Mandurah and the Peel region are in serious need of more public infrastructure. Development has not kept up with population growth. That fact is no better illustrated than in the suburb of Lakelands.

Lakelands is in north Mandurah. At the 2006 census its population was 434. By 2016, that number had exploded by more than 10 times to 4830. If you include the immediate surrounding suburbs the number rises to 17,298.  

The only train station in Mandurah was completed ten years ago. The station has transformed our City. It has opened access to the Perth jobs market and injected new life into the Mandurah economy.

The train line’s completion was a watershed moment in the history of Mandurah, but there is more work to be done. Building a new train station in Lakelands will increase economic and social opportunities for the people of north Mandurah. Importantly, there will be fewer cars on the road.

The people of Mandurah recognise this. At the end of 2017 I conducted a poll of more than 1600 people who live in the north of Mandurah.  Of the respondents, over 90% want a train station build in Lakelands.

I call on my colleagues in the Labor state government to work with us on this essential project. I was gratified to read in the Sunday Times that the Labor state government is listening to me on the development of the Byford train line and the Tonkin Highway extension. Mandurah is important too. I will not let the Labor state government take the people of northern Mandurah for granted.