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Before the 2008 election the Liberal Party promised to "facilitate the development of new port projects around Western Australia". At Fremantle Port the Liberal Party committed to the development of an "outer harbour container capacity, solving the systemic weaknesses of the present infrastructure and reducing the current and future impact of port-related traffic on residential communities".
In 1996 and 1998 the current Minister for Transport Simon O'Brien MLC advocated "the relocation of operations to a new port facility ... this would provide an opportunity for one of the most significant redevelopment projects the state has ever seen. The existing North Fremantle site, incorporating North Quay and Rous Head, is significantly larger than the Fremantle CBD and comparable in size to the Perth CBD. The Western Australian community will have an opportunity for new, world class development on this site".
Mr O'Brien went on to say "the future uses of this area are a matter for the whole State to consider and debate. We have the opportunity to create something truly extraordinary incorporating residential, recreational, visitor, tourist and commercial activities".
In December 2007, Mr O'Brien announced a plan for the strategic relocation of heavy port operations and road freight traffic out of North Fremantle. He said: "The current North Fremantle transport infrastructure is bursting at the seams. Poor transport links mean that an increasing number of heavy freight vehicles are impacting on residential areas. While Fremantle should always have an operating port, now is the time to position ourselves for the future and to shift heavy port operations to a more appropriate location." The timetable called for a staged transfer of livestock transporters, bulk cargo, large car carriers and large containerships to a new port in the outer harbour area of Kwinana by 2017.
The new port would improve freight routes with less conflict with passenger traffic and growth capacity. The heavy port operations and plans to allow heavy freight transport to increase by 140% did not fit with the area's increasing importance as a tourism destination, he said.
In January 2008, Mr O'Brien said when "in Government we will facilitate the development of new port facilities for Fremantle. Our plan will require the relocation of livestock-export and container operations away from the Inner Harbour to new facilities at Kwinana. This will benefit both sectors and the wider community".
Mr O'Brien was reported in the World Cargo News July 2008, pp35-36 that he would "pursue the plan, which will see existing North Quay infrastructure progressively abandoned and the area turned over to urban renewal projects ..."
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