturals who could pick up the phone and have an outstanding conversation with people. She really, really was of huge value.

I would also like to acknowledge Dean Elliss. Dean is a volunteer not only during campaign time but he is one of those amazing people that electorate offices just love to have because he would come almost every single week to assist me in getting the message out about what I was delivering for Bateman, and he did it in an outstanding way. I should have taken the time to look up the numbers, but it would not surprise me if he has put in easily more than 10,000 calls and conversations with people in the electorate. Many people would say to me, "Oh yes, I spoke to one of your volunteers the other day", and I knew they would be talking about Dean. So again, Dean, thank you very much for everything you have done.

Of course, I have to go to my campaign team, having now covered off on everyone that I forgot on election night. My campaign team I did not forget, but I will repeat the thanks: director Peter Tinley, who many of you in this place will know because he is the former member for Willagee. My campaign manager, Kylie Thompson, was new to the role of campaign manager and just brought extraordinary ability and pragmatic focus and was able to cut through the difference between all the noise and what really needed to be done, so Kylie, I cannot thank you enough. Jacob Roosendaal—I thought he was going to fall over, but he just would not stop. Jacob, thank you so much for the laughs, the energy and for always being there. I had some amazing people in my team who kept things ticking over in the electorate office while the volunteer team were out doing the work, so I would like to thank in particular Rachel and Dana, who provided great support in the electorate office to make sure constituents were still having their questions answered and being helped throughout the campaign.

If I have missed anyone from that, I really am in deep trouble, but I will acknowledge, as has already been done, the incredible campaign team that was backed by the party office. I acknowledge Ellie Whiteaker, the state secretary, and Lauren Cayoun; and the local campaigns director, Claire Comrie. I think she had the unfortunate role of hearing from all of us candidates when things went wrong. That is the nature of campaigning, but I really want to say how much went right. The hours and hours that you did were certainly very welcomed by me and Mark Fahey, who was my local campaign director. Again, to everyone: thank you very much.

When I was first elected in 2021 and I started sending out some newsletters, electronically as you do these days, I would invariably get the odd response that would go something like, "Well, what have you ever done for me?" I never took it personally; I was a newly elected member, so I knew it was not personal, but I took a moment to really reflect on that question, because it came up a few times. I thought to myself, "Well, that's actually a really fair question and a really valid question." Thank you to all the people who asked me that, because it really formed the centre of my work for the next four years. Not to give away all my secrets, but I really realised and recognised in that moment that it was fair and reasonable that I should be able to answer that question to whoever asked it of me in my constituency. Obviously, it did not inform the work I did for four years, but it informed the way that I was able to measure that and be able to respond and communicate to the community about that.

As a quick summary, in the last term, more than 140 projects, local support or funding across the community was delivered, and that is, I think, quite an extraordinary effort. When you actually take the time to jot it all down, it adds up a lot. Again, to my team over the last term who helped me to be able to understand our community and help me deliver those things, I would like to thank my team in the electorate office for the last four years as well.

Some of the things we delivered included STEM funding to every single primary school, plus $1.5 million to Applecross Senior High School for a brand-new STEM classroom. That includes things that are very different from our day, when I thought a scientific calculator was the epitome of sophistication; they now have things like 3D printers. How things have changed! That was incredible. We have had major upgrades at Applecross, Melville and Rossmoyne Senior High Schools, like the member for Cockburn mentioned. He talked about some of the schools he shares; I share Melville with the member for Bicton. She does an outstanding job in her electorate of being the lead, I guess, in all things Melville, with the support of the members who also feed into that electorate. The people of Rossmoyne have the outstanding Dr Jags, the member for Riverton, as their primary advocate, but it is always amazing to work as part of a team and that is one of our strengths—that we are able to work together with the incredible high schools we have in our region.

There is also the long-awaited redevelopment of Len Shearer Reserve; the resurfacing of netball courts in Brentwood and Kardinya; lighting upgrades across the community to tennis, soccer and hockey facilities; investment in women's and girls' sport; support for our local bowls club; and it goes on. Suffice to say, there were 140 deliverables, and I am not going to go into the detail of all of them.

One of the things I am really most proud of is that it is not just about the money and the funding. Those things are important—they are enablers—but it is actually the relationships. Over four years it has been an honour to really develop relationships with the P&Cs, the schools and the community groups. Through that process, we have been able to respond to the needs in our community, and that is quite a privilege. Members who are new will get to know this; for those of us who have been around for a while, as much as we love our job in our electorates, sometimes you turn up to an event after hours and you are tired and you think, "Oh, I'm not sure if I've got the energy for this tonight." You walk into that room, and it might be a small community club, and within seconds you are invigorated because of the energy and the passion of the people in that room and what they bring on cold winter nights. When they do not feel like it, you know that they turn up, year after year, to deliver those things for our communities because they are passionate about it. Often they say to me, "Thank you so much for coming", and I feel like I am an impostor, and I am very grateful that they have me there. That is something for new members to look forward to.

As the member for Cockburn noted, campaigns are about a choice. One of the great opportunities I and other members on this side had was to think really carefully about how we could respond to those needs in our community with election commitments. To me, that is what election commitments are. I think there is a bit of confusion in the community about election commitments, no doubt because they have been abused. We remember the federal Liberal sports rorts, for example. Those kinds of things certainly undermine trust, but for me, when election commitments are done properly, they are a really important way to respond to the needs that we have identified in our community. There were over 50 local commitments that reflect the breadth of the things that were shared with me over the last term. They include safe and inclusive communities. We are talking about things like helping school students to cross streets more safely. We are talking about better local infrastructure and local community clubs.

(Member's time extended.)

Ms Kim Giddens: We are talking about parks and green spaces. Over the next four years you will see me working hard to deliver on every single one of those commitments. In addition, I want to put on the record my commitment to continue to work to support Applecross Senior High School. I have worked very hard over the last four years, right from day one, to build that relationship with Applecross Senior High School. It is an extraordinary school delivering an outstanding level of education. It faces population pressures. I was really proud to be able to secure for it $650,000 to progress planning for the expansion that is very needed there. This is a critical and necessary stage and it is really going to support the school. The money is already delivered, the planning is underway and once that is completed, I will continue to work to advocate for that school and see it go well into the future being the outstanding school it is.

Although my electorate of Bateman is the centre of my work and always will be, I know that strong outcomes are only possible through strong state leadership. In this election, as I already noted, the people of Western Australia reaffirmed their trust in Premier Roger Cook and this government's vision for Western Australia. This is a vision for a state that is economically resilient, socially inclusive and prepared to meet the challenges of a changing world with confidence and importantly, with care. To use the Premier's own words—who better to quote?—he said in the uncorrected Hansard:

… we put a very comprehensive plan to … Western Australia for how we are going to keep this state the strongest in the nation; how we are going to continue to make sure that we build more things here through our Made in WA plan; how we are going to continue to invest in our healthcare system, making sure everyone has a home, building more homes faster, more affordably; and continuing to make sure that people, no matter where they live—in the suburbs, in remote communities, in our regional centres—have all the services and infrastructure they need.

Acting Speaker, we are entering a critical chapter in Western Australia's economic story. Our state has long been a powerhouse of production, but the future belongs to those who can shape it, who innovate and who grow new industries. We have seen seismic shifts in international production and supply chains not only since COVID, but fundamentally in recent weeks. In times of uncertainty, it is easy to retreat into base politics or worse, the politics of fear and division, but I am proud to be part of a government that chooses a different path. Under Premier Roger Cook's leadership, we are not only navigating complexity with experience, but we are doing so with vision, courage and purpose. This government is not content to manage the present; it is committed to shaping a legacy that will sustain Western Australia for generations to come. Nothing tackles cost-of-living pressures more than a quality, secure and well-paying job, not only in today's economy, but also for our children. That is why I am excited by Premier Roger Cook's vision of a future that is made in WA. It is a vision that invests in advanced manufacturing, clean energy and battery technology, health and medical innovation, defence industry capacity and a skilled local workforce with world-class training.

Key highlights from the Made in WA plan include—I always run out of time; there is so much to talk about!—battery production. It includes a $50 million local battery manufacturing program. We heard already—the member for Belmont talked about how important this is for her constituency and across the state—about how the local manufacturing of batteries could not only permanently lower power prices in households but also grow jobs. We are talking about transportation manufacturing. Commitments include Metronet trains, electric buses and the soon to be added—the member for South Perth is looking at me with great excitement; he knows what I am going to say—electric ferries. We are talking about green iron and steel production. When we talk about Western Australia having the capacity to be a renewable energy powerhouse, I think not so much in a literal sense of connecting to Asia, whether with an underground cable, but in the ability to manufacture the world's products right here in Western Australia using renewable energy, like green iron and green steel production. Obviously, we are talking about renewable energy infrastructure. We are going to need poles and wires, and to make those in Western Australia, creating jobs throughout that process, is just outstanding.

We are going to diversify the economy and we are talking about $1 billion in the Strategic Industries Fund. This is establishing and activating strategic industrial areas across WA, making it investment ready and attractive to international investment. We are talking about support for emerging sectors. The member for Belmont is very passionate about creative industries, and that is one example. We have heard very strongly about defence from the member for Cockburn. We are talking about space industries, health and medical life sciences and tourism. There really is something in this for everyone across our region. We are also talking about skills and education, because you cannot deliver the type of diversified economy and resilient economy our state needs without bringing on board the skills that we need. One of the conversations I had at an early voting centre was with a constituent who asked, "I have a small business; what are you doing for small business?" In the interests of time I will not relay the whole conversation, but I said to her, "And we are delivering fee-free TAFE courses." Why is that support for small business? It is because we are delivering the skills that small businesses need to run and grow their business. It is a very important part of meeting the needs of businesses in a resilient and strong economy.

With the time I have, I am not going to waste time talking about the science of climate change because that implies that there is still something to be proven, that it is still under question or still in dispute, and it is just not and we do not have the time to waste on this debate. On our side of the chamber, we have not only settled this, but we are setting about acting. Some of the ways we are acting are those I have just described in the Made in WA plan, but we are ending coal-fired power stations, native forest logging, and we have the Plan for Our Parks, a 2019 initiative that aimed to grow our conservation estate by 20% but smashed that out of the water and exceeded that well in excess of five million additional hectares. We have our "treebate" program to green our suburbs and grow our urban tree canopy, a really important part, and members have heard about some of the investment in industries and much more. We know it cannot be done by government alone. It is an important piece, but it is not the only piece.

I want to talk about the role of investment and private equity in our energy transition and decarbonising our economy. Globally, in 2023 alone, over US$1.8 trillion was invested worldwide in clean energy. A significant portion of that came from private capital. We know that private capital is seeking places to invest with strong environmental, social and governance credentials. That was something we did work on in the Public Accounts Committee in the last term. We know that this trend is not going anywhere, despite global headwinds. Why does this matter for Western Australia? Western Australia is a jurisdiction that grew its economy from the mining industry. We know how to provide stable, secure places to invest over decades. This is really important: we have strong regulatory clarity on planning and environmental approvals. We have secure land access and engagement with traditional owners. We have transparent and coordinated policy across energy infrastructure and economy portfolios, and we have seen the work that the Premier has done to align those even more strongly. We have long-term vision and political stability. This is particularly important as we seek to leverage our competitive advantage because this capital is global and it will not come to Western Australia just by chance. That is why Peter Dutton's Liberal plan to bring nuclear to Australia is such a risk to Western Australia's economic future. This is not a question of ideology. We know that Peter Dutton's plan to bring nuclear to Western Australia will disrupt this investment that we are seeing significantly come into our state. We know that it is going to cause investment uncertainty. We know it is going to delay ending coal-fired power, and we know that the just transition plan in Collie is world leading and exceptional, something that the whole state should be proud of. To disrupt that with this plan is really just a disgrace.

Another topic—because I am very much out of time—on which the Cook government and the opposition diverge significantly is Metronet. We have heard the opposition, in both the last term and even in the first two days of Parliament, talk about Metronet. Its members say they want to go on a listening tour, so I might save them a little time on this particular topic. Metronet is not about the train tracks, the trains or the concrete. It is about the movement of people that connects them to job opportunities, health opportunities and others in our community. That is why over three different elections, the Western Australian public have significantly endorsed Western Australia's Metronet program. We know how important it is.

Speaking of that, two days out from this election, we heard the truth from the Liberals. The truth was that they were not going to support the Swan River ferry expansion. They were not going to support the jobs that came from that. They were not going to support connecting my community in Bateman to the University of Western Australia, to the health precinct, or to the city. Further to that, they were not going to support, in fact they were going to delay, the upgrade of the Canning Bridge bus interchange; and, for the first time in the history of the Westport project, they were also not going to back Westport, which is not only a significant piece of infrastructure for the state's economy, but also a very important piece of infrastructure for taking trucks off Leach Highway. We heard from the Minister for Transport about how the Liberal Party also does not support bringing the freight on rail back into public hands, which is another decision that forced trucks onto Leach Highway in my community. The irony of all this is there is a $250,000 election commitment by the Liberals for a plan to consider how to take trucks off Leach Highway and reduce traffic on Leach Highway and Canning Highway. Let me tell members that putting people onto ferries and onto good quality, affordable public transport, and building the infrastructure our state needs to move around our city will provide the opportunities that our future economy will deliver under this government. All of this is critical, and the people in my community endorse Roger Cook's plan for our state.

Mrs Lisa O'Malley (Bicton—Parliamentary Secretary) (6:01 pm): I am going to pick up where the member for Bateman left off. Build Westport: that is what we are doing. That is kind of what brought me to this place in 2017. I am excited to know that we have a plan, and we are getting on with that plan. The plan to get trucks off Leach Highway is called Westport. Anyway, I will go back to where I was going to start.

As we begin the 42nd Parliament, I am excited to rise to add my personal reflections and intentions for the next four years, along with those that I know I share with every member of the Cook Labor government. Whilst we share a diversity of life experiences that have informed and shaped the individuals we are today, we form a disciplined, focused and energised team, united in purpose and aligned in values and vision. We are a formidable team, led by an exceptional leader in Premier Cook and his cabinet, and driven by a Labor caucus that cannot be matched in work ethic, enthusiasm, collegiality and get-shit-done attitude.

As we begin this first sitting year of the new Parliament, I wish to express my gratitude for the opportunity to continue serving the people of the electorate of Bicton. I thank them sincerely for placing their trust in me, Premier Cook and his team as their choice to represent and serve them again for a historic third term in government. Like my colleagues who have spoken before me, I am extremely thankful to have an exceptional campaign team. Team Bicton went above and beyond in backing and believing in me, managing the inevitable stress and the logistics that come along with election campaigns, and bringing together a red wave of support to realise the once-upon-a-time outrageous proposition that Bicton could be a three-term Labor seat! Massive thanks to Callum Nevill, Massimo Nardi and Karen Greenwood; campaign directors Simone McGurk and Meredith Hammat; the incredible campaign machine that is state and federal Fremantle; the Bicton branch; the mighty United Workers Union; state secretary Ellie Whiteaker and assistant state secretary Lauren Cayoun; everyone in WA Labor CHQ; the volunteers, both true believers and the many friends, family members and supporters who came out for me personally. Last but most definitely not least, to my husband, Mark; son, Aidan; and Matilda: thank you!

A member interjected.

Mrs Lisa O'Malley: Did you forget somebody else?

Ms Kim Giddens: My husband!

Mrs Lisa O'Malley: Whoops! Hang on, who?

Ms Kim Giddens: Mick Moore.

Mrs Lisa O'Malley: And of course, I would like to acknowledge my colleague the member for Bateman's husband, Mick Moore, for his exceptional efforts in ensuring that his beautiful wife was also returned as my wonderful colleague and electorate neighbour.

Ms Kim Giddens: Thank you!

Mrs Lisa O'Malley: You are welcome. You owe me one!

I am deeply aware, as is every Labor member in this place, of the great responsibility that comes with this role, and I would like to take the opportunity to put on the record my commitment to prioritising the needs of my electorate above all else. It is the people of the suburbs of Bicton, Attadale, Palmyra, Alfred Cove, East Fremantle, Willagee, Kardinya, Myaree and Melville, which comprise the electorate of Bicton, who granted me the honour of being the first member for Bicton when this seat was created in 2017 and returned me to this role in 2021 and on 8 March for an unprecedented third term. Being their member for Bicton is a great privilege. It is a role that I have never taken for granted and never will.

Deputy Speaker, I would like to add my congratulations to all those elected and re-elected to this place, and acknowledge the election of Mr Speaker, Madam Deputy Speaker, and the Acting Speakers who have been announced, and those who will be, and congratulate them on their ascension to these senior and crucially important roles.

My contribution today will be part reflection, as well as looking forward. As we commence this new term of government, I believe it is important to spend some time looking back at where we have been and how we got to here as an integral part of the priorities and plans for the next four years. In politics, nothing happens by accident; you can bet it was planned that way—so said Franklin D Roosevelt. It is a quote that accurately reflects the approach behind the success of successive Labor governments here in WA. Thoughtful, responsible and well-considered planning is a hallmark of the Cook government. Further, good government is no accident either, and can be measured against four key areas, being accountability, transparency, predictability and participation. On 8 March, the people of our great state considered all these things and took the measure of the past four and more years of WA Labor government, and those who would seek to govern, and returned the Cook government in overwhelming numbers for a historic third term.

I will add the word "reliable" when describing the way in which we on the government benches and seats go about the business of delivering good government. The people of my electorate of Bicton and right across our vast state know that they can rely on the Cook government to deliver good government, because they have seen and felt it over the past eight transformational years, as the direct beneficiaries of infrastructure upgrades, improved services, more jobs, greater accessibility, innovation, increased participation, cleaner environment, more jobs, local manufacturing, cost-of-living support, more affordable or free education and training and more jobs. Deliver: that is what this is government has been doing for the people of the electorate of Bicton and beyond since 2017. We have delivered on the commitments that we made prior to 11 March 2017, and we have delivered on the commitments we made in the lead-up to the historic 2021 state election. Now, we are poised and ready to deliver on the commitments we made before we won government again on 8 March 2025. The people of WA know that they can rely on the Cook Labor government to deliver on these commitments and continued good government.

I will spend some time talking about the commitments that will directly benefit my communities across the electorate, but, before I do, I would like to reflect more broadly on delivery and demeanour. As we commence the 42nd Parliament, we do so on this side of the chamber with discipline and unity of purpose, in stark contrast with the rabble opposite. For those who are new to this house, regardless of your relative position of seniority within your team, for your own sake and in respect of the expectations of the people who elected you to this chamber, I ask just one thing: please learn the rules of engagement. They are here in this book. It will both strengthen you as a member in this place and ensure that we get on with the business of this place. We can still have some fun while we are at it; after all, robust debate is an essential element of the work that we do.

Since first coming to government in 2017, our state has seen significant global economic and health challenges, particularly during the COVID years, and, more recently, the impacts of climate change and geopolitical uncertainty. Successive WA Labor governments have greeted these challenges with diligence and vigour, and we are well prepared for whatever is ahead, as a united team. It is a team that I am proud and grateful to be a part of, but that team has passed over the last eight years I have been in this place, and I would like to take a moment to acknowledge my colleagues who are no longer members of this place, through retirement, and who were not returned at this recent state election. I thank all of them for their service and dedication to this place and to the people of the electorates they represented. They are greatly missed.

It is a privilege to serve my electorate here in the Parliament as part of a diverse, dynamic and cohesive team. It is important to all of us that we remain mindful of who we are here to serve and the enormous responsibility that comes with that service.

I would like to also acknowledge and commend my colleagues who have spoken before me and thank them for their thoughtful and positive contributions to the debate. As I look back over the eight years since I became the member for Bicton, I see many great things that this government has delivered in my electorate and across our vast state, things that are making both an immediate and a long-term positive difference to the people of Bicton and beyond. We have delivered to our schools, with school's maintenance blitz funding that has helped to improve the physical appearance, safety, access and amenity in schools across Western Australia. Delivering on school maintenance was made possible because of the work of successive Labor governments to deliver strong financial management of the state's budget. Ongoing upgrades to school infrastructure is tangible evidence of this government's successful financial management and commitment to public education.

Additionally, at Melville Senior High School, which is the only public high school located in the electorate of Bicton, we have delivered upgrades with the allocation of $100,000 to the school canteen, $925,000 to STEM classrooms and $7.5 million for the newly opened gymnasium, together with $4.5 million for the performing arts centre that opened in 2020. Further, we have committed $70,000 towards heating Melville Senior High School's swimming pool to enable aquatic programs to be delivered year-round and $1 million towards upgrades of the no longer fit-for-purpose home economics classroom. I am pleased and proud as both the member for Bicton and as a Melville Senior High School parent—my daughter, Matilda, will graduate at the end of this year and my son graduated in 2019—and it gives me great pleasure to know that our government sees public education in the electorate of Bicton and right across WA as a top priority.

The Cook government's careful, diligent and disciplined approach to the state finances means that every public school across Western Australia has received funding for vital maintenance works and ongoing improvements. All but two schools in the electorate of Bicton are over 50 years old with several local primary schools built more than 100 years ago. As we all know, ageing buildings require lots of work to keep them viable and fit for purpose. Effective air conditioning is an important part of this and that is why the Cook government's $89 million Cool Our Schools commitment will upgrade the air conditioning systems of 45 schools across WA, including Palmyra, Bicton, Richmond and Attadale Primary Schools. In all, $6.4 million is committed to the Cool Our Schools program funding in the electorate of Bicton.

As I mentioned earlier, many of my local public schools are of an advanced age and I am incredibly proud of the improvements made to these local schools under successive Labor governments during the past eight years. The important upgrades are greatly needed for these vital local institutions to cater for the changing needs of their communities and to meet community expectations as modern learning facilities. Some of these include Richmond Primary School's $700,000 upgrade to its administration building in 2020 to incorporate contemporary and effective workflow features whilst maintaining the heritage exterior. This was provided together with the delivery of a Nature Play space in 2021 and new commitments to deliver $1.9 million to upgrade air conditioning and $50,000 for a new outdoor classroom.

Similarly, Attadale Primary School opened its purpose-built early learning centre in our first term in government. It was wonderful to be at the launch of the new school-site-based early learning centre back then and it is wonderful to think that those students are now, in 2025, making their way through the upper years of primary school. This wonderful school will now benefit from our new commitment to deliver $1 million for air conditioning upgrades and $50,000 for a new outdoor classroom. The early years are such a crucial time in a child's life and lay the foundation for life outcomes. Play builds imagination and creativity. It fosters cognitive growth, delivers emotional and behavioural benefits, improves literacy, encourages greater independence and promotes physical fitness. That is why I am so pleased and proud to have provided $50,000 towards a Nature Play space at Palmyra Primary School in 2022, which will be joined by the delivery of a new $50,000 greenhouse in the Pally Patch—the school kitchen garden—that will help enhance the school's STEM activities, along with $1 million for air conditioning upgrades.

Caralee Community School in Willagee is co-located with the Fremantle Language Development Centre. It is a new school for the electorate of Bicton. I have had a wonderful time getting to know the school community there and I am very pleased that they will be the recipients of a new $100,000 Nature Play space. Bicton and Melville Primary Schools have similarly received important funding support and upgrades over the past eight years, and I am excited to deliver these fantastic schools $50,000 each towards a new playground and outdoor classroom. I think there is a bit of a theme here. I do not know how the other members engage in their local communities, but many of our local schools were really calling out for assistance through their parents and citizens associations—I am still proudly a member of my local high school's P&C—for funding towards these kinds of Nature Play spaces and outdoor classrooms. In conversations with me, they reflected on the fact that yes, they know that children learn through play, and that play that includes activities in spaces that can be remodelled and moved around by the children is incredibly important. However, there was also a growing recognition that the schools needed quiet spaces for reflection and time out for the students and the teachers. Whilst these playgrounds are quite modest in delivery in terms of dollars, they make a massive difference to the school communities.

Post-secondary education and training is a top priority for the Cook Labor government. We know that many skills that are in short supply are learnt at TAFE and training institutions. I acknowledge the member for Bateman for raising this as a really important issue, as did the member for Cockburn. By reducing fees or removing fees altogether, we are creating opportunities for young people to launch their careers by getting the skills that employers want, which in turn leads to more WA jobs and facilitates more things to be made in WA. This is a great example of how the Cook Labor government is leading the way in economic diversification, job creation, job security and career pathways for Western Australia's school leavers. Small and medium enterprises are an incredibly important employer. SMEs represent around 97% of all businesses in Western Australia. From manufacturing and business services to retail, hospitality, technology, transport and so much more, the sector is a significant employer, job creator, incubator for innovation and facilitator of the Cook Labor government's commitment to make more things in WA. This government is continuing to deliver for the small-business owners of Bicton and beyond.

(Member's time extended.)

Mrs Lisa O'Malley: As someone with a small family business myself, I know firsthand how important it is that small-business owners have access to resources, opportunity and support. In some parts of my electorate, income from small-business ownership is the primary source of income for over half the local population. In fact, in Attadale it is somewhere around 42%. The small-business people who live in those suburbs, much like me with my business experience, may not necessarily run the business in the electorate of Bicton, but are certainly based there. The small-business owners of Bicton simply want the opportunity to secure work and grow their businesses and that is what this government has delivered and continues to deliver, firstly, with the WA Jobs Act that was initiated when we came to government in 2017. It set out the government's commitment to ensure that the $25-plus billion spent annually on state government procurement maximised opportunities for local businesses and created more jobs for Western Australians. We then launched the Western Australian Industry Participation Strategy that set out the pathway to the opportunity. It was the all-important blueprint that outlined how we gain access and how we participate in that pathway.

I am going to rush through a bit. We have made changes to payroll tax. Certainly, the small business owners in my community and beyond welcome the delivery of this payroll tax relief. It has long been called for by the sector. We know that. Important changes have resulted in a payroll tax cut for nearly 12,000 small and medium businesses in WA, with around 1,000 businesses here no longer being liable for any payroll tax, while also cutting payroll tax liability for an additional 11,000 businesses.

Together with the multitude of opportunities for startups and small and medium-sized enterprises in our Made in WA plan, I can confirm that the Cook Labor government is the government for small business. Good financial and economic management has never been more important and, along with cost-of-living concerns, is top of mind for the people of my electorate. I know this because when I knock on the doors throughout the electorate, I am told repeatedly that despite the current times, the Cook Labor government is doing a great job of managing the state's finances to be able to provide household support throughout eight years of challenge and change. This has also meant that several important infrastructure projects have been delivered over this time. These projects, both big and small, are all significant to their local communities and beyond.

I am going to rip through a few of the important ones, including the East Fremantle Oval redevelopment. It is now known as East Fremantle Community Park, the home of the mighty Sharks, the East Fremantle Football Club. We have delivered a signalised crossing at Canning Highway. In fact, we will have delivered two before the end of this term—one in East Fremantle and one in Melville. We are also doing a signalised crossing at North Lake Road in Kardinya, member for Bateman. We share a suburb—Kardinya. Kardinya Primary School is in the member for Bateman's electorate. Those children can now cross North Lake Road. What is it—four lanes? I do not know. It is scary as the speed limit is fast at 70 kilometres an hour. It is crazy. It is going to be good.

There is the nature playground in Davis Lawlor Park in Attadale and the pump track and nature playground in Gourley Park in East Fremantle. I am really proud of the Port Beach sand nourishment project. It does not sit in the electorate of Bicton, but two-thirds of the membership of the Port Beach Polar Bears live in the electorate of Bicton. As an early morning ocean swimmer, it is absolutely life changing to be able to get into the ocean and to get in there easily. Sand is needed for that; otherwise, there are only rocks or a great big step off. There has been sand nourishment throughout the last four years. A new election commitment is to build an accessible walkway so that the access point does not have to keep being rebuilt when we get the inevitable winter storms.

I have done a bunch. My background is health and fitness. I also grew up in the country, so I know how important community sporting clubs are. Along with schools, they really do form the basis and the central point for our communities. It is really important to be able to support them with things like lighting and facility upgrades and to work with the local community or the local government when it is required to deliver on those things. It cannot be overstated, particularly because we know that a sense of belonging is important. If someone belongs to a club or they have a sense of purpose in the day and somewhere to go to just connect to others at the end of the day, these things absolutely have a flow-on effect to our sense of wellbeing. We are more productive. Mental health is improved. All these things have an impact and, in fact, circle back to important elements of the budget, particularly in that we have now established the portfolio for the prevention of ill health, which is phenomenal.

With the time left to me, I am going to skip to another area that I am passionate about, and that is our local environment. I am really proud that over the eight years that I have been the member for Bicton, we have been able to protect our foreshore and our beautiful river, the Derbarl Yerrigan. Alfred Cove is internationally renowned as a migratory bird route. We now have the Melville Bird Sanctuary, which goes a long way towards preserving and protecting the places that these tiny birds need to come to on their stopover points from Siberia to WA and back again. It is quite an exceptional thing that the sanctuary does. If the birds are disturbed or disrupted, it can have a massive impact on their ability to refuel and get on their way. I want to give a shout-out to some community champions. Tom and Jenny, who established the Melville Bird Sanctuary almost single-handedly, are exceptional humans. They are two people who are doing so much. Like so many of our community activists, if you want to call them that, particularly in the environmental space, they are not looking for accolades. They are just looking for a little bit of help. What local members are able to do is increase the volume of their voices—turn up the noise on certain issues, if you like—and bring those concerns of the community all the way through to hopefully have an impact on policy, but certainly on direct delivery.

I am going to skip to volunteers, because we love them. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many community volunteers for dedicating their time, knowledge and skills to care for the natural places throughout the electorate of Bicton.

The Deputy Speaker: Member for Bicton, can I just pause you for one second, because it is really important that volunteers get their voice heard in Hansard. I would just like to say to those on the other side of the house that while a member is speaking, especially in their important Address-in-Reply speeches, if you have any conversations to have, could you please leave the chamber to have those conversations. We have all been told at some time or another to keep the noise down between ourselves, so this is something that we all have to abide by and learn. In respect for you, member for Bicton, please continue and give those volunteers the shout-out that they deserve.

Mrs Lisa O'Malley: Absolutely, thank you. Continuing the education of the chamber is a theme that is really important.

I am going to pick up here: I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many community volunteers for dedicating their time, knowledge and skills to care for the natural places throughout the electorate of Bicton. I greatly admire the commitment of these individuals who go about their activities of weeding, planting, rubbish collection, revetment work, citizen science data collection and many more important actions despite rain, mosquitos and heat. It is always a joy to work alongside them when I have the time. It is wonderful to know that some of these groups have been successful in receiving funding across several years through state grants programs, like the Community Rivercare Program grants and natural resource management funding. I am proud to be a member of a government delivering the kind of environmental action my community expects. I am going to put on the record that I will continue to work for greater protection from the negative impacts of fishing on our local aquatic and foreshore environment and birdlife. I am looking forward to seeing my election commitment for school Landcare kits delivered in partnership with the Rotary Club of Melville and the Bicton Environmental Action Group. I am also very pleased to have made a commitment to the Swan Yacht Club to deliver the Swan River community space in East Fremantle.

In conclusion, I would like to again express my gratitude to the people of the electorate of Bicton for the extraordinary opportunity to represent them in the Parliament of Western Australia. It is an enormous privilege and one that I have never taken for granted. I am proud of what I have been able to deliver so far for my communities in my role as the member for Bicton, and I look forward to working hard, engaging with my local communities and delivering more for Bicton in the 42nd Parliament.

Debate adjourned, on motion by Mr David Michael (Leader of the House).

House adjourned at 6:29:15 pm

Questions on notice answered today are available on the Parliament of Western Australia's website