Libby Mettam: WA Labour’s slew of broken promises from McGowan to Cook pile up after power outages

On December 6, 2022, Mark McGowan claimed: “Western Australia is on the cusp of becoming a global green energy superpower”. It was State Daddy’s spin team in full and glorious flight. There’s no such thing as too much hyperbole. This week, WA ran out of electricity. Oops! With State Daddy in the rearview mirror, it fell to Premier Roger Cook to admit Labor will not be able to keep the lights on or the air conditioners running while it transitions WA to green energy. Cook had to fess up to Labor’s big green lie after 12,000 WA households dropped off the grid in the middle of a heat wave. Cook blamed “extreme weather” but then, almost as a throwaway line, said blackouts would be “part and parcel” of the State’s transition to green energy. Neither this week’s heat wave nor the shortage of electricity was a surprise. WA Labor’s 2021 election platform said “we are in a climate emergency” and the Australian Energy Market Operator last year warned the Labor Government its headlong rush into closing coal-fired electricity generation and its mismanagement of the State’s gas reserves would lead to electricity shortages as early as 2025. A bang on time prediction that I’m sure the Premier was hoping wouldn’t happen before March 8. Only the WA Liberal Party is committed to a responsible and achievable energy transition that’s not skewed by ideology, union interests and an alliance with the WA Greens. Reliability and affordability are integral, and we need to ensure coal power remains part of the energy mix until viable replacements are operational. This will mean developing new gas generation capacity to maintain baseload security and investing in renewable solutions as they become feasible. A WA Liberal government will build 300MW of gas generation and use current coal generation until full-scale renewables are built to be reliable and financially sound. No hyperbole, no green-pandering headline numbers, just a solid plan to keep the lights on in WA. Outrageous claims and broken promises are Labor’s stock in trade, so the big green lie should have come as no surprise. Where is the ticket system to allow people to tag on and off public transport with a smart phone, credit or debit card, where is the Aboriginal Cultural Centre on the banks of the Swan River, where is the film studio at Victoria Quay in Fremantle and where is our e-waste recycling plant — all promised by Mark McGowan in 2021? Where is Geraldton’s hospital upgrade, where is the Peel Health Campus upgrade and where is Meekatharra’s new hospital? Why aren’t 85 per cent of Year 12 students completing two or more STEM courses and why aren’t women protected by coercive control legislation? Now it’s Premier Cook’s turn to sell the fanciful to the faithful. His flat fare public transport relief for the 10 per cent of West Australians who regularly commute on public transport will not be introduced until 2026. A year is a long time out for families struggling to meet household expenses and long enough to back down. Labor backdowns from the last election include a standalone rehabilitation facility in the South West, building the Women’s and Babies Hospital at QEII, and a screen production facility at Victoria Quay. Then there’s the promises contingent on Federal Government co-funding. Not forgetting his hapless Federal stablemate Anthony Albanese will go to the polls, likely as the underdog, within weeks of the WA State election. The $450 million fix for Perth’s worst intersection, Erindale Road and the Reid Highway — which could have been done years ago if Metronet had not blown out by $10 billion — will only go ahead if the Federal Government stumps up half the cost. Think about the people of Pinjarra who have been waiting for Labor to fulfill its 2017 promise of a a heavy haulage deviation. Successive Federal governments have refused to add $250 million to WA Labor’s $50 million contribution so it’s now been pushed out to 2026. Then there’s Rita Saffioti’s costings “problem”. The $107 million announced for Metronet on the Swan is a laughable undercooking of the total cost. Remember WA Labor’s $32 million costing for the WACA redevelopment? It has blown out to more than $150 million. Then there’s the impossible promises, like Cook’s promise last week to fast-track vulnerable children through the justice system in 28 days. A plan Kings Counsel Tom Percy called “fanciful” and “unfair”. A thought bubble reminiscent of Mark McGowan’s promise to cap fares on plane tickets for regional residents. In the end, Labor didn’t know how to make it happen, so just didn’t do it. After eight years of Labor’s bluffing and blustering, I am committed to what is real and achievable for the people of WA. WA Liberal commitments have realistic outcomes and timeframes, will help relieve cost of living pressures, provide accessible and affordable healthcare and keep us all safe. Libby Mettam is the Liberal leader.