Question Time

Bus Services

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:10): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier now admit that the bus cuts announced by his government on Saturday were in error?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:11): As a proud member of a cabinet government being asked my opinion, I think that these changes are—

Mr Picton: What does the Premier think?

The SPEAKER: Member for Kaurna, we have the question.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —wideranging. These changes really help to deal with a severe lack of interest in public transport by former governments going back a long period of time.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right and left!

Mr Pederick: I think we need a history lesson.

The SPEAKER: Member for Hammond!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, leader, and member for West Torrens! With respect, members on my left, you have asked your question. The minister is attempting to answer it. I would like to hear the answer. The minister has the call.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Back in the late nineties, minister Diana Laidlaw took a decision to outsource bus contracts in South Australia.

Mr Malinauskas: The first round of privatisation.

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: The result of those changes—

Mr Odenwalder interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Elizabeth!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Again, we set ourselves the standard when we first came to government, and that is putting bums on seats. Over the proceeding decade, what we saw was a 15 per cent increase in bus usage in Adelaide as a result of those changes. It also helped to make the system a whole lot more efficient. Interestingly, more people caught buses 10 years ago than did when Labor left office—a wasted decade. Their record on public transport usage—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —stands there for all to see, that against the backdrop of increasing population we see decreasing bus usage.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: That is not a legacy that I think one should be proud of but, then again, I think there are plenty of legacies on that side of the house that they should reflect on. We have done something that's quite extraordinary; in fact, it hasn't been done for a long period of time, and that is—

Members interjecting:

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

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —we actually asked our customers what they want.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Elizabeth is warned.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Why is it that people were choosing not to use the service? Against a backdrop of having the cheapest public transport in the country, why is it that people were choosing not to use the service? Mind you, we asked our customers what they thought, as distinct from members opposite, who didn't even want to know the answer to the question in the first place.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: I think the department had to go back to physical paper records to try to find the last time the former government actually undertook a customer survey from their customers.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Badcoe, Deputy Premier, Minister for Primary Industries!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Far and away the biggest bit of feedback we get is that people want more frequency of service. Far and away that is the biggest bit of feedback we received, that the reason—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left! Members will be leaving shortly if this continues.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —that people were not using the service was because it didn't provide a level of frequency that they felt comfortable using. We know from that research that where we can get frequency of service to below 12 minutes, and ideally around eight minutes or less in peak, people will stop looking at a timetable, just rock up to a bus stop and then expect that bus to come in the knowledge that there is a service that is going to come with a frequency and get them to where they want to go more quickly. That is feedback that we have listened to as a government and it is part of the reforms that we announced over the weekend.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my left, I remind you that interjections are disorderly. If they continue to that level, members will be departing the chamber early today.