House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2) 52 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Question Time Rail Electrification Project RAIL ELECTRIFICATION PROJECT Mrs REDMOND House of Assembly Heysen Leader of the Opposition RAIL ELECTRIFICATION PROJECT Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:07): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. What are the penalty costs incurred or likely to be incurred because of the decision to cancel or delay rail electrification projects and the purchase of trains? Two weeks ago the government announced the suspension of the electrification of the Outer Harbor and Gawler lines and last week flagged the cancelling of the purchase of some trains. The Hon. P.F. CONLON House of Assembly Elder Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Minister for Housing and Urban Development RAIL ELECTRIFICATION PROJECT The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (14:07): There are no penalty costs associated with suspending the electrification. There is no contract which needs to be broken. Ms Chapman interjecting: The Hon. P.F. CONLON House of Assembly The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I am sorry; the member for Bragg apparently knows the answer to the question, so I can stop right now. There are no penalties associated with— An honourable member interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. P.F. CONLON House of Assembly The Hon. P.F. CONLON: What? Oh my God! There is a negotiation that needs to take place on a contract for the purchase of trains, to purchase fewer trains than those originally desired to be purchased, therefore that negotiation is ongoing. When it has concluded I am sure that information will be available, but it is, yet again, another piece of misinformation from the opposition that there are some sort of penalty costs associated with— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. P.F. CONLON House of Assembly The Hon. P.F. CONLON: —deferring a project that is not contracted to be done. That is just not the truth. It is the reason why—in extraordinarily difficult financial circumstances with a huge collapse in revenues—one of the reasons in the selection that those projects were picked was that there wasn't a need to break a contract to suspend them. That is something that I have been quite open about on the radio and it remains the case. I will say that it won't be as cheap to build those projects in the future as it is now, and that would apply whether you were building a house, electrifying rail or building anything; that is simply the way it is.