INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (14:37): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. Can the minister inform the house about the impact on employment in South Australia that the state government's infrastructure program is having?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (14:37): I thank the member for Light for his very important question. Of course, it is very topical today to talk about this, because this government has, since 2002, rolled out the most substantial investment in infrastructure in the state's history. That was a choice we made, as the Premier said. Those projects we have ongoing at present—the Royal Adelaide Hospital—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Are you right there? Do you want to be somewhere else? Feel free. Alexander Downer is in the wings, after all. At the Royal Adelaide Hospital there will be 1,800 people.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Is that the member for Bragg? There will be 1,800 people at the peak of construction activity at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. At the desalination plant, there will be 1,850 at peak of activity.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: On the Seaford rail extension, there will be some 1,880 people. These are just—

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta, order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The member for Norwood is back at it again, telling me I used to be good. He is going to be good soon. His moment is coming! He is going to become—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order.

Mr MARSHALL: Point of order: obviously the minister's hearing is going as well, because it was actually the member for Morialta!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! No point of order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: He is going to become part of the leadership team, which then marks his terminal decline, because that is what happens to the leadership of the Liberal Party. It's like a mayfly. It's the life experience of a mayfly. They become the leader of the Liberal Party, they rise above the water, they have a quick sexual moment and then they die.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Point of order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order. Member for Stuart, if you're talking about—

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Madam Speaker, as much as the minister's personal rantings and ravings are important to him, they've got absolutely nothing to do with the question.

The SPEAKER: I will uphold that point of order. Minister, you will now get back to the question and stop baiting the other side.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I promise with my hand to God to obey the standing orders. I just invite the other side to do it as well. A little courtesy would go a long way.

The Adelaide Oval, as I said, will have at least 800 people in the new year; Seaford rail extension, 1,880; the South Road superway, something like 1,897 people inducted there; and 1,600 people working on the Southern Expressway. That, just in the construction figures, not in the spin-off from that, is some 10,000 people—10,000 people in work, 10,000 people equipped to raise families, to spend, to build houses, that wouldn't be so equipped without this state building infrastructure program.

It is a clear choice. I will say this: it is a clear distinction between us. The Leader of the Opposition and the shadow treasurer are on the record as saying that we should not have raised this debt on these infrastructure projects. They've made it absolutely clear: they do not support it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: They do not support it. It's right. Their choice is not to address growing our future but to address the deficit. That is the Randall Newman—what do you call him? He looks like that bloke from the MAD Magazine, the little kid.

The Hon. J.J. Snelling: Campbell.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Campbell Newman. That is the clear choice. They are on the record as saying they won't spend on infrastructure, they won't create jobs. The shadow treasurer has already criticised our promotion of the residential construction industry, and we know that they will cut 25,000 jobs in the public sector. There is a clear choice to be made: it is whether you believe in growing South Australia's future or shrinking away from it. We are the party of growth, we are the party of job creation.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: And that is what we hear from them: they agree, we are the party of growth. They say they would not do it, and that is the clear choice people have got. Do you want a party that believes in South Australia's future, that grows jobs, that has confidence, that invests in infrastructure, or do you want—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: —people who are going to shrink away from the challenge?

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Point of order. Thank you. Minister, your time has expired, so the point of order is probably irrelevant. The Leader of the Opposition.