Portfolio — 19 July 2026

The Assistant Minister for Emergency Management, Mr Josh Wilson, used a PM media release to highlight the commissioning of 56 dual electric bus chargers at the Karrinyup depot in Perth's northern suburbs — providing 112 charging plugs and enabling 53 electric buses to operate from the site, with a target of 110 by year-end [TA-260718-infras-c3e7d2c36c21:m265970].

The Karrinyup upgrade is one node in a broader $250 million Albanese-Cook Government program that has already delivered 130 electric buses and supporting charging infrastructure across the Transperth network, with further depot upgrades planned at Bayswater, Jandakot North, Welshpool, Joondalup, and Claisebrook [TA-260718-infras-c3e7d2c36c21:m265970]. The program is explicitly linked to the Made in WA plan: 155 electric buses have been delivered to date, including Australia's first locally built articulated 'bendy' bus, and the stated objective is for all new Perth buses to be manufactured locally in Malaga [TA-260718-infras-c3e7d2c36c21:m265970].

The policy framing ties federal infrastructure funding to three simultaneous aims — emissions reduction, local manufacturing jobs, and improved public-transport reliability — under a net-zero transport objective for Western Australia. Mr Wilson cited the Federal Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government portfolio when addressing transport-sector emissions, confirming the investment sits across both his emergency management role and that broader infrastructure portfolio.

The release is a regional infrastructure and industry story as much as an environment one: the local manufacturing dimension in Malaga gives the program a Made in WA political identity that federal ministers have been amplifying alongside Transperth's operational expansion.