Great Southern Rail Overland Services

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland) (14:39): My question is to the Minister for Transport. How is the state government working to ensure that Great Southern Rail Overland services between Adelaide and Melbourne continue?

The SPEAKER: The Speaker is most interested in this answer. The minister.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (14:39): Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I thank you for your interest in this matter, as well as the member for Newland. Members would be aware of the importance of interstate train services for tourism across Australia, let alone in this state, and the deep affection that many hold for interstate train travel for holidays, leisure purposes and also visiting family and friends.

As members may recall, last year the state government committed more than $1 million over the next three years to the operator of Great Southern Rail to continue running Overland services. I welcome today's announcement by the Victorian Labor government to invest a little over $10 million to ensure that these Overland services will continue running until at least the end of 2018.

We are strong supporters of The Overland service, which plays an important role for the South Australian tourism industry. While the Andrews and Weatherill Labor governments are securing the future of rail services between Adelaide and Melbourne, it is unfortunate that the Coalition government is slashing subsidies for travel by pensioners, veterans and seniors for these train services.

Great Southern Rail was formed after a privatisation of the old government-owned Australian National. Subsidies of up to 55 per cent for pensioners and 88 per cent for war veterans were built into the privatisation arrangement. While Great Southern Rail will provide transitional support to concession customers with a 20 per cent discount to fares in 2016-17, there will still be a significant fare increase for pensioners, veterans and seniors who travel on The Overland service and also The Ghan and the Indian Pacific.

While fares have not yet been released for the Adelaide to Melbourne Overland services, as a result of these Coalition cuts, a veteran's fare for a twin sleeper between Adelaide and Darwin will increase from $1,486 to $1,989, an increase of 33 per cent, while a trip between Adelaide and Perth in a twin sleeper will rise from $1,159 to $1,589, a 37 per cent increase. But as the transitional support will only last until the end of the 2016-17 financial year, unless the Coalition reverses its unfair cuts this will be another significant fare increase for pensioners, veterans and seniors in 2017.

Services like The Overland, The Ghan and the Indian Pacific make multiple stops in regional centres, pumping up to hundreds of millions of dollars into regional Australia, boosting local communities and creating jobs. These cuts will not only be a deterrent to pensioners, veterans and seniors to travel on these services but they also risk serious damage to regional tourism in South Australia, the Northern Territory, Western Australia, as well as Victoria, by reducing the number of tourists visiting these regional centres and spending money in local economies.

The agreement that we reached with Great Southern Rail was important for South Australia for two more reasons. One is because for our support we receive as a state up to $100,000 of in-kind tourism and marketing promotion services from Great Southern Rail. Great Southern Rail have also agreed to continue locating the vast majority of their workforce here in South Australia.

We on this side of parliament call on the Coalition to immediately restore funding discounts for pensioners, veterans and seniors or risk having services reduced and watch more people lose jobs, not just in South Australia but right across the affected regional economies.