Seaford Rail Line

Mr WINGARD (Mitchell) (14:58): Supplementary: given that the minister doesn't know how many of these faults are from these makers joins on the line—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: That's not the question you asked.

Mr WINGARD: It was what I asked. I asked how many makers joins faults were there and you said you weren't a boilermaker and you don't know.

Ms Vlahos: That's not what you asked.

The SPEAKER: The member for Taylor is warned.

Mr WINGARD: My question is, given that the minister doesn't know how many faults there are of these makers joins on the line, which is where the snaps have occurred and cable has fallen onto the line, how can he guarantee that they aren't going to happen over the time of rectification of this issue?

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) (14:59): We've been waiting for some time for the eventual transfer of the responsibility for questioning on infrastructure projects to go from the deputy leader to the member for Mitchell, and what we've seen in that transfer is the erroneous tactic of questioning where one question is put to a minister—

Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —and then, when an answer is given, that is deliberately misinterpreted in order to—

The SPEAKER: Point of order, deputy leader.

Ms CHAPMAN: The minister is not responsible for the questions asked by the opposition or any member, in fact, of this house.

The SPEAKER: I think a minister is entitled to turn a question around, examine it and comment on it, as long as he doesn't impute improper motives to the questioner, and provided the analysis of the question is relevant. Minister.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The question which was put to me was: how many joins are there in the rail line? Then the subsequent question which was put to me was: how many faults are there in the joins on the rail line? Now, they are two different questions.

Mr Wingard interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mitchell is warned.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Then the subsequent question is: how can I guarantee? Can I advise the house that the person who is responsible for guaranteeing to the taxpayers of South Australia is the contractor with whom we have a major works contract, and they will be held accountable for fixing the faults in this line.