Roe 8 protests at WA premier's office

Opponents of the Perth Freight Link have taken their protest to the premier's office, demanding bush clearing cease until voters have their say at the election.

Protests are continuing against the Perth Freight Link. Source: AAP

Protesters against the contentious $1.9 billion Perth Freight Link project have rallied outside WA Premier Colin Barnett's office, demanding work cease until the March state election.

The group occupied the area outside his Cottesloe office on Thursday morning, with one woman locking herself to a railing and police issuing move-on notices.

Kim Dravnieks of the protest group Rethink the Link urged the premier to stop bushland clearing at the Beeliar Wetlands and let voters have their say before the project continued.

"This is a three-year project. What is the haste in doing all this destruction before an election?" she told AAP.

The Roe Highway extension is a major election issue, with Labor promising to scrap the project if it wins power.

Some WA academics have also called for work to halt immediately, saying the project is shrouded in secrecy and the environmental assessment process is flawed.

The Beeliar Group: Professors for Environmental Responsibility includes former Labor premier Carmen Lawrence, who is a professor of psychology at the University of WA.

Police have arrested many people - including activists who locked themselves onto machinery - and issued countless move-on notices and cautions during ongoing protests at the site.

Also on Thursday, federal opposition leader Bill Shorten rejected a claim by Liberal Senator Mathias Cormann that $1.2 billion in federal funds for the Perth Freight Link could not be reallocated by WA Labor to other projects.

Mr Shorten said the same had been said about reallocating funds for Victoria's East West Link, but $1.5 billion in commonwealth cash for that had instead gone to other roads in the state.

"We've seen this trick before by the Liberals in Canberra," Mr Shorten told reporters in Perth on Thursday.

"It was an attempt by the coalition to blackmail people into voting for the Liberals at the last election.

"It's complete rubbish."

Opposition leader Mark McGowan, who has promised to tear up contracts for Roe 8, said he wasn't going to give in to blackmail.

"If we're elected to government on March 11, we'll make decisions about how infrastructure dollars are spent in Western Australia," Mr McGowan said.

"All Mr Cormann is trying to do is help his mate Colin Barnett. He's not acting in the interests of Western Australia.

"The reason they won't carry through with this attempted blackmail is because if they did, they would lose (the seats of) Pearce, Swan, Hasluck, Stirling and Canning because West Australians will not stand for being bullied by a federal senator."