Public Transport

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (14:24): My question is to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is delivering better services via people-focused public transport?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Point of order: the question contained debate.

The SPEAKER: 'People-focused public transport'?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: And also 'better services'.

The SPEAKER: Given the nature of how today has gone, I have allowed the deputy leader, in her earlier question, what I think is commentary. I am trying to be consistent here, so I'm going to allow the question; but it's a fair point of order and I have noted it, and I will be listening very carefully to future questions and future answers. Minister.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:24): There can be no doubt that our focus is very much on people when it comes to delivering public transport services.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is shouting, and if he shouts at that level it's going to be very hard to keep him here.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: I didn't realise the question came with a trigger warning, Mr Speaker, but we move on. Since coming to government, we have taken a whole series of steps to improve transport and public transport here in South Australia.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned.

Mr Picton: Cut grassroots.

The SPEAKER: The member for Kaurna is warned.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: In fact, within the first couple of months of coming to government I announced on behalf of our government increased train services here—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is warned.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —in South Australia, increasing the frequency of services from morning peak through to the end of the day at night, an increase in services to a 30-minute minimum. And, again, for all day on weekends—

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —a fantastic step forward for our public transport system. When the Light-City bus contract was transferred across back to Torrens Transit, the opportunity that we took through that to be able to improve bus services in Adelaide was very warmly welcomed. Increasing frequency, for instance—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Be seated for one moment. The member for Kaurna and the member for Lee, you are warned for a second and final time.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Tell us about your better services and cuts.

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens is warned. I am trying to hear the minister's answer.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: And whether that be increased services heading to your electorate, Mr Speaker, down Magill Road, whether that be getting more buses getting people to the new Royal Adelaide Hospital or right across those inner northern parts of our network, we were able to provide improved service capacity so that we can get more people onto public transport and fewer people driving—

Ms Hildyard interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Reynell is called to order.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —their cars in to work. But what we have done is actually undertake to ask our customers what they want. It's how you know that you're people-focused; it's asking passengers what you want.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition is on two warnings, as is the member for Playford.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: And what our customers said to us is that half of them don't believe that they are currently getting value for money. Half of our customers don't believe they are getting value for money, and we on this side of the house don't think that's good enough. We think that there are heaps of ways that we can improve the service to get more bums on seats. What they told us—

The Hon. Z.L. Bettison interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Ramsay is warned.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —was that they wanted the increased reliability, they wanted increased frequency of service, and they wanted a less crowded service. So we are responding by providing 12 new extra trains as part of the Gawler line electrification, as well as extending the train line out to Flinders University for the Flinders Link.

The Hon. A. Piccolo interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Light!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Whether that be getting a new bus contract that actually provides new Euro 6 diesel engines—in fact, I did get a message only last week from a satisfied public transport user who sent me a message saying that he had just caught the brand-new bus with the new USB ports (and he sent me a photo of him using them) saying he absolutely loves the new ride that our new buses are providing. But there is more that we need to do.

What is interesting here is that when our bus contracts were first outsourced some 20 years ago now what we saw over the next decade was a 15 per cent increase in patronage against a 30-plus per cent decrease in the cost of running the service. That is a fantastic outcome. In fact, over the first financial year of the Marshall Liberal government, the 2018-19 financial year, we were able to see a 1.1 million passenger increase over our first full year in office—bums on seats and the best measure for how we want to deliver better public transport services.

We genuinely believe that the outsourcing of our trains and trams will lead to better services, and that's not just us saying that: that is Infrastructure Australia, a body those opposite were crowing about earlier in the week. They don't want to hear that their 2015 report says 'franchising is an opportunity to deliver service improvements and reduce costs'. That sounds precisely like the public transport system we want to deliver and what we are getting on with right at the moment.

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

The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is called to order. The leader has a question.