North-South Corridor

Ms HABIB (Elder) (14:54): My question is to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government. Will the minister update the house on what the government is doing to ensure the north-south corridor is completed as a priority?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:55): I would like to thank the member for Elder for her question. I did have the opportunity a couple of weeks ago to visit the three sections of the north-south corridor that are currently underway and the projects that are currently going through completion.

I did take the opportunity to take the member for Elder, the member for Davenport and the federal member for Boothby (whose electorate that part of the north-south corridor sits in) to show them some of the great work that is happening down there. Of particular interest, I think, to members was the construction of the bridge that was essentially done off site and then slotted into place over a single weekend—a fantastic infrastructure feat from those building the Darlington section of the north-south corridor upgrade.

But there is more work there to be done. There is $2.3 billion and 20-odd kilometres worth of work that is currently underway, but there is a pesky little 1.8-kilometre section and another 11-kilometre section that still need to be done, and many would argue that we still have the biggest and the toughest parts of the 78-kilometre corridor to do.

Very early on, in fact it was within hours of having been sworn in, the new Premier sent me on a mission to Canberra. He said, 'Stephan, you need to go and repair this relationship with the federal government because the meetings that I've had with them suggest that the former Labor government had trashed South Australia's reputation on a national stage, had trashed South Australia's reputation with the federal government, and I need for you to do what you can to repair it so that we can get on and deliver for South Australia.’

Well, I did. On the Tuesday straight afterwards, I went straight across to Canberra and had productive meetings with minister McCormack's office and also with minister Fletcher in his office, and I had discussions about the ways that we could work together to deliver for South Australia. And minister Fletcher said, 'Well, new minister, what have you got that's on the table?' And actually I was embarrassed to admit that there was very little that was on the table. Very little work had been done by the former government to actually have ideas and projects that we could put on the table for quick delivery by a new federal government.

Luckily, there was some work that was done in relation to the Pym Street to Regency Road section, and last week, on Tuesday, I was extremely glad to have minister Fletcher over here to announce a $354 million project and a $177 million contribution from the federal government towards that section.

There was some bleating on the day, some voices in the back of the room who were trying to suggest that somehow South Australia had been dudded by this deal, that somehow a 50:50 funding arrangement, which is always what happens in metropolitan Adelaide, is somehow inappropriate, that somehow we should have gone the 80:20 funding model. Well, if 50:50 on Pym Street to Regency Road is a dud deal, then what do you call Torrens to Torrens immediately south at 50:50? What do you call immediately north of the superway, which is basically 50:50? Is that a dud deal also?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The minister will be heard in silence.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: So somehow the two sections, north and south, are allowed to be funded 50:50 but the section in the middle had to have a different funding ratio—absolutely ridiculous, and what we came to expect from the former Labor government when it came to infrastructure delivery in South Australia. They would have much preferred to have grandstanded than to deliver. Well, there was $177 million on the table, so we took it, and the reason we took it was because motorists don't care. Motorists want this project delivered. They are the ones who are sitting in peak-hour traffic, and the new South Australian government under the Premier, the member for Dunstan, is going to get on and deliver so that we can actually cut the travel time for people.

And for somebody who would love to be travelling the Northern Connector right through to this Pym Street to Regency Road section every day, along with tens of thousands of other motorists, we need to get on and deliver this infrastructure project. We have also had other good news in the budget, and South Australians will come to realise that working with the federal government is much better for South Australia than working against it.

The SPEAKER: The minister's time has expired. Before I call the next member, I add the member for Lee and the member for Waite to the two-warning club. The member for Elizabeth.