RE-ELECTED Fremantle MLA Simone McGurk is ready and eager to sink her teeth into another four years in office.
Having won office in 2013 on the back of 57.86 per cent of the two party preferred vote, Ms McGurk extended her popularity in last weekend’s election, recording a 7 per cent swing in her favour to hold one of 41 Labor seats in the new State Government.
“Roe 8 and the Perth Freight Link, jobs, privatisation of Western Power and the economy were the main reasons people abandoned the Barnett Government and I believe the result was emphatic and in some cases exceeded our expectations,” she told Fremantle Gazette.
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READ NOW“We took a clear plan for Fremantle to the election, one which Fremantle electors have endorsed overwhelmingly.
“Now we’ll get on with delivering that plan, which I know will give Fremantle the economic stimulus it needs and give it its rightful place as an urban hub and a world-class tourist destination.”
Ms McGurk was named in Mark McGowan’s new cabinet on Wednesday, made Minister of Child Protection, Women’s Interest, Community Services and Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence.
She said she was honoured to have been included in the new cabinet, and while admitting her new portfolio was “quite a mouthful and a big responsibility”, she was eager to take on the role alongside fighting for the issues the Fremantle people cared about the most.
“The first thing is that the Roe 8 and Perth Freight Link project will be scrapped,” she said.
“We will get trucks off local roads by increasing the freight-rail subsidy to get more freight on to rail.
“We also have plans to build the second port at Kwinana, redevelop South Quay, create a new urgent care clinic in Fremantle and make better use of Fremantle Hospital.
“I also look forward to education assistants returning to local classrooms after many positions were cut by the Barnett Government.”