House of Assembly Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2) 54 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Public Transport Privatisation Public Transport Privatisation Mr MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Leader of the Opposition Public Transport Privatisation Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (15:35): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier now listen to community concerns and backflip on his plans to privatise our train and tram network? The Hon. S.K. KNOLL House of Assembly Schubert Minister for Transport Minister for Planning Public Transport Privatisation The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (15:35): I thank the Leader of the Opposition— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order, member for Giles! The Hon. S.K. KNOLL House of Assembly The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —for his question. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order, member for Ramsay! The Hon. S.K. KNOLL House of Assembly The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: The answer to that question is no, and the reason it is no is that, especially in relation to— Mr Picton interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for Kaurna! The Hon. S.K. KNOLL House of Assembly The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —tram services here in South Australia, that procurement has closed. Torrens Connect—I think that's the company, that's the iteration we call it—is undertaking those services on behalf of the South Australian taxpayer. The answer to this question is that the South Australian public transport user doesn't really mind who pays the driver; they just want to make sure that the service is what it is. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Kaurna is warned. The Hon. S.K. KNOLL House of Assembly The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: The way I know this to be true, and the way I know that members opposite know that it's true— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.K. KNOLL House of Assembly The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —is because it's what they did with the buses for 16 years. They had opportunities— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for Hammond! The Hon. S.K. KNOLL House of Assembly The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —three or four times whilst in government to in-source operations— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.K. KNOLL House of Assembly The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —but did they? No, because they know that— Mr Szakacs interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for Cheltenham! The Hon. S.K. KNOLL House of Assembly The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —outsourcing of public transport services— The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Point of order: the point of order is for debate? The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, sir, thank you. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: I have allowed some compare and contrast to a point. Minister, I have given you a little bit of time to warm up, so I ask you to come back to the substance of the question, but could the interjections cease so that I can hear the minister's answer. The Hon. S.K. KNOLL House of Assembly The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: This is another case of, 'Do as we say, not as we did.' Again, I don't think that this government or the South Australian public are going to stomach that kind of hypocrisy. More than that, what I would like to know is how much money is the opposition going to have to pay, if they were ever to grace these benches, in undoing those contracts, and how much money they have put aside in their future costing document for the next election for that purpose.