CHRISTMAS PAGEANT

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (14:25): My question is directed to the Minister for Transport Services. Minister, could you inform the house about extra public transport for this year's Christmas pageant?

The Hon. C.C. FOX (Bright—Minister for Transport Services) (14:25): I thank the member for Ashford for her question, and I'm sure she'll be at the pageant. The pageant is a magical event for children and their families and we want to make it as smooth as we can in terms of public transport. The state government will be putting on 200 extra buses to allow for increased patronage on that particular day, because we are expecting a huge turnout of people to go to the pageant this year. One of my aims as transport services minister is to encourage more people to use public transport, and the more public transport we provide, the more likely it is that people will use it.

The bus services will be detoured on Saturday to allow for the pageant. The trams themselves will be arriving at South Terrace, which is where the pageant begins. The trams will operate approximately every seven minutes from Glenelg to South Terrace and normal services will resume from the Entertainment Centre around midday. There will be 40 planned extra services on the train networks. I do have to report that we do not as yet run services to the North Pole—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. C.C. FOX: No, it's true. And Father Christmas will not be attending on public transport but, I believe, a reindeer is in order.