Limestone Coast Roadside Bushfire Maintenance

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:52): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the minister inform the house how the state roadside spraying and slashing works? With your leave, Mr Speaker, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr McBRIDE: As we approach the dry, bushfire and tourism season, I note the roadside grass is higher than the white posts on the Limestone Coast.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:53): That's part of the outsourced road maintenance contract that the member for MacKillop's former friends were very kind to outsource to a company, thinking they would make huge savings, when they did not. In the usual financial mismanagement of the road maintenance budget that our friends opposite encountered they have outsourced our road maintenance contracts, which includes vegetation clearance on the verges.

The Hon. V.A. Tarzia: What about buses?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: No, buses are a separate contract. I am happy to walk through my young friend the difference in contracting styles.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Hey, real power cannot be given; it must be taken.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: That's right, and what a photograph it is. I have it in my office. I am very concerned also about the level of trimming going on for bushfire risk throughout our regional roads, and that is something of major concern for our road maintenance contracts. As I have said previously, I am very unhappy with the contract the former government signed on our road maintenance, locking us in for a long period of time, hoping to bank in those savings. Of course, it's cost us more and more because of the mismanagement and maladministration of the outsourcing of those contracts.

I of course am doing everything I can to make sure that we can actually manage those verges. I am glad that the member is paying keen attention as he drives through his constituency. I have to say it's also reassuring to know that there is a least one or two or three regional MPs joining us on the crossbench who actually care about what's going on in regional South Australia. I get very few questions from the opposition about what's going on in regional South Australia, probably because they have lost touch with regional South Australia and are more interested in what's going on in the inner suburban streets of Adelaide as they pay attention to the culture wars rather than what's going on in regional South Australia.

I will do my very best to get a detailed answer for the member. He has a lot of concerns he has raised with me about road maintenance. Obviously, it's the quality of the repairs being done to the pavement. It is of course the cleanliness of our road verge. In the Limestone Coast, which is a very important tourist destination for South Australia, making sure that the verges are not only fire safe but also pleasing to look at is very important.

When you do have rainfall that can cause grasses to grow quite high on the verges, it is not only a bushfire risk but it's also not very pleasant to look at. Of course, it makes litter that is not being collected by the contractors even worse. So I do think it's important that we get on top of this. I am concerned that we are not getting on top of this because of the handcuffs put on us by the previous government through the contracts that they have signed with us.

But of course that is a consequence of privatisation and outsourcing. We see that whether it's through Marino Railway Station or whether it's through our road maintenance programs throughout South Australia. These programs, in the end, do not save us money; they end up costing us more.

Of course, when you want to find out who the guilty party here is, all you have to do is look to the members opposite. The member for Hammond: member of the guilty party. The member for Hartley: member of the guilty party. The guilty party: the members opposite, and, quite frankly, the mastermind of it all, the member for Chaffey, who is no longer in here, pulling all the strings from behind the scenes—he is the one who is guilty of it all.