ST CLAIR LAND SWAP

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:40): I have a supplementary question. Will the minister rule out any commercial or retail development on the St Clair site?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (14:40): The whole idea of a transit-oriented development is that—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: I suggest that the honourable member—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: —go and have a look. In this country he could go to Subiaco in Perth, which is a very good example of a transit-oriented development—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Well, are there commercial operations around Subiaco? Of course there are, and there are residences. It is a mixed use development. They have street level shops. The idea of a transit-oriented development is that you have employment in the area. You have people coming on the train both ways; you have people who use public transport but people also come for employment.

The best examples of transit-oriented development have a mix of residential and commercial use. That is what all the great cities of the world do; that is what you see in London, Paris, and anywhere else. Those cities that are enduring, that predated the motor vehicle, evolved like that for very good reasons. The distortion in the growth of our cities has really been because of the dominance of the motor vehicle in the petrol era, from about the 1950s and 1960s onwards, and I suggest that we cannot necessarily build our future on that assumption. Also, and as other cities have seen, the massive congestion that has come with freeway solutions has had its impact. What we see through transit-oriented developments—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Well, we are the government that is spending $2 billion to $3 billion on upgrading public transport in this state. We have already done it.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: These are the people who wanted to keep 1929 tramcars going to Glenelg; that was the opposition's policy. If those opposite were still in government the tramline to Glenelg would have been closed because those trams were no longer viable. Not only did this government make it more viable by extending the line but it also got new rolling stock—and it is getting more. What did the opposition do? It whinged and complained about this so-called tramline to nowhere that no-one would use, and then it complained afterwards—

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink: It's a shocker. You don't have to—

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: It's a shocker, they say; they are against it. They hate public transport. The opposition wants to go back to the same old failed policies of the past. As we come up to the next election, I am quite happy that we have this contrast: a government that is moving forward, in step with the rest of the world, while those opposite cling to the past.