Rail Electrification Project

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:29): Can the minister confirm that there have only been two failures of that cable: May last year and June this year?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister Assisting the Minister for Planning, Minister Assisting the Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (14:29): Certainly I am aware of two breaks or partings of that cable which has interrupted services and which has caused all of this work and all of this analysis to take place. I am not aware that there have been further similar events to that but, of course, in the Leader of the Opposition's question he talks about failure of the wire. What I am now advised and what I am now advising the house is that there seems to have been a failure in the manufacturing of this wire which has affected all of those lengths that have been supplied to the government, to the extent where both the lead contractor and the government have reached the view that all of those wires, all of that batch that was supplied for the Seaford electrification project, needs to be replaced from that manufacturer, Olex Australia.

That is why now we are faced with the situation where we are having to interrupt rail services in a way in which we didn't envisage when we were traversing this area back in early June. Certainly, I made it clear that the government would not be having to pay for any rectification works that occurred. I also said at the time it was our expectation, based on advice, that we would be able to conduct whatever rectification works were required between those two times—between that last service, which is approximately midnight, and the first service the next morning, which is approximately 5 or 6am.

Given that the problem is far more extensive—it is not just about replacing sections of wire; it is about replacing whole lengths of this wire to the extent where we are replacing, I am advised, approximately 40 per cent of the wire which was supplied—the catenary wire—for this project. We are talking about replacing 35 kilometres of wire. This is not something which can be replaced—

Mr Goldsworthy: Thirty-five kilometres.

The SPEAKER: The member for Kavel is warned.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —outside of operational hours. This is something where the workers need full and unfettered access to the rail corridor on an ongoing basis. That is why, yes, albeit it is at that time of year when it is a lower patronage period—we don't have schoolchildren using the service and we have a lower proportion of workers and students commuting to and from the city—nonetheless, it is an incredible inconvenience to all of those people who rely on this service during that time of year that they will not be able to access that service.

At the very least, we are also requiring that lead contractor, rather than just replacing the wire that has been deemed necessary to replace, we are also requiring them, at their cost and at no cost to the government, to replace the train services with substitute bus services, tailored as best as possible to try to provide certainly not the same level of service, but a level of service where there are limited-stop express bus services, for example, as well as funding the communication campaign necessary to make sure we can get the message out to people who are going to be affected by this interruption in service.

The SPEAKER: Supplementary, the leader.