WA Labor waterfront plan 'boring': Barnett THE rumoured appearance of Hollywood star Ewan McGregor at a West Australian Liberal party press conference threatened to overshadow the day's earlier political posturing. But the actor's no-show at a film funding announcement by planning and arts minister John Day - despite being metres away on the set of the feature film Son of a Gun - meant the focus of journalists soon returned to another man with a Scottish name, opposition leader Mark McGowan. The Labor leader had stirred up the state's election campaign by stepping up his assault on Perth's $440 million Elizabeth Quay development, calling for the immediate closure of the adjacent main road, Riverside Drive. While that's planned for later this year to allow an inlet to be carved into the Esplanade parkland - and will cause traffic chaos according to Mr McGowan - he wants the closure brought forward to before the March 9 poll. That would allow the incumbent Liberal government "to show the people of Western Australia what they're doing," he said. The challenge came a day after Mr McGowan backed a new waterfront plan conceived by action group City Gatekeepers - a group of architects, town planners and historians who instead propose a grassed "land bridge" over Riverside Drive to a smaller strip of attractions sandwiched between the freeway on-ramp and Swan River. Planning Minister John Day labelled it another "flip flop" from the former navy lieutenant, while also claiming it would cost taxpayers $100 million in works and contracts already in place for the riverside project nicknamed "Regina Marina" and "Betty's Jetty." Mr Day said Mr McGowan's promise to renegotiate contracts already awarded for the development, if he won the election next month, would represent a "sovereign risk" as it would create uncertainty in the construction industry. "They would be very concerned that a contract with a major government authority is not going to be honoured or is going to be torn up, even if damages are going to be paid," he said. It would be reckless to discontinue it in my view. Premier Colin Barnett was far more straightforward, labelling the alternative plan "just boring." "It does nothing for the city of Perth," he said. The Liberal leader also didn't seek to gain political mileage when asked about an endorsement from West Coast Eagles coach John Worsfold for the party's preferred site for a new AFL stadium, at Burswood next to James Packer's Crown Casino. He was clearly pleased, however, referring to "Woosha" as WA's most respected football figure. In policy announcements, Mr Barnett revealed plans for a $45 million rebuild of Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School in the state's Goldfields region, and a $48 million commitment to build 15 new passing lanes on the Great Eastern Highway between Southern Cross and Kalgoorlie-Boulder. Labor announced a $7 million investment over five years to fund research to help combat cybercrime. Mr McGowan said he hoped the cash would help Edith Cowan University's Security Research Institute to secure federal funding to create the $100 million Cyber Cooperative Research Centre.