Gawler Line Electrification

Mr FULBROOK (Playford) (15:31): Sunday 12 June marked the welcome return of services to the Gawler line after an agonisingly long 18-month hiatus. Some saw this as exciting, others were more relieved that the inconvenience was finally over. By most accounts, the day was fun with bands, markets, free rides and food being served up and down the line.

Just before I begin, I want to pass on my thanks to all the people who were involved in working on the project. I see that it was a big, long ride and appreciated by all of us. Sadly, though, I needed to sit this one out, as I was a COVID close contact. For better or worse the people of Playford have elected a train buff as their local member, which made the day that little bit harder for me. I felt it wise to make do with the noise of the occasional horn being heard from my bedroom window.

While the day was a happy one, the journey getting there was far from pleasant, with the project completely mismanaged by the previous government. An initial closure of just a few months ballooned out to a year and a half. This was coupled with a cost blowout, with final costs tipped to be around the $900 million mark. In that time, those commuters who did not give up on public transport were subjected to long, congested substitute bus rides.

While balloons were handed out on the opening day, in many ways ballooning seemed to sum up the whole project. It may be a small gesture, but it was decent at the very at least to ensure that the substitute buses were free for northern commuters. Unfortunately, we had to wait for the election of a Labor government to rewrite that wrong. The other casualty throughout this project was unfortunately the truth.

For months, my constituents waited patiently to hear from former Minister Wingard on when exactly the train was returning. We lost count of how many times the date changed, or we were deafened by silence when one could not be provided. It might seem outlandish, but this fiasco, compounded by actions of the previous government, suggests they do not really like anything that runs on rails. Forgive me if I do not pronounce this properly, but I can assure you that I have practised. The term is called siderodromophobia. I am not sure whether there is a cure, but maybe it is a few terms in opposition. However, broadly speaking, this is the fear of trains or railways. Examples of the ills include:

defunding of the Overland;

no further tram extensions;

attempting to sell the Aldinga railway corridor;

cancellation of the Port Adelaide spur line;

privatisation of our trains and trams;

cancellation of GlobeLink;

closure of the Eyre Peninsula grain network;

disconnection of the Barossa line at Kroemer's corner; and

abandoning the mythical right-hand turning tram.

If this list were not so exhaustive, anybody would think I was joking. This spreads even further into the federal sphere, with the then Prime Minister and his assistant minister, Jamie Briggs, pulling their initial funding of the electrification project back in 2013. Given these examples, you would understand why commuters felt the previous government was hardly taking the project seriously. The Gawler line is one of our community's greatest assets, but there is no point having a fantastic asset if it sits still and does absolutely nothing.

Through no fault of his, news from Minister Koutsantonis that commuters would have to wait until June for the opening was not what many wanted to hear, but on the flip side there was widespread relief that finally someone was telling the truth. It is great that we finally got there in the end. With the final delivery of 12 electric sets in 2023, we can look forward to putting this sorry saga behind us. As the fleet becomes electrified, the north is finally getting the cleaner, quieter and faster service that it actually deserves.