Minister for Resources Madeleine King, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Labor candidate for Bullwinkel Trish Cook, WA Premier Roger Cook, Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong, WA Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti.

PRIME Minister Anthony Albanese has pledged his team’s support behind the Western Australian Government’s plan to bring the state’s freight rail network back into public hands

During a visit to the CBH Group’s Metro Grain Centre in Forrestfield on Thursday, Mr Albanese announced that a re-elected Labor Government would invest $2.5 million to support the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) to work with the WA Government to undertake due diligence and a feasibility study for taking back control of parts of the freight rail network.

Through this election commitment, the study will consider how WA’s freight rail network can be integrated with the ARTC’s interstate rail network, including the potential for the Commonwealth to take direct control of the east-west rail line from Kalgoorlie to Fremantle.

In January, WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti and Premier Roger Cook announced the government’s intention to negotiate with lessee Arc Infrastructure to return the network to public ownership.

The news was met with widespread support from many stakeholders, including the CBH Group.

WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti

“Our rail network is our nation’s nervous system – it is so important that these key freight lines remain productive, viable and well maintained,” Mr Albanese said.

“We will work with the Cook Labor Government to fund a study to assess the viability of bringing these rail lines back into public hands.

“This will ensure our freight system remains strong and viable for many years to come.”

Mr Cook said the WA freight network “belongs” in the hands of the state government.

“Taking control back of our rail freight network will help diversify our economy for the future, create local jobs and ensure all Western Australians, no matter where they live, have access to the services they need,” Mr Cook said.

Ms Saffioti said returning the network to public ownership would ultimately mean reduced costs for grain producers.

“We know that both industry and the farming groups very much want to put more freight on rail,” Ms Saffioti said.

“As Minister for Transport, it has been a major challenge in many times to try and get more freight on rail as we don’t control the freight network in WA.

“This decision by the Prime Minister and the Albanese Government very much backs our plan for the future.

“It means cheaper costs for farmers, it means more freight on rail, it means reduce road congestion and also the impact that many of these trucks are having on local roads, both throughout our suburbs and regional WA.”

Arc Infrastructure negotiations

In January, the WA Government said that it had written to Arc to commence negotiations.

It also said the Director General of Transport would establish a team to commence negotiations, with the State Government open to all options, including a staged return to public ownership.

However, it remains unclear whether Arc has engaged with the proposal, with Ms Saffioti telling a pre-election event in February she had received “no response” from the company.

Arc has another 24 years to run under the agreement.

Earlier this month Member for Pilbara Kelvin Miche asked Ms Saffioti for an update on negotiations with Arc Infrastructure as a question without notice in the WA Legislative Assembly meeting.

Ms Saffioti replied that negotiations were “one of the key commitments that we gave during the election”.

“There are a number of reasons for it,” Ms Saffioti said.

“One of the key reasons is to make sure that we can grow regional communities and we can support investment throughout regional WA.”

She called for bipartisan support for the policy with the WA Liberal and National Party members publicly criticising the move.

“We need to support more freight on rail for a number of reasons, including the economic growth of this state and for regional road safety, which is another element, to make sure more freight is on rail.

“That is why we need bipartisan support.

“Not only did the opposition not support it, it tried to grossly inflate the figure, saying it would cost $5 billion.”

Ms Saffioti accused the opposition of “trying to jeopardise the process” and “wanting the deal to fail”.