City South Tram Stop

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (14:44): My question is to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government. Can the minister update the house on the City South tramline replacement?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:44): I can. For all the constituents in the member for Morphett's electorate, they now have a tram service that moves more quickly to get people to the CBD. They now have a tram stop and a tram service—

Mr Picton interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Kaurna is warned.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —that goes on (obviously except for Jetty Road) a dedicated corridor. They now have a tram service with a City South tram stop that all people can use. It was my great pleasure yesterday—

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: It was my great pleasure yesterday to be able to stand there with Mr Phillip Beddall, who lives only down the road from the City South tram stop. It is his local stop, and, for basically his entire life, he has not be able to get on—

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is warned.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —a tram at his local stop because it did not provide him with the access that he deserved. Yesterday was a great day to be able to make that announcement and then to see that roll out this morning. Phillip did tell me, though, that he wasn't going to be on the first service but that he was going to take the opportunity over the course of the day. This project has been too long in the making, and for too long this injustice at the south end of our city has been allowed to continue.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: And $17½ million from the Marshall Liberal government to fix this problem has done exactly that. Again, can I say that this is important also to help improve road safety for all users—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —of the City South tram stop—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Why the big smile?

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens is warned.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: What are you so happy about?

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —because we are still seeing far too many accidents and collisions between trams and other things. In the last financial year, 50 cars had near misses with trams across those parts of our network that still operate, or did still operate at that time, in a shared-use environment, including 18 collisions in 2018-19. That is far too many and, again, it is one of the fundamental reasons why we need a tram track that works on a dedicated corridor.

Mr Speaker, 55 pedestrians in the last financial year experienced near misses with trams, again another example of why we need to improve safety across our network and why a City South tram stop that was dangerous needed to be got rid of and now under this government has. What we have also done in this project, though, is made sure that we have balanced the needs of all road users, making sure that there are dedicated right-hand turn lanes for people wishing to turn right off King William Street into those side streets, dedicated through-lanes for traffic that just wants to get into the middle of the city and dedicated cycling lanes for cyclists.

We are also making sure that we maintain pedestrian access for everybody. This is an example of how you make sure that a corridor works for everybody, from pedestrians to cyclists to people living with disability and those needing to use a wheelchair, as well as for motorists and tram users. We are making sure that we deliver a road corridor that delivers for all South Australians.

For all those who doubted this project, for those opposite who said we should have just waited another six months before fixing this long-term problem, can I say that this project has been a success. It has been delivered on time and on budget, and we have done a huge amount to make sure that we minimise the disruption that this project was going to bring and, in doing so, make sure that we have as little impact upon local businesses as possible.