Western Australia's new Labor government still expects to receive federal funding for its flagship Metronet rail project even after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he needed a lot of convincing.
Federal Liberal MPs have previously baulked at WA Labor's expectation that Commonwealth cash from the now abandoned Perth Freight Link can be re-allocated to Metronet.
Mr Turnbull said on Monday he was an urban rail enthusiast but the federal government and Infrastructure Australia were yet to be convinced about the merits of the project, which would be examined "in good faith and in the normal way".
"This idea that the state government can ... say, 'give us the money on the basis of the press release' - Australians would not think well of my government if we were as careless as that in dealing with their taxpayers' dollars," Mr Turnbull said.
"There is no business case - they have got a way to go."
WA's newly sworn-in Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said more documents were being prepared.
"We're really confident about getting this funding, we're preparing the business cases," she told reporters as she walked into the McGowan government's first cabinet meeting.
"These are strong projects and we have a clear mandate."
