January 30, 2019 Premier’s deceit on Huawei contract laid bare Premier Mark McGowan must order his Transport Minister Rita Saffioti to abandon the $200 million contract she signed with controversial Chinese telco Huawei. Shadow Transport Minister Liza Harvey said concerns expressed by the Liberal Opposition for the past year about the suitability of the contract had proved valid and the Premier’s simplistic portrayal of the contract as a phone system between train drivers looked ridiculous. “Last night, the Premier was still trying to convince the public he was paying $200 million to allow train drivers to talk to each other; he is treating the public like idiots,” Ms Harvey said. “This contract never passed the credibility test and the Premier has done everything in his power to stop its real purpose becoming public. “The Public Transport Authority recommended the contract go to Cabinet but for some reason both Minister Saffioti and the Premier decided not to give Cabinet the opportunity to scrutinise it.” Ms Harvey said it was also completely dishonest in saying the contract dealt with a simple phone system. “Documents obtained by the Opposition through the Freedom of Information process show Huawei – which is now facing charges of fraud, espionage and spying – is being engaged by this Government to build a communication grid across the entire Perth metropolitan area,” she said. “We now know that the grid will be used for the automatic control of trains, for a dedicated emergency communication system in a time of crisis and for transmitting classified information.” Ms Harvey said FOI documents completely discredited the Premier’s claim that there were no security concerns around the contract. “The advice the Premier received from his own security experts says there were serious concerns about the contract and if the Premier is so convinced he had the blessing of ASIO for this deal why won’t he release, unredacted, the advice he received from ASIO,” Ms Harvey said. “The questions being raised now about Huawei’s ability to deliver the contract highlight a contract bungled from the start. Risks to delivery must surely have been part of the evaluation process. Media Contact |
