The Swan Bell Tower is now an iconic landmark on the Perth foreshore, once decried by the local newspaper, public opinion was shaped by newspaper editorial opinion based on political point scoring. Now enveloped in the Elizabeth Quay construction, the Bell Tower structure sits along side the artificial inlet of the development and will soon be dwarfed by the surrounding hi-rise structures that will line the inlet.
The Bell Tower is a stunning building, housing the Bells of St Martin in the Fields, donated by the City of London during Australia's bicentennial celebrations in 1988, the Bell Tower was a tourist attraction in its own right.
I am constantly told by supporters of the Australian Labor Party, the political party of trade unions that the Swan Bell Tower was a waste of taxpayer's money. I always reply, at $5.5 million dollars, the Bell Tower was designed, built and opened on time and on budget and is still open. This is an unusual situation for a state government project, possibly because it may have been a non-union site with no strikes, work to rule, stoppages and union graft payments.
I always ask these same people what WA Inc cost Western Australia? $877 million of tax payer's money was lost to money heaven. That could purchase a further 159 Bell Towers around the state, that is of course purely academic as WA Inc delivered absolutely no physical structures or outcomes. Just the Royal Commission inquiry into the workings WA Inc cost over 30 million dollars taking losses to over 900 million dollars. How many hospitals, schools and government programs could that finance?
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