TAXES AND CHARGES

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (14:22): Sir, one area that the Premier does have responsibility for is his own statements that he has made in the press in recent weeks. Can he outline to the house how he is going to pay for his $36 million infrastructure promises and his $600 million health promises?

The Hon. J.M. Rankine interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Before the Premier rises, I call the Minister for Education to order for interjecting. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:23): We set this out at length in the public announcements that we made about the transport plan—the very well received transport plan, I might say. Could I at this juncture pay credit to the former minister for transport, the member for Elder, who put in place many of the measures that have permitted this plan to actually be possible to be imagined.

Frankly, the howls of criticism that greeted the member for Elder when he decided to reintroduce trams into the city were only eclipsed by the howls of criticism about how people could get on these trams because they became so popular within a few months of them being introduced; so that has created the opportunity for us to imagine the plan that we put in place last week.

This plan itself is about $36 billion. If you project forward, after some appropriate adjustment for the fact that there has been recent stimulus in the transport sector, you get $23 billion worth of investment together with the commonwealth over the next 30 years. We have also estimated that of that $36 billion there would be a sum of $7 billion which we could expect to come from the private sector because of their contributions to port and other infrastructure which is implicit within the plan. There is a $6 billion gap between what we would project forward under appropriate assumptions and what we would expect as the sum that is implied by this new $36 billion plan.

If you look at the plan, you will see that some of the projects on there are very ambitious. For instance, the undergrounding of the north-south electrified corridor. That itself is almost $3 billion. That is a project which obviously would not be a project which would be done at an early time, but it does provide some idea of the sorts of choices that are available. Even if you take the present very low level of estimates that some people have made, half of the plan would be funded.

This underscores the importance of putting a plan in place to allow you to prioritise the sorts of projects that you might choose, to allow you to reserve the corridors, to allow people to make judgements about where they might make their developments, in the understanding that this is the long-term plan for the future of the state. I noted with great interest the remarks that were made by Mr Scrafton, the former head of transport, who said that this is a good idea. It has been widely accepted by the broader community. Why is it that the Liberal Party continues to adopt a negative stance in relation to such an important document?

Mr PENGILLY: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Yes, point of order, member for Finniss.

Mr PENGILLY: The point of order is that the Premier is relating to Liberal Party policy again. I ask for your ruling.

The SPEAKER: Yes, I think we have heard—leader?

Mr MARSHALL: I have a supplementary, sir.

The SPEAKER: I am not sure that the Premier is finished. Is the Premier finished?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Yes.

The SPEAKER: The Premier is finished, which I am sure will remedy the point of order of the member for Finniss. The leader.