Projects Pipeline Industry Briefing

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (15:04): My question is to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government. Will the minister inform the house about last week's capital projects industry briefing?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (15:04): I thank the member for Morphett for his question. I note his interest in this area, especially in a number of the key infrastructure projects that we've been discussing of late in his beautiful electorate. Can I say that the forum held last week was, as I am advised, the best attended forum there has been for a long time. There was standing room only, and I would estimate the crowd as somewhere between 400 and 500 people. They came along to work with the government to deliver on our record infrastructure investment program—$11.3 billion worth of money that we've put on the table over this four-year cycle to deliver.

There were people from different sectors, from those who provide the strategic and consulting basis under which we make these important decisions to companies that provide engineering expertise, financial expertise, as well as advice on procurement options—an extremely important part of the sector. Really buoyed in that room was the commercial construction sector, which sees the fact that we are spending over $1 billion on upgrading our schools over this four-year period—some $1.3 billion—and around $1 billion worth of hospital upgrades.

Essentially, from my discussions with these groups both in and around that forum but also previously, we need the commercial construction sector to partner with the government to deliver on these projects. It is why we have also worked to reduce the sovereign risk that the former government left us on dealing with commercial construction businesses right across the country. We need to put faith back into that sector so that those businesses can get on and help the government deliver its ambitious program.

We then have $2.3 billion worth of road program that is going to be delivered over the next four years and a billion dollars worth of public transport infrastructure that is going to be delivered over the next four years, again working with those tier 1 and tier 2 companies—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition is warned for a second time.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —to make sure that we provide the strongest level of local jobs we possibly can on these projects. On coming to government, the cupboard was pretty bare, but we didn't sit back, we didn't blame others, we didn't point the finger somewhere else. We grabbed—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Davenport is called to order.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: We grabbed the flower by the thorns and we took charge of the situation. We did that because we need to provide a strong pipeline of work so that we can keep jobs here in South Australia, so that we can grow the skills base in South Australia and so that we can continue to push forward our economy.

The other part of this equation, though, is that this is a government that wants to deliver on a stronger population growth agenda. This is something that the Premier has set out and something that this government is keen to deliver on. The best way to do that is to continue to invest in infrastructure so that South Australians right across this state—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition is on the edge.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —know that they have a government that isn't going to wait until after the horse has bolted to be able to deliver an infrastructure program, that we stay ahead of the game, that we deal with the congestion issues that exist, that we deal with the externalities that come from population growth so that South Australians can know that we can create jobs and that at the same time as creating those jobs we can also build a better, more productive and more beautiful city.

Those in that room have signed on to the government's new agenda. They are willing to work with this government to deliver, to create jobs, to grow our beautiful state and our beautiful economy. I look forward over the next four years to continuing to work with them to deliver for the people of South Australia.