Rail Infrastructure

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (14:46): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. Why is the state government upgrading and grade separating freight lines costing over $230 million through Adelaide that his Premier's signature infrastructure policy, GlobeLink, will remove?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:47): Sorry, I could be wrong, but isn't that also where the Gawler train line goes? It's also a passenger transport corridor. It's also actually the busiest train line in South Australia from a passenger transport perspective.

The Hon. S.S. Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Premier, I'm trying to listen to the minister's answer.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: And what's interesting is that that project which—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Ministers on my right, be quiet!

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader! The member for West Torrens has asked the question.

The Hon. S.S. Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Premier does not have the call. The minister has the call. I would like to hear the answer, please.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: I thought the Labor Party liked grade separations, so I—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The minister will be seated for one moment.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: We are out of control.

The SPEAKER: Yes, member for Lee. The minister has the call.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: The interesting thing about this project is that the major beneficiaries of this are people who live in the electorates of Croydon and Port Adelaide, and everybody who's going to come up from the north-western suburbs. It's also going to help everybody from the northern suburbs, and especially last week, I was extremely proud to open the Waterloo Corner interchange on the Northern Connector. At the moment it only gets you to St Kilda but—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: There's a point of order. Minister, please be seated for one moment.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Sir, the minister is debating the merits of his proposal. I'm asking why is he upgrading—

The SPEAKER: Okay, I have the point of order.

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education is warned for a second and final time. I have the point of order. In fairness to the minister, he has been heckled somewhat during the answer. I will be listening carefully. I have the point of order. I would like to hear the answer. If this continues, members on my left and right will be leaving. Minister.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: I am trying to explain the merits of why the Ovingham overpass is actually extremely important. I thought that that was pertinent to the question; in fact, I thought that was the question. The Northern Connector is going to see about 50,000 vehicles a day go down it. These are cars that currently go down Main North and Port Wakefield roads. We are going to see a reorientation of traffic. Now, again, the former government is the one that commissioned the Northern Connector project. I would have thought that, maybe, they would have thought that next step ahead and said, 'Well, what happens when we build it? Where are the cars going to go?'

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: They are going to go—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I have the question.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —to the Port Road, and they are going to go to Torrens Road to come into town. Port Road is a three-lane, each-way road and takes about 70,000 cars a day by Bonython Park, but really it is a high-capacity route.

Doing that work for those cars that are going to want to get off early and go up Torrens Road, I would have thought, is an extremely good idea. Again, it is about this government thinking that bit further ahead. The Northern Connector is actually going to spark quite a lot of new residential growth, we think, north of the city, whether that be Buckland Park, Two Wells or all of those areas around Angle Vale. All those people are going to be able to get to town 10 minutes quicker each way.

We would have thought that thinking that little bit further ahead and putting traffic treatments in place to deal with that issue before it occurs was a prudent use of taxpayers' money. We are in the process of electrifying the Gawler line, which I think is a fairly clear indication that we want it to stay there and move the people that it moves every single day. In fact, I have actually had correspondence from the member for Light, for instance, whose constituents actually want us to increase the capacity on that line—which electrification will do—so that they can get to town more quickly, but grade separating that.

It also grade separates Churchill Road and the rail line, which is a very prudent thing to do to make sure that we think that far ahead so that we can support the population growth that we want to bring to South Australia. We reject the premise completely. I think those opposite are just trying to be grinches and find the smallest bit of bad news they can think of in last night's budget. The reality is that there isn't any—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —$2.6 billion of new money, and South Australians are the ones who are going to be the beneficiaries.