Public Transport Privatisation

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:37): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. Is the government still committed to its original timetable for the privatisation of Adelaide's train network?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:37): The short answer is, yes, we are. In fact, we believe that, if we look at how South Australia is going to recover economically from this difficult situation, those things which the government was undertaking both from a stimulus standpoint and from a microeconomic reform standpoint, the things that were good ideas beforehand, are even more important and good ideas during and post this pandemic. The reason I say that is that we are—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Other than privatising pathology.

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens is on two warnings.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —in a situation where we are going to have to work overtime to help our economy recover. In fact, we have a goal here in South Australia of having our economy recover better and more quickly than other jurisdictions around the country. We see this as an opportunity for us to be able to move South Australia forward quicker than our interstate counterparts, and to do that we need to undertake reform.

When it comes to the outsourcing of our trains and our trams, bringing them alongside longstanding bus contracts that those opposite thought were a good idea to renew on a number of occasions in government, this is still a good idea in government. It allows us to provide better services, it allows us to provide more cost-effective services and it allows us to deliver to our customers more of what they want.

The reason this is important is that every person we can get to use our public transport is somebody who is not driving their car to work, to the shops, to school or to whatever other activity they want to undertake. The only way that we can do that is by driving better and more focused customer service delivery outcomes as part of this change. That is precisely why we are doing it and it is precisely why it is important to move forward with.

We have had to change a number of consultation processes with staff during this time. Because of COVID-19, what we have done is change the way we are going to undertake consultation with staff, making sure that, especially for tram services, which are being outsourced on 1 July, we comply with social distancing requirements but also all the consultation requirements.

The fact that we have seen a massive reduction in patronage on our network, and the fact that Footy Express services haven't been going ahead, provides us with the opportunity to be able to spend more time on a one-on-one basis or small group basis with staff so that we can talk through with them what these changes are going to mean for them.

But the great news is that we are on track for everything to proceed as it has done. This is going to drive patronage growth across South Australia. We are going to deliver better outcomes for our customers and it is important that, as we come out of this socially restricted environment, this government gets on and delivers the micro-economic reform that it promised.

The Hon. A. Piccolo interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Light is warned.