PORT RIVER EXPRESSWAY

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (14:57): My question is for the Minister for Transport. What will be the cost of all stages of the Port River Expressway, and when will the project be completed? The Port River Expressway stages 2 and 3, jointly funded by the federal and state governments, were originally costed at $131 million with a completion date of 2005-06. The latest government advice provided in the 2007 Major Developments Directory was that the project would be completed in April 2008, indicating that the opening ceremony should be completed by close of business today. The costing in the 2007 Major Developments Directory was $178 million, but the federal budget papers costed the project at $202 million, a cost blow-out of $71 million, or 54 per cent of the original costing.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Energy) (14:58): I am certainly going to have to check the detail of the member for Morphett's question.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: What's that, Mitch? I would just be quiet after the day you've had. After the member for MacKillop's day, when he does not know one water project from another, I would just be quiet. In fact, I think they should all be quiet on their side. One member opposite does not know that Hugh Morgan never worked for BHP Billiton.

The Hon. K.O. Foley: He has been retired eight years.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: He has been retired eight years. The other is asking questions about the wrong water project. I would just be quiet for a while if I were you two. Now, the member for Morphett talked about the Port River Expressway.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: They are such a rude lot of people. They are so inconsiderate. If they could just forget the fandango for a little while and behave.

Regarding the Port River Expressway, I assume the member for Morphett is talking about not just the expressway to which we added, of course, two interchanges, which were not in their project. What happened was that they had this project, and the person building it came to see me and said, 'Look, this isn't going to work because they've left out two interchanges,' and I said 'Well, that couldn't be right, they wouldn't do something like that.' So I met the head of the department of transport, as he was at the time, and I said, 'Is this right?' and he said, 'Yeah, that's probably right,' and I said, 'Well, shouldn't we put them in?' He said, 'Yeah, we probably should because we'll probably have to put them in at some time and it will cost more.' I said, 'Well, maybe we'd better do that,' and we did that. But the other part of what I assume he is asking about is the bridges over the Port River.

Just before we get too carried away with cost blow-outs, let's talk about the two bridges. When they thought of these bridges, they were going to be opening bridges upon which they have had about seven positions.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Oh, yes they were, sunshine, yes, they were. And wait for it, they were going to be tolled and they were going to pay for themselves. Talk about a cost blow-out; the bridges were going to pay for themselves. It was absolute nonsense; and the way they were going to make the bridges pay for themselves was by funnelling all transport within miles over them, with a toll.

I am yelling, not because I want to, and I'd love to speak quietly because I do believe I have a very attractive voice. I do have a most attractive voice. Women say I have a beautiful voice; they listen with their eyes closed. They tell me that's why they close their eyes.

The Hon. K.O. Foley: They close their eyes because you are ugly.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I will have you know, I have often fallen victim to my own fatal charm, but let's get back to the subject. I do think the Leader of the Opposition does have somewhat of an obsession with me, and I can't blame him. I will look carefully at this, but before we talk about things costing too much, let me—

Ms Chapman: How much and when?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: 'How much and when?' Goodness me, she has got a voice like an angle grinder. I'm sorry, but that is the objective term.

The Hon. K.O. Foley: It gets worse.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: It does get worse: it goes on forever. But let's not forget that the original proposition of the opposition when in government about the two bridges was that they would be open, they would be tolled and they would pay for themselves. One of the things that increased the cost of the bridges is that we took the tolls away. The decision of the Premier to take the tolls away did increase the cost.

An honourable member: A good decision.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: And we think that was a good decision. As to when they will be finished, I will say this: they will be finished later than we would like and we originally forecast, but—and wait for it—the important date for the bridges, particularly the rail bridge, has been the completion of the deep sea grain terminal. I tell you that being built by the private sector is running much later than our bridges, much later.

So while we would like it to be finished, the fact is that the private sector is running much later—and the member for Schubert knows this. If he turns around, he'd acknowledge it. He knows this is the case, so therefore I am not too concerned about that, although we are always disappointed when things do not come in at the time we have set them. I will look carefully at the details, but the nonsense of the opposition is exposed by the answer I have already given.