Free Public Transport

Mr BELL (Mount Gambier) (14:57): My question is to the Minister for Regional Development. Does the minister support the government's policy of free public transport for Seniors Card holders in metropolitan Adelaide but not in regional South Australia, including his electorate of Port Pirie?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (14:57): I thank the member for Mount Gambier for raising this important initiative that the government has taken in recent years to make free public transport available for pensioners and certain concession card holders outside of peak times. I am particularly pleased that it has been raised in this forum, because of course late last year we saw the University of Adelaide release an economic report into the benefits of free public transport for this cohort of our population. I am pleased to say that it is having a tremendous benefit for this section of the population. This has provided a huge impetus—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: This is a huge benefit for those people who otherwise might not feel able or that confident to drive themselves around, whether it is to visit family or friends, whether it is to participate in community activities or events, or even engage in volunteering. I have to say, from a personal perspective, I can remember attending a seniors' forum with the member for Port Adelaide, the federal member for Port Adelaide and also my ministerial colleague, where a range of issues relevant to seniors and pensioners were canvassed. We had great attendance from various state and federal agencies, as well as non-government organisations.

One gentleman approached me and said to me that his life quite literally had been changed by this initiative of being able to access free public transport services. This was a gentleman who has suffered from severe depression in recent times. Being able to get out of the house and jump on a train (in this instance, the Outer Harbor line) and perhaps travel into the Adelaide Railway Station and take advantage of public transport out to different parts of the city meant that he was able to provide a much richer and much more enjoyable quality of life than arguably what he would have been able to without this initiative.

The member for Mount Gambier raises an important issue about transport services that are available in regional areas. I do agree that in communities, whether it is in Mount Gambier, whether it is in Port Lincoln, whether it is in Murray Bridge, or whether it is in other parts of the Riverland or other regional parts of South Australia, sometimes there are gaps in the provision of public transport services.

Certainly, there are transport services which are available in those communities, but it has been a source of concern, whether it has been to local members or whether it has been to the government, about how effectively those services are joined up. For example, there might be school bus services, or there might be community bus services either run by non-government organisations or by local governments. Of course, perhaps a relevant consideration would be the future of those sorts of services under a policy of rate capping, but that is perhaps a matter for the regional MPs on that side of the chamber to contemplate in the future.

Of course, there are also the country taxi services which are available. I am certainly interested in making myself available and use the resources of the department to work out how we can better join up those services, and I am happy to engage with the member for Mount Gambier about that matter.