Grievance Debate

Planning, Transport and Infrastructure Department

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (15:04): Something has gone horribly wrong in the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure. I think the problem is a very inexperienced and youthful minister who may have, I think, done something incredibly damaging to himself personally and to his career.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order: the member for West Torrens is making some very unfortunate reflections on the member for Lee right now.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee, I am sorry, I did not hear it. Can we stop the clock? The Minister for Education.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: The member for West Torrens is claiming that a youthful and new Minister for Transport was doing silly things and making himself look foolish. Naturally, I assumed he was talking about the member for Lee, and so I thought it was appropriate—

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education can definitely leave for the next half an hour. Thank you, member for West Torrens.

The honourable member for Morialta having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Something has gone horribly wrong. The government want us to accept that they have cut 1,200 bus services per year costing $3.5 million, saving that to their budget, but have implemented two new bus services, costing $1.7 million without an open tender, as value for money. It is an absurd proposition. On top of that, a cloud hangs over this entire process: Keolis Downer and their government relations leader, Mr Sasha Grebe.

Mr Sasha Grebe is someone well known to those in the Liberal Party. Mr Sasha Grebe worked for both treasurer Hockey and treasurer Morrison before leaving to work for Downer EDI, the Downer Group, Keolis Downer. Mr Grebe, through FOI, we have now discovered wrote to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure to meet with him to congratulate him on his election and offered, I think, unsolicited approaches to the minister and the government (detailed in FOI) about providing government services.

The minister travelled to Newcastle and met with Keolis Downer, and a few weeks later we find that they are outsourcing our trams and trains. Who is a bidder for our trams and trains? Keolis Downer. Keolis Downer also organised a trip to the United Kingdom and offered their assistance with the minister meeting with public transport and private transport operators in the United Kingdom. Who did the minister cite wrongly as an example for the benefits of privatising our trams and trains? The United Kingdom tube system. There is a pattern emerging here.

We have emails where Sasha Grebe is telling the minister, 'I'll see you at this lunch where you are speaking at the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA).' We know that they are in the same room. We know that Mr Sasha Grebe has been to the minister's office. We know that he has met in the minister's ministerial office with his chief of staff and his ministerial advisers. We know the agenda at that meeting: providing services on behalf of the government in public transport—i.e., an unsolicited bid. It all comes together.

These two services replacing 1,200 services at a cost of $1.7 million and awarded without an open tender, guess where one of these services is being provided? In the minister's own electorate. Did he recuse himself? Did he step out of the room when these decisions were taken? What was the process to select Keolis Downer to participate? Was it his old mate Sasha Grebe, whom he has never met? I have met Sasha Grebe. Sasha Grebe was beating down my door, demanding, begging us to privatise our transport systems and I said no. But that did not stop Sasha Grebe from providing false, inaccurate and made-up comments from me and the member for Lee to the government pretending that this is a defence in the government's plans to privatise.

What he had done was use the resources of Keolis Downer to find fake articles that were written up as if the former transport minister, the member for Lee, and I were planning to privatise our transport system. He gave this to the minister, saying, 'Use this as justification for your privatisation,' which they are bidding for. However, the minister now on three occasions has said in this parliament that he has never met Sasha Grebe. He has told me privately that he has never even heard of him, yet his chief of staff has met him, his ministerial advisers have met him, the department has met him and he has organised trips to the United Kingdom and Newcastle. The minister's reputation now is on the line.

He did not meet him at the IPA, he did not meet him in his office when they had meetings with the department, he knows nothing about this mysterious figure called Sasha Grebe. All we know is that Keolis Downer won a tender that did not go to tender to provide services. Where? In the minister's electorate. Well, we will see what happens here.