House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Passenger Service Assistants Passenger Service Assistants The Hon. A. PICCOLO House of Assembly Light Passenger Service Assistants The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:27): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the minister inform the house of the history of passenger service assistants and their role in the public transport network? The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly West Torrens Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Minister for Energy and Mining Passenger Service Assistants The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (15:27): I can. I thank the member for Light for his question and his keen interest in the public transport network. He is one of the fiercest advocates for the electrification of the Gawler line and for extensions beyond it. We are indeed celebrating an auspicious milestone. It is the 30^th anniversary of the establishment of the PSAs (passenger service assistants) across our public transport network. In fact, it was a Liberal minister for transport who introduced these PSAs into the network, and that was the Hon. Diana Laidlaw, who was a passionate supporter of public transport. It was during a time when there was more bipartisan support for the public in public transport. These PSAs provide a vital service across our public transport system, delivering day-to-day, effective, efficient public transport services. They deliver friendly customer service in a manner to ensure that customers enjoy a high level of punctuality on their services. Safety is important. Their mere presence creates a feeling of safety in our public transport system. Most importantly, there is someone—a real person—people can speak to about what is happening on their public transport system. They are at the forefront of providing advisory services to the public about our public transport system, and we thank them for their service. Their main role isn't about the old hands on the public transport system who know their way around; it's for the first-time users, it's for the new people who are getting on public transport for the first time—people who are realising that a safe, affordable system that is frequent, has good amenity and is safe is a great way of saving money. PSAs are a great way of introduction—that friendly smile—to the public transport system. Fast forward from the heady days of the bipartisan support for public transport and the PSAs to the privatisation of our train and tram networks—dark days indeed when members opposite dramatically reduced vital services, including those of PSAs. Shame on them for doing that. In efficiency measures modelled and mooted as part of the then government's initial negotiations towards the outsourcing of our train services, the number of PSA roles in the network was reduced from 93 to 63—30 gone straightaway in a bid to defray costs for the potential incoming contractor who was going to now take up the network. It would have removed fixed security officers from each train instead of replacing this requirement with mobile teams across a network. It would have removed the requirement for PSAs to be on services after 7pm each night. This is one of the many reasons why we are returning our trains to public hands and our trams to public hands—trains by January 2005 and trams by July. Public transport is an essential service. It is not a 'nice to have'; it is a 'need to have'. It is an essential. That is why you see this government investing in rail infrastructure, like our $2 million investment into the Marino Railway Station—and aren't the people of that community grateful? Planning for the Marino Railway Station upgrades is already underway, with works to commence and be completed by 2025 that will include the installation of CCTV camera technology, a 24-hour telephone, tactile pavement installation, and sheltered platforms. We already upgraded the tunnels with new lighting long before. These are excellent improvements. Time expired.