Public Transport Privatisation

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:56): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. Approximately how many public servants are currently working on the government's privatisation plan for the Adelaide train and tram network?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:56): I am trying to define the scope of who is working on it. There are some 900-odd employees who work within public transport within the government space. The government has—and it was a promise that we took to the election—created the South Australian Public Transport Authority. That authority is actually the one that is tasked with delivering the reforms that this government sees as important to improving public transport in South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Ramsay! Leader!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: We have put together a board and that advisory board provides very strong advice to me, to the chief executive of the department, as well as to those senior leaders within our Public Transport Authority around how we move forward to improve customer service delivery in this space. The exact number of people who at any one time are specifically working on the outsourcing project I think is a number that's going to be very difficult to nail down. But suffice to say that we are a government that can walk and chew gum and the South Australian Public Transport Authority can do the same.

We also have an opportunity at the moment where we see some 80 per cent reduction in the number of people using our public transport network. We have, as a result of that, seen a reduction in services where quite obviously those services aren't being used, whether that's the J1X to the Airport, whether that's the City Connector or whether that's the Footy Express service. We have a great opportunity at the moment, whilst we are in a lull in the number of people using the services, to be able to focus more on how we can improve service delivery across our network.

I know it is the singular goal of the South Australian Public Transport Authority. I know it's also the shared ambition of the people who work within this space. Improving services is something that we are all united in and wanting to do. I look forward to this government's reform agenda being rolled out because we know it is going to, as it has done in jurisdictions right across the world, improve customer service outcomes as well as deliver a more efficient service, allowing us—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —to be able to—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The minister has concluded his answer. Is there another question on my left? Member for West Torrens.