Rail Electrification Project

Mr WINGARD (Mitchell) (15:03): My question is to the Minister for Transport. Given the recommendations of the independent review of the Adelaide electrification in June 2012 after the state Labor government cancelled the Gawler rail electrification project, was a new master plan for the upgrade of the rail network established?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister Assisting the Minister for Planning, Minister Assisting the Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (15:03): I thank the member for Mitchell for his interest in this matter. Perhaps I will provide a bit of background to the house. In 2012 a report was procured by the department into the electrification project, principally of the Noarlunga line which, of course, has been extended out to Seaford. That is not an uncommon thing to do. It is not uncommon that external advice would be sought for major projects of this nature. In 2012, if I recall rightly, due to the declining revenues which the state was suffering, a decision was made to postpone the Gawler rail electrification project.

Casting our minds back a little earlier than that, in 2008 the government first announced the electrification of our rail network, and it was made very clear at that point in time that the Noarlunga line would be the first line to be electrified, followed by the Gawler line and then subsequent lines, such as the Outer Harbor line, after that. This was for good reason: there had been a massive increase in residents living south of Noarlunga in the past few years, which of course meant that more services would be required to the southern suburbs.

Ms Redmond: Not a high priority.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: That is a sentiment which—

The SPEAKER: The member for Heysen is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The member for Heysen might be interested to know that they are not necessarily my words. They are the words of the member for Bragg which were uttered in 2012, outlining the necessity of these sorts of transport projects to service—

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Newland is called to order.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —to service the southern suburbs. Not only did we commit to electrifying the Noarlunga line, extending it by 5.7 kilometres out to Seaford, including building a 1.1 kilometre rail bridge, we also committed to duplicating the Southern Expressway to make sure that these burgeoning areas of our metropolitan city were best serviced.

We have made it clear since then, most particularly in the budget that was released, if I recall, in June of last year, that we would be recommencing works on the Gawler line with funding. Off the top of my head, I think it's $60 million to be provided in the 2017-18 year.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: If the leader likes to take exception to this fact, then I would urge him to pick up the phone, call his good mate Christopher Pyne and try to convince him to reinvest in public transport infrastructure because it is current federal and state Liberal Party policy not to invest in public transport infrastructure—not to invest at all.

The SPEAKER: Point of order.

Mr KNOLL: The minister is not responsible for the policy of the opposition.

The SPEAKER: I will listen carefully to the minister.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: We consistently see an absolute refusal from both state Liberals as well now as federal Liberals to improve public transport infrastructure and, under those circumstances, we need to make sure that we cut our cloth appropriately. We have made it very clear that we want to deliver a public transport upgrade, for example, for the O-Bahn project, for—

Mr Marshall: Like the Outer Harbor line. How's that going? That was a promise.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Well, we are very passionate about the Outer Harbor line because some of us live down that part of Adelaide. It's not just an inconvenient extra five or seven minutes to tow our yachts through. We will continue upgrading the electrification of our rail lines over time when funds provide but, when we've got a South Australian Liberal Party with members both in this parliament and also federally who don't believe in public transport investment, it means we need to go it alone.