An influential Perth businessman has broken ranks to defy government "groupthink" around the Perth Freight Link, 'betting his career' on an alternative plan for an Outer Harbour in Kwinana.
Cameron Edwards is director at corporate advisory, strategy and investment firm Mainsheet Capital.
The infrastructure and transport logistics specialist, who has worked with numerous government agencies including the Departments of Transport and Water and Main Roads WA, says consultants' reports to the government on the PFL have been "compromised" in the effort to "back-engineer" the project for political convenience.
While much of the Roe 8 debate has focused on the Beeliar Wetlands, Mr Edwards says it has ignored WA's desperate need for a port that can compete with those on the eastern seaboard.
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Increasingly troubled by the government's promise to privatise Fremantle Port and service it with the PFL, he has finally put his doubts on record with four public talks promoting the alternative Outer Harbour project at The Institute of Architects, the Rockingham/Kwinana Chamber of Commerce, Bicton community group and the Planning Institute.
"In a lot of respects I am an insider," he said.
"I can see this putting a lot of people's noses out of joint; people I spend a lot of time with, to be frank. Already last week with one person quite senior in the Liberal Party was very angry with me.
"I would like to think that over time they would realise I am not doing this for political reasons but because it is very important to evaluate different options; that we as a community should select what is best for us."
Common consensus says Fremantle Port will reach capacity in a decade, and transferring the bulk of trade to a new Outer Harbour is a concept with decades of bipartisan support.
Political controversy has only arisen in recent years following the Abbott government's 2014 federal funding promise for the PFL, now culminating in opposing election platforms.
A 2D image of the design. Photo: City of Kwinana
The Liberals promise to privatise Fremantle Port, build Perth Freight Link (Roe 8, 9 and one day 10) to allow private operators to get freight more cheaply to and from it, and deepen the port to extend its life somewhat, without committing to a timeline on an Outer Harbour.
Labor promises to maintain Fremantle Port in public ownership and transfer its role somewhat to a secondary one, scrap Perth Freight Link and channel the funding to both other road upgrades, and progress work on the Outer Harbour plans.
"I know the demands [of industry]. I have worked for many companies in Kwinana and Fremantle. I know about the export demand, the projects blocked for many years, the projects delayed because of the sale of the port," Mr Edwards said.
"It probably reached its optimum capacity in the 1990's. Since then there have been diminishing returns with significant opportunity costs.
"It has been a miracle by the management of Fremantle Port Authority that they have continued to scrape out value and efficiencies even though the port is well past the used by date.
"In the corporate world, a company would have built the outer harbour a long time ago to capture the economic growth potential and realise the value of the land both in Fremantle and Kwinana."
A slide from Mr Edwards' presentation. Photo: Supplied
Mr Edwards said in 2014, when the PFL was announced, he did not want to get involved. But when a friend asked his opinion on the project, he began to look into it.
"I thought, 'hang on, this doesn't make sense'," he said.
"When you realise that, what do you do next? You can't just go and talk to anybody about this kind of stuff. You have to be right. So I did some more work."
His doubts grew. "In the shadows", he began asking questions.
"I spoke to the various departments, ministers, advisers, asked why are we doing this, and have you considered that?'" he said.
"No one wants to hear it. It has been a pressure-cooker situation. Even consultants' reports are compromised. They have basically had to try to back-engineer a solution. It is clear what the government wants. They don't want an alternative. You are either toeing the party line or you are not. So if you want to get work, you have to play the game."
A slide from Mr Edwards' presentation. Photo: Supplied
He said there was a clear lack of robust business cases around the PFL.
"It's not how government should work. You should be doing proper business cases, then selecting the best option rather than trying to force a political solution into a commercial situation," he said.
He said by November 2016 he had exhausted his options without "getting on the soapbox".
"I have been conflicted by my work and what I do," he said.
"But someone has to say something."
Asked to speak on the issue to the Rockingham Kwinana Chamber of Commerce in February 2017, he spent months working on an analysis of new research and 25 years of existing research around the City of Kwinana's Indian Ocean Gateway proposal to ensure it was watertight.
A slide from Mr Edwards' presentation. Photo: Supplied
"When you are speaking publicly you have to be right," he said.
"Infrastructure assets are not like a property or a company. You live with those decisions for decades for generations. I have kids and I am a specialist in this area and how do I justify to them in the future what has been done?"
"There should be an independent body, an Infrastructure WA to give an independent opinion ... but we just have dictates from the government. Everybody else is scared into line, and bugger it – I am not."
Mr Edwards said bodies including Fremantle Ports Authority, departments of Transport and Planning, as well as BGC and the City of Kwinana, had already completed detailed planning and the project could be underway within a decade.
"The message from the government is that there is plenty of capacity in Fremantle and that the government doesn't have any money to build the Outer Harbour. That is why we need to build Roe 8, 9 and 10 because that allows freight to go to Fremantle," he said.
"That is nonsense. They are trying to sell the port as quickly as we can to make some money, to pay down some debt. Fundamentally, Fremantle has strategic flaws and it has had for 20-30 years."
He said Fremantle Port lacked capacity to take the latest or future ships. But it was not just a question of the capacity of the port, but of the land around it.
Sales in Fremantle over the past three decades meant the land was priced by the market as prime residential and there was no longer the capacity to develop new industrial land around the port.
Logistics links, particularly rail facilities, were severely restricted and the port was too far from the major economic zones of Kwinana and the intermodal hub of Kewdale.
He said the people to benefit from the sale of Fremantle Port and building of the PFL would be logistics companies in Rous Head.
"You are eliminating competition and entrenching our logistics companies, which aren't even based in WA, to put more road freight through Perth," he said.
"We could argue about Roe 8, 9, 10 but fundamentally it's all trying to find a road freight solution for Fremantle. You're going against the market by trying to hold on to this out-of-date port.
"What Fremantle is now is a tourism hub, a cultural heartland. That's why we should have upgraded cruise ship terminals, theatres, extensive commercial, residential, social development."
He said business logic would instead encourage bigger ships, more rail and a more efficient, modern port surrounded by available land.
This could only happen in Kwinana, to which trucks could travel along Tonkin Highway and Anketell and Rowley Roads, routes already used for heavy freight.
He said while the project would be costly, costs could be borne by private operators and the economic benefits would be far greater than the break-even assessment of the Perth Freight Link by Infrastructure Australia.
"I have spoken to investors and businesses in this space and they would love to invest if the package makes sense. The package must include the land around Kwinana because that's where you have to build your intermodal port and industrial park.
"Ports are like airports and train stations, nothing by themselves. They are property deals."
Similar arguments were brought in a recent paper entitled Better Urban Infrastructure – a Freight Plan for Perth, co-authored by Hassell principal Chris Melsom, Curtin University Associate Professor and City of Canning Economic Development director Mike Mouritz and Curtin University Sustainability Professor Peter Newman.
The Department of Transport was asked to comment on the history of the Outer Harbor planning and issue, but could not comment because the government was in caretaker mode.
The government has continued to insist that the Perth Freight Link is the best solution for freight in WA and that its benefits in cost and time savings will outweigh its costs.
The Liberal Party was contacted for comment.
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