Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, $560,412,000

Administered Items for the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, $7,928,000

Membership:

Mr Wingard substituted for Mr Williams.

Minister:

Hon. A. Piccolo, Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety.

Departmental Advisers:

Mr G. Stevens, Commissioner, South Australia Police.

Mr P. Gelston, Chief Operating Officer, Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure.

Ms P. Norman, Manager, Safety Strategy, Safety and Policy Programs, Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure.

Mr B. Cagialis, Chief Finance Officer, Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure.

Mr I. Hartmann, Manager, Financial Management Services Branch, South Australia Police.

Mr W. Burns, Chief Inspector, South Australia Police.

Mr N. Lombardi, Chief of Staff.

Mr J. Agness, Ministerial Adviser.

The CHAIR: I welcome the minister, this time with his Minister for Road Safety hat on, and I welcome back the commissioner and the minister's advisers. I declare the proposed payments open for examination and refer members to portfolio statement, Volume 4, and call on the minister to introduce his new advisers and make a statement if he wishes.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: I am now pleased to say that my cheat sheet is actually correct this afternoon. Not only do I have the right names but people are sitting in the right seats, so it will be less challenging. I reintroduce Commissioner Grant Stevens, Paul Gelston, the Chief Operating Officer for DPTI, Paula Norman, Manager, Safety Strategy, Safety and Policy Program, Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, Bill Cagialis, Chief Finance Officer, DPTI, and Ian Hartmann from SAPOL, who was with us this morning.

South Australia's Road Safety Strategy 2020—Towards Zero Together—has set a target to reduce road fatalities and serious injuries by at least 30 per cent by 2020 to less than 80 fatalities and 800 serious injuries respectively. Having said that, if we have a lot less I would be most pleased to see that. While much attention has been given to fatalities, serious crashes can often result in permanent injury to the victim, and have substantial impacts on their families and friends and on the community in general. In fact, I would add that this is one of the areas often overlooked more generally, and if you go to some of our institutions, as I am sure the member for Morphett has, in terms of our disability facilities, you see people with permanent brain damage and head injuries as a result of car crashes, and their quality of life is tragic.

Dr McFETRIDGE: And for their families.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: That is correct. There has been a substantial decline in the number of serious injuries on South Australian roads over the past few years from 790 in 2013 down to a record low of 711 in 2014. The previous five-year average (2009-13) is 928 serious injuries, so it is good to see that trend maintaining down. While we have achieved substantial reductions in fatalities over the past decade, the 108 fatalities recorded in 2014 is unacceptable, and we know that we have to do more as a community to reduce that, and we are committed to do that.

The Motor Accident Commission, SA Police, and Emergency Services continue to work alongside the department, DPTI, and with the community to play a pivotal role in raising awareness of key road safety issues, including the importance of enforcement, engineering and infrastructure initiatives, emergency services and education. We work with a number of organisations and community organisations, and with residents in a number of other programs and the community road safety groups, to instil a road safety culture in our communities. In addition, we have the road safety stakeholder reference group, which has representatives from 43 public and private organisations (perhaps non-government organisations as well), which try to get out the message. That is the group I chair and I work with them to reduce road trauma an our roads.

The department, with the input of SAPOL, MAC, the RAA, local government and the Centre for Automotive Safety Research at the University of Adelaide, is reviewing the road safety strategy in developing South Australia's road safety action plan for 2017-20 in collaboration with our key stakeholders. Interestingly, tomorrow marks one year since the changes were introduced to the graduated licensing scheme to help protect South Australian young drivers and their passengers in their first and most vulnerable year of unsupervised driving. While young people are overrepresented in fatalities and serious injuries, the stats show that in the last five years the number of young lives lost has decreased. In the 12 months since 28 July 2014, five P1 drivers/riders under 25 years of age have been involved in fatal crashes, compared with an average of 11 per year for the years 2009-13. I also congratulate P1 drivers and the community for supporting young drivers with these changes.

One of the major programs the agency undertakes is the road shoulder program, and 1,200 kilometres of road shoulder have been sealed under the state government's program of works, including the Barrier and Riddoch highways, as well as the Victor Harbor Road and Main North Road. The state budget includes $40 million to be spent over the next four years on shoulder sealing and audio tactile line marking on rural roads. Over five years, it is estimated that more than 30 fatal and serious crashes can be prevented and more than 70 casualty crashes avoided through this initiative.

Funding also provided to other road safety infrastructure includes State Black Spot programs ($8.9 million), Responsive Road Safety Program ($5.4 million), Rural Road Safety Program ($8.7 million), and also working alongside the community. An example of this is the Residents Win program, which provides funding to communities to identify and help resolve local road safety issues. I would just like to emphasise that every one of us has a role to play in improving road safety. We must continue to strive for the best possible results and this requires a concerted effort from every road user.

Mr WINGARD: My first question refers to Budget Paper 4, Volume 3, page 74, line 2: 'an increase in the payment to South Australia Police for road safety ($1.7 million)'. I am presuming this is allocated through the community road safety program. How much in total is paid to SAPOL for road safety through the Community Road Safety Fund last year in 2014-15 and budgeted for 2015-16?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: In 2014-15, the budget was $38.3 million and in 2015-16 the budget is for $39.3 million.

Mr WINGARD: Can you give us a list of all the road safety programs administered through SAPOL and the funds and costings of each of the programs?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: I do not have the individual breakdowns, but I can give you an indication of how the money is spent.

Mr WINGARD: If you could give us an indication that would be great. If you could get us a breakdown, that would be fantastic, too.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Certainly the police will endeavour to do that. SA road safety policing, including enforcement of the road rules and provisions under the Road Traffic Act 1961 and the Motor Vehicles Act 1959, includes the maintenance and operation of the mobile red-light cameras, driver drug and random breath testing, traffic enforcement initiatives, major crash investigations, heavy vehicle legislation enforcement, regulation of road use, vehicle collision prevention, driver education, highway patrols, targeted rural highway policing, and processing infringement notices.

Mr WINGARD: Next I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 3, page 74, line 4: 'additional expenditure on community road safety programs in 2014–15 ($0.5 million)'. As part of the Community Road Safety Fund, how much is spent on staff and running the Smarter Travel @ Work program and what are the measurable outcomes?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: The actual number of staff I will need to get a breakdown for you, which we will do, but the $4.9 million is on information, education and training programs road safety grants and bike education. We will have that broken down for you.

Mr WINGARD: Sorry, I did not quite hear the start; you are going to get a breakdown for me?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Yes.

Mr WINGARD: Thank you. Will that include the TravelSMART for residents program as well?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Yes.

Mr WINGARD: Thank you. Do you or one of your assistants know how much money is spent on the Living Neighbourhoods program, their FTEs and the funds in that program?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: They will be part of that breakdown.

Mr WINGARD: The Living Neighbourhoods website, which is funded through the Community Road Safety Fund, promotes, as small projects:

Painting or decorating your stobie pole…

Developing community posters to raise awareness of street safety.

Planting herbs, flowers or shrubs on the verge [or]

Decorative fencing or unusual artwork in your front yard.

Do we know how much has been spent on these specific projects?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: No, not individual projects; I will have to get that information for you.

Mr WINGARD: No worries at all. Do you have a measure of outcomes for those projects as well? Can we get a measure of outcomes?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: My understanding is that various programs have a whole range of valuation tests. I will need to provide more information than I have here before me in terms of how we measure some of those outcomes for you.

Mr WINGARD: How much was spent on the Adelaide Hills Community Road Safety forums looking at speed limits?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: The bulk of that cost was just employee costs, and that is absorbed by existing staffing arrangements. That is an ongoing project, and we are about to implement some of the recommendations. We will evaluate the effectiveness of those and if they are not effective, we will look at other alternatives.

One of the things we are looking at is a suggestion about the painting of speed limits, etc., on the pavement itself. We will undertake those, but we will then measure to see if they are actually effective. We will measure pre and post speeds (what people drive at) and we will compare those. If they are ineffective, we will look at other measures. It would be fair to say, about the Hills project, that there is a whole range of variety of views, from people saying that speeds should be reduced to people saying that speeds should not be reduced, and everything in between.

It is anticipated that the work regarding the painting of the speed limits on the roadways will be undertaken by the end of August 2015. We will have a six-month trial (in other words, we will measure the effectiveness of that) and then we will have ongoing engagement with both the Adelaide Hills Council and the community.

I think, in terms of road safety, it would be fair to say there is not one answer which is unique across the state. You have to find different strategies to impact on or influence people's behaviour according to communities and a whole range of other local factors.

Mr WINGARD: Can I just confirm, then, that the Community Road Safety Fund—and I appreciate you getting me some figures on that, but just to make sure my maths are correct—has a pool of around $88 million, and a little bit less than $40 million of that goes back to SAPOL to implement road safety strategy and the other half is done through the department?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: It is $81.3 million, which I think you indicated, for 2015-16. Of this, $39.4 million is actually to SA Police for road safety; $9 million is the Black Spot Program; $5.4 million is for the responsive road safety program; $8.8 million is for the rural road safety program; $4.9 million is on the information, education and training programs, and also bike education; and $6.6 million on providing policy advice, coordination and driver training standards and a whole range of other things. They are all designed to obviously improve road user safety.

Mr WINGARD: So, again, you agree that half goes to the police and half runs through the department. Thank you for clearing that up. I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 3, page 68, line 13.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Can I just make one point there, because it is very important. The commissioner will correct me if I am wrong, but even though they get that amount, they spend a lot more than that amount on road safety measures. I think it is more than twice—

Cmmr STEVENS: $106 million.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: They spend $106 million. I think if you want to provide some context to those answers, of the $106 million they spend, part of it comes from the Community Road Safety program and the rest is actually from general government revenue to Police. I think they would argue that perhaps they should get more—all my agencies say that, though—but it would be fair to say that, if was not for police activities, we would have a much worse road toll.

Mr WINGARD: I appreciate that. The most recent reference was Budget Paper 4, Volume 3, page 68, line 13, increased detection of unregistered and uninsured vehicles, to be completed by June 2019. Is this the budget for the Safe-T-Cam program?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Yes.

Mr WINGARD: Are all the cameras set up under the Safe-T-Cam program operating?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Do you mean today?

Mr WINGARD: Yes.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Well, I will have to tell you at the end of the day then.

Mr WINGARD: Are they all operational? Are they all working?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: They are all designed to be working.

Mr WINGARD: Can you tell us in particular when the ones at O'Halloran Hill and Seacliff Park were erected and when they came online or were switched on?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: They were erected some two years ago. We will have to look back in the books to see when they came online.

Mr WINGARD: So you will get back to us?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Yes.

Mr WINGARD: Thank you very much. An amount of $4.9 million is budgeted on this project and it is scheduled to be finished in June 2019. What more needs to be done?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: We have to get that information to you. We will take it on notice. We will make a note of it.

Mr WINGARD: Could I also get a breakdown of the number of unregistered and uninsured vehicles detected at each of the locations?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: I am advised that we can get that for you.

Mr WINGARD: I will move on to Budget Paper 4, Volume 3, page 74, targets 2015-16, dot point 4:

Undertake specific road safety infrastructure treatments, including constructing roundabouts, in rural locations...

And it goes on. They are some of the things that are happening in rural locations. I am just wondering whether these specific road safety treatments include assessing and, where practical, removing dangerous roadside vegetation, as suggested by MAC Chairman Roger Cook.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Vegetation is one of those things that is assessed on a case-by-case basis. Certainly if alternative measures cannot be put in place to safeguard rail, etc., and other measures that are put in place, then obviously it would have regard to actually removing the tree and other vegetation as well. This is something that I heard from the gentleman from CASR; he said that the amount of vegetation required to be removed from roadsides in some locations is that extensive that it would not make any discernible difference.

Sometimes the reason we put in guards and other hazard prevention or minimisation measures is that it is more effective. To actually be effective, it is not just a case of removing one tree on the side of the road; to make a discernible difference you may have to go back 20, 30 or 40 metres. You either do that or you work out an alternative. That is why sometimes it is unhelpful when people to say, 'If you remove a couple of trees it will fix it.' Well, it does not fix it because the actual impact is still quite serious, quite a distance.

In some cases there is no alternative, but certainly the agency tries to provide a net benefit by saying, 'If we put this railing or some other measure in place, it will reduce it by so much', 'If we remove this tree, we don't get that much.' In most cases, where there is no alternative, vegetation will be removed, and I have seen it happen.

Mr WINGARD: Will this project focus on making that assessment for trees or vegetation?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Yes, part of it will; very much so.

Mr WINGARD: I will move on to Budget Paper 4, Volume 3, page 75, performance indicators.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: I just want to add one other thing so I can give a fuller picture. Trees are pruned under maintenance programs, not just capital projects. Some are removed and some are trimmed back, etc. In fact, I can recall that some people contacted my office about some overhanging trees, and they were removed and also trimmed under the maintenance rather than capital projects.

Mr WINGARD: I shall skip forward because we are running out of time here. I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 3, page 68, line 19, and mid-block safety cameras. There is $386,000 in the budget there for that. Where will this camera or, if it is more than one, these cameras be positioned?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Of the ones that have been planned, they will all be operational this financial year. That is just the final payment. We will get a breakdown for you.

Mr WINGARD: Can I also get a breakdown of the fatality and crash figures at the locations where they will be installed?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Yes; the speed figures as well.

Mr WINGARD: How much of the $2.6 million allocated to the project has not been spent?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: That is the figure.

Mr WINGARD: That is the amount? Thank you. I do have a few more but I am told to go onto the omnibus questions now.

1. Will the minister provide a detailed breakdown of expenditure on consultants and contractors above $10,000 in 2014-15 for all departments and agencies reporting to the minister listing the name of the consultant, contractor or service supplier, cost, work undertaken and method of appointment?

2. For each department or agency reporting to the minister in 2014-15, please provide the number of public servants broken down into heads and FTEs that are (1) tenured and (2) on contract and, for each category, provide a breakdown of the number of (1) executives and (2) non-executives.

3. In the financial year 2014-15, for all departments and agencies reporting to the minister, what underspending on projects and programs (1) was and (2) was not approved by cabinet for carryover expenditure in 2015-16?

4. Between 30 June 2014 and 30 June 2015, will the minister list the job title and total employment cost of each position with a total estimated cost of $100,000 or more—(1) which has been abolished and (2) which has been created?

5. For each department or agency reporting to the minister, please provide a breakdown of attraction, retention and performance allowances as well as non-salary benefits paid to public servants and contractors in the years 2013-14 and 2014-15.

6. For each year of the forward estimates, provide the name and budget of all grant programs administered by all departments and agencies reporting to the minister and, for 2014-15, provide a breakdown of expenditure on all grants administered by all departments and agencies reporting to the minister listing the name of the grant recipient, the amount of the grant and the purpose of the grant and whether the grant was subject to a grant agreement as required by Treasurer's Instruction 15.

7. For each year of the forward estimates, provide the name and budget for each individual program administered by or on behalf of departments and agencies reporting to the minister.

8. For each year of the forward estimates, provide the name and budget for each individual investing expenditure project administered by or on behalf of all departments and agencies reporting to the minister.

9. For each department or agency reporting to the minister, what is the budget for targeted voluntary separation packages for the financial years included in the forward estimates by year and how are these packages to be funded?

10. What is the title and total employment cost of each individual staff member in the minister's office as at 30 June 2015, including all departmental employees seconded to ministerial offices and ministerial liaison officers?

The CHAIR: Well done; excellent work, member for Mitchell. Are there any further questions, member for Mitchell? Thank you minister, thank you commissioner, thank you to your staff and advisers. I declare the examination of proposed payments to the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure and administered items to the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure adjourned, and thank you for your time today. In accordance with the agreed timetable this committee stands suspended until 3.45pm.

Sitting suspended from 15:29 to 15:45.