Latest news with #WANationals
West Australian
01-07-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Labor slams Nationals over airfare cap ‘lies', insists regional scheme will continue beyond 2026
Labor has hit back at WA Nationals leader Shane Love, clarifying the regional airfare zone cap scheme is not being scrapped, despite funding only being outlined until 2026. Since 2022, the initiative has been embraced by regional residents, with more than 420,000 capped airfares flown since the scheme began. Mr Love said Treasurer Rita Saffioti had 'failed to commit' to the long-term future of the scheme, after the Cook Government announced a further $4 million to extend the program to mid-2026. Calling the airfare cap scheme a 'vital lifeline' that keeps 'communities connected', Mr Love said the Government's 2025-26 Budget was a 'warning shot'. 'The Treasurer's Budget provides funding for the airfare cap for this year only. Beyond that? Not a cent in the forward estimates. That's not a mistake; it's a warning shot,' he said. 'Royalties for Regions had been funding the program, but with no allocation in future years, the public can only assume it's been killed off. 'This isn't just a Budget line item, it's about access to healthcare, education and basic family connection. Without affordable airfares, regional Western Australians are stranded.' Treasurer and Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said the airfare cap scheme was here to stay. 'The regional capped airfare scheme isn't going anywhere, and the Nationals know that,' she said. 'The Nationals are blatantly lying to the communities they claim to represent, and they should be ashamed. 'Our Labor Government started this scheme, and we recognise how important it has been for regional communities. It's not going anywhere.' A review and renegotiation of the scheme will begin mid-year, with the extension to mid-2026 ensuring uninterrupted service during the process. 'This additional investment will see the scheme extended until the middle of 2026 and ensure there is no gap in service delivery while we review and renegotiate terms with the airlines,' Ms Saffioti said.
West Australian
20-05-2025
- Politics
- West Australian
Rail safety advocate Lara Jensen appeals to PM to enact mandatory train illumination standards
Passionate rail safety advocate and Improve Train Lighting and Level Crossing Safety spokeswoman Lara Jensen is appealing to the Prime Minister to legislate mandatory train illumination standards across Australia. In a letter to the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Ms Jensen, a Murchison pastoralist, said requests for safety measures at 'notorious' regional level crossings have been 'ignored by federal and state governments over many decades'. Dated May 17, the letter marks what would have been Christian Jensen's 45th birthday. Mr Jensen, along with his two friends Jessica-Lea Broad and Hilary Smith, died after their vehicle was hit by a train at Yarramony Crossing on July 8, 2000. 'I did not choose to be a rail safety advocate, rather through unthinkable tragedy I have found myself part of a fraternity that nobody wants to belong to — a group of families who have all lost loved ones to completely preventable rail crashes and who are fighting for decades-overdue rail safety reform in Australia,' Ms Jensen said in her letter. ' . . . I am writing to you to appeal to you for leadership on this protracted safety issue that has disproportionately affected rural communities for decades too long.' In her letter to Mr Albanese, Ms Jensen said the safety issue had 'disproportionately affected rural communities for decades too long'. She asked him to not forget about regional Australians and legislate mandatory train illumination standards across Australia. 'Coroner Hope recommended that all locomotives be fitted with external auxiliary lighting in addition to ditch lighting to effectively warn motorists of oncoming trains,' she wrote. 'These recommendations were completely ignored by state and federal governments and the rail industry and remain un-acted on to this day. The Federal Government's 2023-2032 National Level Crossing Safety Strategy outlines 39 fatalities, 322 collisions, 49 serious injuries, and 7839 near hits at level crossings across Australia between July 2014 and December 2022. Ahead of the WA State election in March, the WA Nationals pledged to implement lighting regulations, including rotating beacons, side lighting, and enhanced reflectors, for all trains and rolling stock operating across the state. The WA Liberals did not match the Nationals' pledge but said the party would call for legally mandated train lighting, while WA Labor did not make any train lighting commitment. State Coroner Alastair Hope made a recommendation in the 2001 coronial inquest into Mr Jensen, Ms Broad, and Ms Smith's deaths that trains be fitted with lights to provide 'effective warning' to road users 'as soon as practicable'. In her bid to have lights installed at regional level crossings Ms Jensen wrote to the WA Coroner's Court in December to request to speak to the now-retired State Coroner in relation to the inquest, but her request was denied. Acting principal registrar Sarah Tyler responded to Ms Jensen's inquiry, stating the 1996 Coroners Act does not empower the State Coroner to 'compel any party to implement or action those recommendations'. 'It would most unfortunate if regulatory authorities did not undertake careful consideration of the State Coroner's recommendation in this case, but there is no power for the State Coroner to force action to be taken,' Ms Tyler said. Ms Tyler said the Coroner's Court would investigate and 'closely scrutinise' the response of regulatory authorities to the 2001 safety recommendation if it were 'relevant to any future death'. Mr Hope said in the 2001-2002 State Coroners' Annual Report there 'would appear to be no good reason for failing to have some form of lighting illuminating the side of trains at night'. The Prime Minister's office has been contacted for comment.
