Water Pricing

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (15:06): The current member for Lee—thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier think it's acceptable that more than 2,000 residents on Delfin Island, West Lakes, will no longer have access to bus services?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (15:07): I don't accept the premise of the question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kaurna!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: There is access to bus services. The great news is that access to those bus services is going to become more frequent, and that is the fantastic news for residents. Again, I do want to stress the fact that we are out for feedback and consultation at the moment. We want to hear from people what they think, and we are very keen to take that feedback on board. As always, when undertaking reform of this type, it is difficult.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Light!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: The alternative would be to do nothing and let our bus network patronage continue to decline, to basically get to a worse and worse outcome for taxpayers' money.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee will leave for the remainder of question time under 137A. When he leaves, the minister will have the call.

The honourable member for Lee having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. D.C. van Holst Pellekaan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Energy and Mining is close to the edge today—very close to the edge. You've been doing it all day. The Minister for Transport has the call.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: The option could have been to allow patronage to just go backwards further and further and further as fewer people choose to use the service, or to actually look at a way that we can drive growth. That's precisely what we are doing here by providing the opportunity for people to get to a higher frequency service, which is exactly what they have asked us to do. I look forward to the feedback coming through and look forward to being able to help individual South Australians understand the benefits that this new system is going to mean for them.