Hove Level Crossing

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (14:49): My question is to the Minister for Transport and infrastructure. Does the minister stand by his statements regarding the removal of the Hove crossing at Brighton Road just last month in May? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Last month, the minister publicly argued his unequivocal support for the removal of the intersection of Seaford rail line at Brighton Road at Hove because, and I quote:

We know removing level crossings on our main roads reduces travel times…

He goes on to say:

This project will give back up to an extra half an hour a week to the tens of thousands of people who use this road on a daily basis. This will not only improve productivity but allow people to spend more quality time with their family.

He then says:

The project will create an opportunity to create quality open space with new cycling and walking paths to be incorporated in the design.

Then finally, he says:

It will also be an important job boosting project with an expected 375 full time equivalent jobs supported each year during construction.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Before I call the minister, it's a matter I addressed earlier this week. The provision for the granting of leave, in accordance with standing order 97, is clearly set out in the face of the standing order. There is a very wide scope that has been included in the question. The minister, in answering the question, might be accorded a similarly wide scope in his response. The minister has the call.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:50): I note the member for West Torrens was part of the protesting campaign, so I'm not sure whether he is for or against it. He actually hasn't put his position on the table. He was for it one minute and he was protesting against it the next minute. I really don't know—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Again, I make no apologies for the fact that I was pushing for this project. I make no apologies whatsoever. In fact—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Reynell is warned.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —up until just last week, when the Treasurer made the decision, I was conversing still with the federal government trying to get more funds. We know that when we came into this project and when it was put on the table, $171 million was put on the table in partnership with the federal government—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: You were wrong.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: You know what? We were wrong because we actually went with the information that was left over from the previous government, and how much work had they done on this project? How much work had they done?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: So we went and did that work. We went and did that work, you are right.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: I'm not sure how much the member for West Torrens was going to spend on the project, but we did.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: It's another shortcoming by the member for Lee. We put $171 million on the table and then we had to go and do the work to see what it was going to cost and we did that work.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: It came back that rail over was $290 million and rail under was $450 million. You had none of those numbers. The member for Lee is a little bit embarrassed at the moment because he didn't do the work and I appreciate that, but we did do the work. We looked at that and we went to the federal government and we asked for more money. In fact, just last weekend I got the official letter back from the federal government saying that they weren't willing to put any more money into it. We know, again, with Brighton Road, that the question could be asked: grade separation or the rest of the road? It is not just one problem they left us.

The Hon. V.A. Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Deputy Premier!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: They left us a whole myriad of problems, so we've got more to go and have a look at. We will work with the federal government on what other solutions we can have along Brighton Road. But, again, do I apologise for listening to my community? Do I apologise for also working with the department as the local member and also as the minister? We thoroughly investigated this project. Unlike those opposite, we thoroughly had a look at it. We did the work. We had a lot of work to catch up because you did nothing—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —and they just don't want to concede that. But, again, that is why we are putting in place our 10-year strategy. We have put grade separations on the Infrastructure SA list, so we have made it a key focus. How did they pick their projects? They just cherrypicked them and pulled them out of a hat.

Ms Hildyard: That is why they are furious with you. You never spoke to them.

The SPEAKER: Member for Reynell!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: We put them on the Infrastructure Australia priority list and we have a 10-year plan to identify—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Reynell is warned for a second time.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —which of these projects are the most beneficial for South Australia—the member for Reynell keeps chirping away and chirping away; no-one knows what she is talking about—but we are putting those on a 10-year plan.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: We are very proud of that. We will do that. On that side, they don't like planning. They just have a guess, have a stab or pluck something out of thin air. Well, we are not doing that. We are doing the planning works. We are putting it in place. We have done the planning works for this. Again, at first blush, with the information they left us when we came into government, which wasn't much information, $171 million was the figure.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister will resume his seat for a moment.

The Hon. V.A. Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the Deputy Premier!

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader! The level of interjection on both sides of the chamber is unacceptable. I'm unable to hear the minister's answer. I'm endeavouring to listen carefully to the minister who has the call. The minister has the call.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: I was finishing by again pointing out the fact that when we came to government no work had been done. The figure that was put forward with best estimates was $171 million. That was the information we had, and there wasn't very much. It turned out it was far more expensive. We pushed. We asked the federal government for more money. We put our case forward. We listened to the community. Again, that might not be how they do things, but that's how we do things—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —on this side of the house, and we came to a final decision. When the federal government wouldn't come to the party and give us any more money, the project couldn't go ahead. We will go and look at the rest of the problems along Brighton Road because they certainly didn't fix any of those in their time in government.

We will continue to look after the people of my community and get projects done that alleviate congestion; and, again, from a wider perspective we will have a look at those grade separations right across the network to keep delivering productive infrastructure for the people of South Australia. A $17.9 billion infrastructure spend will be delivering jobs for the people of South Australia, and we will be delivering the transport projects that are important to them.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Before I call the member for West Torrens, the member for Reynell and the member for Lee will leave for 10 minutes in accordance with standing order 137A.

The honourable members for Reynell and Lee having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: The interjections will cease.