Heavy Vehicle Inspection Scheme

The Hon. G.G. BROCK (Frome) (14:50): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Local Government. Can the minister please update the house on the current situation regarding the procurement and tender for stage 2 of the Heavy Vehicle Inspection Scheme?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:50): I thank the member for Frome for his question, noting very much his continued interest in this. I can say that we are still going through the tender phase to procure the head organisation that is going to run the HVIS but, as I have said previously and will continue to say, I want to make sure that this scheme is put in place at a time when we fully understand and can fully realise what capacity is needed within the regions to be able to provide this inspection service in a manner that is convenient for regional people.

Members on this side of the house have raised concerns with me—and I have heard them and understand them completely—that what we don't want to have through the introduction of stage 2 of the HVIS is a situation where farmers and contractors have to drive for hours and hours on end to get to an inspection service. That is why we are taking our time with this. It is why we are going to make sure that we don't punish regional South Australian businesses through an undue red-tape burden and why we are going to make sure that we get this in place because we need to from a safety perspective.

We know that heavy vehicles provide a much greater risk on our roads. It is certainly why we have supported stage 2 of the HVIS, but we want to make sure that it is done in such a way that local regional businesses can get access to inspections at a time and place that is convenient for them.