North-South Corridor

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (15:14): My question is again to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Did the government ask for funding for the final stages of the north-south corridor to be brought forward to inside the federal budget's forward estimates?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (15:14): I thank the member for asking again about this very important project. I go back to the question he had before about the rail projects and which bucket of money the funding comes from and note that he is not happy about those projects that we were talking about because they didn't come out of the bucket he was looking at. But, again, the significant spends that we have there must be noted and we thank the federal government for partnering with us to deliver these projects. They are very, very significant.

As far as the north-south corridor is concerned, this is a really important project and I know this was put in the too-hard basket by those opposite. We have been doing the work—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —on this, formulating the strategic business plan so we can move this project forward. I'm really excited as we get to the final stages, and we will be making an announcement very, very soon on this project because it is an important infrastructure project for South Australia. It will generate lots of jobs. It will increase productivity and it will help give better services to people who use this piece of infrastructure.

We know that those opposite put it in the too-hard basket. They wouldn't touch it. They wouldn't do the planning. They wouldn't do any of that work around it. They just went for the stuff all around the periphery. We are, of course, dealing with Regency to Pym at the moment, a $341 million—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —project, which is a very, very positive project employing a lot of South Australians. We have talked about Bowhill Engineering and their involvement with this project, which is generating jobs here in South Australia through this piece of infrastructure. It is travelling along wonderfully well.

The member also talked about the financial structure of the federal budget. As we know, there is money in the next four years of the forward estimates and then there is money in the out years as well. We will be looking to bring forward that money where we can and we will be looking to again partner with the federal government.

We know the north-south corridor is a very important project for South Australia and we are very focused on making sure we deliver the right solution for South Australia because that is what is important, too. It's not just about talking about the project. It's about getting out, doing the work and delivering the right solution because we know what happened when someone over there got his fingers on the Darlington project. We had slides, the geotech work wasn't done and the background work wasn't done and that is what causes problems when we are delivering significant projects like this.

We will continue to work with the federal government. They are very excited by this project. They are very excited by the work we have done so far and we will be talking to them as we take this project forward.