UNDER ATTACK: Labor have pounced on Treasurer Troy Buswell over the Liberals' election costings.
MARK McGowan's Metronet plan to connect Perth's suburbs by rail has been costed by Treasury at $5.2 billion - $1.4 billion more than was costed by Labor.
Although the project would cost $4.335b in today's dollar terms, Treasury says that the estimated total cost once it was built would be $5.2 billion, a long way short of the $6.4 billion cost estimated by Treasurer Troy Buswell.
Mr Buswell recently released the advice from the Public Transport Authority that has formed the basis of the Liberals' claim that Metronet - which includes new rail lines to Ellenbrook, Perth Airport and circle lines through the northern and southern suburbs - will cost $6.4 billion.
But Labor was unmoved by the revelations, sticking resolutely to its $3.8 billion price tag, claiming the PTA had costed a plan that was different from what it would build.
"Treasury has costed the Metronet commitment based on the best information available,'' Treasury said.
"However, as the Metronet plan is at a preliminary concept design stage, various assumptions have been made in deriving the costing advice.
"Noting that the costing advice is indicative and based on preliminary concepts only, Treasury estimates the total capital cost of the Metronet commitment at $5.2 billion over eight years.''
According to Treasury, the effect on State debt - tipped to be $25 billion by 2015-16 - was nearly $1 billion extra.
Opposition Leader Mark McGowan said Treasurer Troy Buswell had egg on his face.
Labor says the main difference between its estimate and Treasury's relates to the rail line to the airport. It puts the line at $700 million, while Treasury gave it a $1.2 billion price tag.
Under the plan, rail links will run to Perth's outer suburbs to ease congestion across the city.
However Mr Buswell said not only did the figures show Labor couldn't add up, they also showed that the party wanted to build a rail line that was unreliable and unsafe.
Addressing the discrepancy in the Treasury costings and his party's own estimates of the cost of building Metronet, Mr Buswell said Labor's planned budget is inadequate because it does not allow for a necessary duplication of the Midland rail line between Bayswater and Perth.
Pointing to Treasury commentary that running 18 trains per hour on the Midland line would reduce reliability and safety, Mr Buswell said Labor's plan should now be renamed.
"This is not Metronet. This is Metronot, because it is not funded, not costed, not reliable and not safe,'' Mr Buswell said.
Buswell needs Federal Government funding
Meanwhile Mr Buswell said he expected half of the party's election commitments - the MAX light rail, a heavy-gauge rail line to Perth's airport and the Perth-to-Darwin highway - would be paid for by the Federal Government.
He said that was "pretty consistent'' with Commonwealth investment in other metropolitan projects, including the Gateway road project.
Funding from the Federal Government's Nation Building Program had been included in current forward estimates, he said.
"There is plenty of evidence that that money will flow and it will flow into those projects because they are the government's priority projects,'' Mr Buswell told reporters on Friday.
"I would be looking at the Commonwealth to fund at least half of those projects.''
But Opposition Treasury spokesman Ben Wyatt said the admission was extraordinary and showed the Liberals' key election pledges were "nothing but empty promises''.
"It casts serious doubt over these major Liberal Party promises and highlights a massive black hole in their budget,'' Mr Wyatt said.
"They will only proceed if the Federal Government picks up more than half of the tab.''
Mr Buswell said he would submit all of the Liberal Party's election commitments to Treasury for independent costing this afternoon.
They would appear on the Treasury website by Thursday at the latest, he said, adding the Liberals were "very confident and comfortable'' with the figures they had provided for validation.
If the party had made mistakes, that would be made clear in the Treasury documents, Mr Buswell said.
Mr Wyatt defended the party's decision not to hand over all its election commitment costings to Treasury - saying the Liberals had done the same while in Opposition in 2008.
"We'll be submitting the aggregates of our costings to treasury so they can then inform us what impact that has on the net debt level of the State,'' he said.
Mr Buswell accused Labor of being "all over the shop'' with its costings and called on the party to fully inform voters about its plans.
He said there were "risks'' around operating costs for Labor's Metronet, pledges relating to police and building an AFL stadium in Subiaco by 2018, as well as an alternative plan for developing Perth's waterfront.
Mr McGowan initially said the alternative waterfront plan was "good'' but later denied he had adopted it.
Mr Buswell also said Labor's plan to abolish the Tariff Equalisation Contribution levy to reduce household power bills could cost up to $250 million a year.
He said he had not met anyone other than Mr McGowan who believed Labor's plans were deliverable.
Mr McGowan said Labor would build Metronet, because the city's roads would choke if it didn't.
- with AAP
