Public Transport

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:38): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. Has the minister met with any organisations that have advocated or shown an interest in owning, leasing or operating our train and tram network?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:38): There certainly haven't been formal discussions about anything, but I have met with a whole range of public transport operators who operate in various markets. I have had the opportunity to go and have a look at the rollout of Canberra Light Rail. I have had the opportunity to go and have a look at the rollout of Paramatta Light Rail. I have had the opportunity to look at the way that on-demand services are being run in New South Wales. I have also had the opportunity to look at the way that trams, buses and trains operate in Manchester as well as in London. I have met with people from right across the country and the globe in relation to how their public transport systems operate.

What is interesting is that people bring things to government all the time—for instance, a proposal for a private tram to go down to the Airport, which I know is something that was put to the former government. Again, no decisions have been made. We are going through and looking around the world for the best ideas. There are a number of them that we are looking to implement. The first of those is the trial I announced a couple of weeks ago, putting up to $1 million aside for a demand-responsive bus trial here in South Australia, an Uber for buses, to look at a new idea and bring it here to South Australia.

We have announced that we are going to upgrade the way our bus stops look and the services we provide and the information we provide to people living with a disability to be able to help them to engage better with the public transport network. We have also been through the Future Mobility Lab funding to look at a whole variety of ways that we can potentially look at new technology into our public transport system. We aren't scared of new ideas, we aren't scared of change and we aren't scared—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right and left! The Minister for Transport has the call.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —to talk to people who, quite frankly, operate better systems than we do around the country and they do around the world. We think that is what a responsible government should be doing, not closing ourselves off and accepting this gentle decline we have seen across our public transport network. This is a key driver for the new government because we know that it is going to deliver a whole host of broader outcomes in relation to traffic congestion, in relation to amenities and in the way we deliver a proper integrated land-use plan, in a way that helps to support the population growth agenda that this government has.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order: Mr Speaker, you asked the member for West Torrens to excuse himself for half an hour and he is back after 23 minutes, against standing orders.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Another five minutes. The minister has the call.

The honourable member for West Torrens having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. D.G. Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Innovation and Skills is called to order and warned.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: We will continue to meet with national and global experts. In fact, can I tell you that we took one of those national experts and we brought him to run our department. His name is Tony Braxton-Smith. We stole him from New South Wales, where he was running the public transport system over there—again, one would argue, a system that has some qualities that are far superior to what we have here in Adelaide—because we want to improve public transport.

We are also in the market at the moment for the advisory board that is going to sit there to provide ongoing expertise to this new government in relation to how the South Australian Public Transport Authority is going to continue to improve services across our state.