Seaford Rail Line

Mr SPEIRS (Bright) (15:05): Supplementary to the Minister for Transport: given that the minister claimed on 30 April, 'We are not expecting to encounter this problem again', is he now, six months later, able to guarantee that the problem won't happen again?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Point of order: the member for Bright does not have leave to make an explanation.

The SPEAKER: That's right. The member for Bright did not seek leave. Can he just ask a question without making an impromptu speech? Can you repeat, member for Bright, the question part?

Mr SPEIRS: Yes, Mr Speaker. Is the minister able to guarantee to the house that this problem won't happen again?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (15:05): I thank the member for Bright for his question. Given that we have been let down by a piece of equipment supplied to the government by an external supplier, and the external supplier has said to the government that they have never had this fail previously, then it is clear that, from time to time, unfortunately, things do go wrong which cause these sorts of interruptions to services. If we were in a position to guarantee that there would never be any interruption to any service that we provide on a particular rail line, let alone across all our rail lines, that would be highly unusual. Instead, what we do is we seek to minimise the risks of any services being interrupted.