Public Transport Privatisation

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (14:29): My question is to the Premier. How much will the process to privatise or outsource separation of the public transport rail network cost South Australian taxpayers?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:29): I thank the member for West Torrens for his question. The answer to that question is: we believe that the process that we are going to go through, this tender process and market-sounding process for the heavy rail that we are going to go through, will help to identify savings and efficiencies that will offset any of those costs of implementation. This is a model that has worked and is tried and tested all around the world.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: In relation to light rail, can I say that every single other jurisdiction in the country runs their light rail under an outsourced model, including in Labor states like Canberra and also with Gold Coast Light Rail in Queensland. This is the model that governments of all persuasions, red and blue, have chosen—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order: the minister is debating the merits of the privatisation.

The SPEAKER: Debate.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I am asking for the cost, sir.

The SPEAKER: About the cost. I have the question. I believe the minister has traversed matters that are germane at the beginning of the answer, but I think he is starting to deviate a little bit. I ask him to come back, respectfully, to the substance of the question.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Yes, Mr Speaker, and in providing facts to the house about how light rail systems are operated, here is a great opportunity for us in Adelaide to take advantage of the experience that the rest of the country has moved ahead of us on. Again, we are stuck with a system—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —that has been stuck in the 20^th century. The opportunity now, through bundling the light rail contract out with the north-south bus contract, is the opportunity to be able to deliver that global expertise and actually save money, save money so that we can use that money to reinvest in better services.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! We have the question.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: What is also interesting is that a number of the bus regions in Adelaide are currently run by two companies: Torrens Transit and SouthLink. SouthLink is actually a subsidiary of Keolis Downer. Keolis Downer is the company that actually operates the integrated bus, tram and ferry network in Newcastle that I had the opportunity to visit last week. What is interesting is that the contract that Keolis Downer or SouthLink was awarded in 2011—not by us; it was before we came to government—is to a French company. This idea that somehow we haven't had foreign identities running services in South Australia—

Mr Duluk interjecting:

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

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —is completely false because the guys opposite did exactly that in 2011.

The SPEAKER: I think the minister has completed his answer. The minister has finished his answer. The member for West Torrens and then the member for Davenport.