Bus Services

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (14:29): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. How long will it take a southern suburbs resident from Seaford and surrounding suburbs to get to this weekend's test match on a substitute bus? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: This weekend, during the first test—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Sorry, member for West Torrens. The leader and the Premier will cease interjecting so I can hear the member for West Torrens.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Thank you, sir. This weekend, during the first test the state government has closed all rail lines and sections of the Southern Expressway.

The Hon. V.A. Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Deputy Premier is called to order. The minister has the call.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:30): Can I say that the Seaford train line is a long train line, and it does take its time to wind its way through to Adelaide.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: I understand these are basic facts—

Mr Pederick interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond is called to order.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —but sometimes I just need to put them into the debate to make sure that everyone understands where we are.

Ms Hildyard interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Reynell is warned.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: What this government has done and in putting together this bus timetable, which is now online—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Lee is warned.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: If the member wants an answer, the fact is that it's publicly available information. The answer here is that we have worked with the South Australian Cricket Association as well as inside our department to make sure that we've got buses which are running more frequently than the train services would have run. What we've also done is put express services and skip-stop services in place so that we can get people to Adelaide Oval quicker. In fact, with some of the express services, we can get people there extremely quickly.

We have moved very quickly to make sure that we are doing everything we can to make this weekend a success. We have put measures in place to show the South Australian public that we're serious about this being a great tourism spectacle for our state. Those opposite need to get on board, or they need to get out of the way.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition is warned. The member for West Torrens has the call.