Road Funding

Mr GRIFFITHS (Goyder) (15:05): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. Can the minister detail why he has refused a $400,000 offer from the commonwealth government to undertake work on the state government's Kulpara to Kadina road when it requires a commitment of just $100,000 to make the project happen?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (15:06): I thank the member for Goyder for his question. I think that the member for Goyder is referring to one of a list of projects which was put to the government as part of a $25 million roads package some time ago, as the member for Goyder just says, from the previous federal assistant minister.

It's a good question because it's a question that many people have asked, particularly in regional communities where some of these projects were highlighted to be. I made the point to the then federal assistant minister and again recently, only a couple of weeks ago, to the current federal minister for major projects that the commonwealth doesn't seem to appreciate that while their offer of more road funding to South Australia is, in principle, very welcome—and I say 'very welcome', of course, because it comes following a very significant funding cut of road funding both to local government and to the state government in the first Coalition budget in 2014—in that context, it is a welcome commitment that $25 million would be provided.

What that commitment overlooked is that it was a redirection of $25 million which was to be spent by South Australia, as one of four basin states in the Murray-Darling Basin, for water initiatives. Redirecting it to this purpose would necessarily (the advice from state Treasury and, I also understand, concurred with by federal Treasury) trigger a readjustment of our GST revenues.

In the course of the discussions that I have been having with the former minister and the current minister, I have been working hard and trying to find other ways to deliver these funds to South Australia in a way which wouldn't mean that we would, in effect, be paying all of the money for all of these projects because of the reduction of GST funds subsequently. I have certainly, in the member for Mount Gambier's electorate—

Mr Pederick: It's a Liberal seat—that's the problem.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Well, the point gets raised that it was in Liberal seats and, yes, that might have been the reason why those road projects were suggested above any other road projects in the state. Notwithstanding that, there was my wholehearted commitment and support to work with the federal government to try and deliver this $25 million to South Australia and, as I was saying, including, in the member for Mount Gambier's electorate, working with the Mayor of Wattle Range Council for some funding and, indeed, road swabs, for example, to be able to fund stage 2 of the Penola bypass, a project which was first committed to by the former federal Labor government, as well as the former transport minister Patrick Conlon.

Why was that particular road project that the member for Goyder raised not funded? That's because it was part of a larger package of road funding projects which, rather than ending up with an 80:20 federal/state funding contribution, would have in fact ended up as basically a 100 per cent state funding contribution. Notwithstanding that, my commitment, as I have expressed to the federal minister, Paul Fletcher, remains. I will continue working with him; the federal department, the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development; as well as even regional mayors, if that helps, to try to deliver these projects in a way which doesn't penalise South Australia and cause us to lose this additional GST revenue.