Member for Armadale Tony Buti described Transport Minister Dean Nalder’s failure to meet with him at Denny Avenue ‘disgraceful’ in state parliament last Thursday following a grievance motion over the road.
Dr Buti criticised Mr Nadler in front of members for meeting with Canning candidate Andrew Hastie last month when he and the late Don Randall had tried for months to meet him at the road.
Mr Nalder shot back at Dr Buti saying he did not want to politicise the issue and turn it into a ‘soap opera’.
Dr Buti said a number of emails and letters went back and forth between himself, Mr Randall and the minister earlier this year.
“He was always too busy to meet us,” he said.
“Mr Randall and I were the elected officials and the Minister could not meet us on-site but somehow he found time to meet the Canning candidate.
“That is disgraceful, Minister, absolutely disgraceful.”
Dr Buti said over the past 15 years the problem at the intersection had only increased and nothing had been done about it.
“The congestion on that route has increased enormously over the years,” he said.
“For instance since 2010 more than 18,000 new residents have settled in the Armadale region.”
Mr Nalder said he had personally visited the intersection prior to the meeting with Mr Hastie and there were higher priority projects throughout the state.
“I went out there some months ago with Main Roads to investigate this matter and to really get an understanding of what the options were,” he said.
“The intersection at Denny Avenue and Albany Highway is ranked 588th in terms of crashes.
“This means that there are 587 intersections that have a higher rate of crashes that we, as a responsible government, must address before we build a solution at Davis Road.
“I have asked to see whether (traffic issues) can be improved by simply allowing that boom gate to get up to allow the traffic to continue moving through.”
Last week the state Labor party announced a plan to remove level crossings on the Armadale train line as part of its heavy rail metronet commitment for the 2017 state election.
