Infrastructure Projects

Mrs POWER (Elder) (14:14): My question is to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government. On behalf of my local community and all South Australians, can the minister inform the house on how the Marshall government is building the infrastructure a strong South Australia needs?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Point of order, Mr Speaker: the question contains debate and—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I am going to allow the question. I hear the merits from the member for Lee. I have the point of order and I will remember it for future reference. Minister.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:14): Certainly on this side of the house we want to see South Australia strong. We don't want it to be weak, and I think it is a very pertinent part of the question to say that we need to make sure that South Australia continues to move forward at a growing rate of knots, rather than just accepting the genteel decline—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens is called to order.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —that existed, the malaise that existed, for so long here in South Australia. I thank the member for Elder for this question and certainly appreciate her real desire to see improved infrastructure outcomes in her local community—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for West Torrens!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —whether that be the extension of the train line to Flinders University and the new Tonsley train station that we are building—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens and the member for Lee are warned. The minister has the call.

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Well, you've been upgraded.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —whether that be looking at the remaining sections of the north-south corridor, or whether that be the very important Goodwood/Springbank/Daws roads intersection, we are delivering abundantly for the people of the community of Elder and delivering a stronger South Australia as a result.

This task over the past 18 months has not been easy because the cupboard was bare when we came to government. For workers in the civil construction space, they were looking at a future that was 18 months long with not much else happening after that—18 months' worth of job security and after that a huge degree of uncertainty left because the former government didn't put some projects on the table to fill that pipeline. Over the course of—

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

The SPEAKER: Minister, there is a point of order. I will hear the point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Thank you, sir. Reference to the former government, sir, is debate.

The SPEAKER: It feels like we've been here before. I will allow some compare and contrast, and then I will decide whether or not the minister is engaging in debate. The minister has the call.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: It is all fact, all hard-nosed fact. It's just uncomfortable, that's all. We had a job to put together a pipeline of work that was going to deliver certainty for South Australian civil construction workers and give them their job security but also give South Australians security that we were building a stronger South Australia for them.

So we went to the federal government at the first budget and secured money for four projects, but instead of welcoming that money, doing the job that they couldn't do, what did they do? They carped and whinged about the fact that too much of that money was sitting outside the forward estimates. So what did we do? We brought forward over $600 million worth of federal funding to get these projects complete much more quickly, and those projects are the ones that are starting to see dirt being turned right at this very moment.

What we did in this intervening period was decide, as part of our strong plan for real change election commitment, that we were going to improve the rigour around the way that we deliver infrastructure projects and use this parliament to set up Infrastructure South Australia, a fantastic step forward that is going to deliver in spades over generations as we make better decisions on how we spend taxpayers' money.

But then comes the second budget where again we worked constructively with the federal government to get money for the north-south corridor, to get money for the urban congestion package, to get money for the regional roads package, which is now delivering a record amount of money into regional South Australia. Again, did we hear any positive affirmation from those opposite? No, we didn't. Again, they just carped and whinged about the fact that, 'Oh, too much of these projects is sitting outside the forward estimates.' I can hear the words of the member for Mawson ringing in my ear.

And what did we do? We sat down with the federal government and have now brought forward over $300 million worth of projects into the forward estimates. What we have now also delivered for workers in this space is a 10-year pipeline of work. That is certainty for a generation of workers who could have been looking to the infrastructure boom on the east coast thinking that there were greener pastures over there, but we have now delivered certainty for them and their families and for their children that South Australia is a place that is going to continue to grow and is going to have a government that is going to invest and has a future for young people to live here in South Australia and help to make our society that much more prosperous.