Question Time

Service SA

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:04): My question is to the Premier. Has the government now finally decided that the first of the three Service SA centres identified for closure in last year's budget will close in September, a second in November and a third in February 2020?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:04): In relation to that question, we have said early, often and always that these centres will not be closing until alternate service delivery models are in place. That remains the current position and will remain the current position until those alternate pathways are in place. A lot of work is being done in the background currently to get ourselves ready for what is looking to be a very exciting future for the way that we deliver these transactions.

We don't accept that the way these transactions have to be undertaken by the people of South Australia is the way that they should be undertaken. Again, it's an antiquated process that is overly bureaucratic and does not deliver good customer service outcomes. We have used this opportunity to innovate a lot of the way that Service SA currently undertakes its functions, and there is a huge opportunity for us to do good things: to improve our online and digital platform, to improve our physical face-to-face transaction capability and also to be able to deal with some of the bureaucratic difficulties that exist in the background that can actually make it easier, not only for people to transact but also for those staff having to deal with those transactions.

We, as an opposition before the last election, said often and always that we wanted to reform the way the government operates and that we were here to help deregulate the way government undertakes its functions. As we will see—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —there is an extremely positive future for the way people transact with the state government, especially in relation—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —to motor vehicle registry transactions, and that is quite exciting. I do find it a little bit odd that there are those who don't want the centres shut—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —who then are trying to tell us that we should hurry up and shut them sooner.

The SPEAKER: There's a point of order, minister, by the member for West Torrens. Is it about debate?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, sir, it is about debate. It was about—

The SPEAKER: I have the question. It concerned, amongst other things, the alleged closure of three Service SA centres and time lines.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, sir—September, November and February 2020.

The SPEAKER: Yes. It's a fair point of order. The minister has been quite germane, but I expect him to keep to the substance of the question. Has the minister finished?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Yes, I have finished, sir.