Road Funding

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (14:29): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. Can the minister assure the house that the state government will match the funding announced by both political parties at the most recent federal election to grade separate Torrens Road at Ovingham, Brighton Road at Hove and Cross Road at Westbourne Park?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:29): There were actually some incorrect statements in that question. What is interesting is that I have actually been seeking, since the federal budget was handed down, for there to be bipartisan support for the nine projects that are there in the federal budget. It doesn't necessarily need to be bipartisan support for—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Deputy Premier and the member for Badcoe are called to order.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: These projects are in the budget. The issue that we could see is, if there is a change of government on Saturday, what happens to the projects that the member for West Torrens didn't just talk about. What happens to that money? Does that mean that a future government is going to try to take that money away?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir: this is clearly debate, now.

The SPEAKER: Yes, with respect to the member for West Torrens, the minister is beginning to deviate. I ask him to come back to the substance of the question, thank you.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: The question was about bipartisanship for projects.

The SPEAKER: I have the question.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: All I am calling for is bipartisanship on projects that are already in the federal budget, but obviously that is beyond those opposite.

In relation specifically to the Cross Road intersection in Westbourne Park—again, the question tried to suggest that it was in the federal budget and it's not; it is an election commitment that has been made by the Labor Party—we very clearly want to wait for the outcomes of our GlobeLink planning study that's being undertaken at the moment. We expect that to come down and be handed to us in coming months. We said very clearly before the election that we want to explore this visionary idea, that we want to put the facts of it on the table. We put $20 million in last year's budget to make that happen—

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Playford is warned.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —and that is currently underway. We want to make sure that we get that evidence, we want to see what it says and then decide what is best to happen in that corridor. Until that happens, I think the most important thing is for there to be bipartisan support for all of the money that is in the federal budget for infrastructure projects for South Australia. Before we start talking about any new ones, I think that we should see—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

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

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —an unequivocal commitment from Bill Shorten and Anthony Albanese into those projects before we go one step further.