MURRAY RIVER FERRIES

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (14:49): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure.

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

Mr VENNING: That is a good point. Can the minister provide an update on his future plans for the Murray River ferries in South Australia, given that the Murray Mallee and Local Government Association have recently provided the minister with a ferries options paper seeking state government support in developing a five-year timber hulled ferry asset replacement plan?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (14:49): I thank the member for Schubert, my good friend, for this question and tell him that he only has 13 minutes to wait when all of these questions will be answered in the budget process. I did, however, point out to the local councils in the area that the state government historically took the ferry service from local councils because they were not keeping them—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: You want a bridge built?

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The Liberal Party has just announced that they are going to build a bridge in place of ferries. A very expensive process—hundreds of millions of dollars, so we'll put that into the budget.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Sorry; I thought you were the shadow transport spokesperson.

Ms Chapman: With the previous government.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Okay.

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Transport will not respond to interjections.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: She is very persuasive, sir, so it is difficult. I have spoken to local councils and I have asked them for many options, including ones about funding models. The councils are adamant that they are set on an outcome that they would like to see, but I can assure the member for Schubert that I am well aware of the issues, and he will have an answer in 11 minutes.