Construction Industry

Mrs POWER (Elder) (15:27): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is working with the construction industry to create more jobs and deliver important projects?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (15:27): I thank the member for Elder for her question and her interest in jobs and growing jobs here in South Australia, especially in the construction industry. Mr Speaker, what I can tell you is that confidence is booming in the construction industry at the minute because of the Marshall government's investment and our infrastructure spend. I have mentioned the figure before, but just to refresh your memory: $16.7 billion—$16.7 billion—is our infrastructure spend over the next four years. That's in hospitals, it's in education, it's in social housing and in water infrastructure, but $7.6 million is of course going into roads and transport infrastructure as well.

Those on the other side have never seen numbers this size. This is a significant investment, and what it's doing for South Australia is creating jobs, creating jobs at a particular time when COVID-19 is hitting hard, and it is providing—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —certainty for the industry. There are two ways we are working with industry: one is on the procurement side of things and the other—and I will talk about both—is on delivery. When we came to office, we had a look at the pipeline of works and what was in place, what the Labor government had left us, and there was nothing. There was nothing, and you know it.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Get the smirk of your face—you know it. We spoke with key industry groups and they were appalled, appalled at what was sitting there and the fact that the Labor government had provided them with no certainty. Without certainty, they will not employ people.

So the construction companies had this issue: they didn't know how to keep their workforce going and they didn't know how to keep this pipeline happening, so we came along and we put this money in place. Of course, without that pipeline they can't hire, they can't have that certainty of work, so we sat down with the Civil Contractors Federation and other industry groups and we worked through this dialogue of how we could improve procurement for South Australia.

We held our usual industry briefings in about August, but had a number of other stakeholder conversations and discussions as well, so that we can keep construction companies confident and focused on that pipeline of work. After the procurement phase and having that conversation, we also worked with the construction industry on delivering. I have lost count of the number of sod turns we've done over the past few months—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —and they hate it. They hate it when we start projects. They loathe it over that side. I thought that would come. Here we are, delivering projects and delivering jobs—

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —and those on the other side hate it. They don't want to hear about it. But let's talk about the Victor Harbor causeway, a great project; the Flagstaff Road—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —upgrade, another wonderful project; the Ovingham level crossing; and the Portrush-Magill upgrade. Just this morning, I was at the Springbank/Goodwood/Daws upgrade and that's progressing wonderfully well, creating jobs and decluttering our road network—and the Gawler line electrification as well. These projects are creating a thousand jobs.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: They hate it when we talk about jobs—it fascinates me—a thousand jobs from those projects alone and, of course, it's giving assurity to our construction companies. I was at Flagstaff Road too, it was great, and I spoke with a young engineer out of the University of Adelaide, a guy called Janson. He was so pumped to be having this project and knowing there's a pipeline of projects for his future and working here in South Australia. He couldn't get the smile off his face. That's all because of our government delivering a pipeline of work—

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Mawson!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —over the next four years, delivering, as opposed to that side of the house when they were in government, who talked and didn't deliver. We are delivering in the medium and long term and that means jobs, and that's what's important. Of course, we had the north-south corridor—

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is warned.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —$8.9 billion. The early works on that project alone, some $350 million, are creating jobs for the people of South Australia. But added to that, of course, we put $10 million into planning studies, some 30 planning studies again to focus on that pipeline of works, so when we get more money from the federal government, we partner with them and we will have more projects to roll out. It is wonderful to be delivering these projects for South Australia. It is wonderful to be—

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —creating jobs for South Australian people and building what matters.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Before I call the member for Kaurna, I warn the member for Mawson for a second time, I warn the member for Lee for a second time and I warn the leader. I remind all members that the member asking a question is entitled to be heard in silence, and members on my right and members on my left will afford the minister answering the question the opportunity to be heard in silence.