Public Transport Privatisation

Ms HUTCHESSON (Waite) (14:32): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier provide an update to the house on progress towards ending privatisation of our trains and trams?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:33): I thank the member for Waite for her question. The member for Waite is an enthusiastic supporter of public transport. I know the member for Waite very much values the train service on the Belair line. I am very happy for the member for Waite and all her constituents, that when they catch the train—this morning or tomorrow or the day after—they will be doing it on a publicly run train service.

The contrast couldn't be starker in terms of policy approaches on behalf of the government and the former government in that the former government, of course, made a crystal clear commitment at the 2018 election that they did not have a privatisation agenda. Very quickly after forming government, what was the first thing they went about doing? Privatising an essential public service in the train and tram system.

We made a commitment of our own. Very quickly upon that privatisation being announced and then subsequently realised by the former government, we said that, if we were elected, we would reverse the privatisation of our train and tram system. Here we are. In stark contrast to those opposite, we have made a promise and we have kept that promise. Now a critical service like our train network is back operating in the interests of the people.

Now why does this matter? Well, apart from the fact that there was a promise made and a promise kept, it of course makes a difference in terms of the outcome and the amenity of the service for the South Australian people. Let me give you an example. We know that when they privatised the train network, they also simultaneously authorised the reduction in the number of passenger service assistants who will be out there doing work on the ground.

Now passenger service assistants (PSAs), what do they do? They help disabled people get on and off our trains and trams, they look after fare evasion, they make the service more secure. So fewer of them means less security; it also means more fare evasion and a lower quality service. Now that that service is back in public hands, we are going back to having more PSAs, with an additional over 30 PSAs working on the network, particularly after 7 o'clock at night, making the service safer, with less fare evasion and of higher quality. This is just one example of our investment in the public transport system.

The member for Black has only been in the parliament for a few weeks and he is already delivering a major upgrade to the Marino train station, something that was mooted by those opposite as well. He is already getting on with the job. I have seen in recent days the Leader of the Opposition taking a half present position of saying that if he gets elected he also doesn't have a privatisation agenda on the train and tram network, but is he willing to stand up and say, 'I was party to a mistake. We got it wrong. We should have never broken our promise. We should have never devalued the service and we should have kept it in public hands.' We have not seen any contrition on behalf of the Leader of the Opposition on this important subject.

But for the people of South Australia as it stands today, when they catch a train they know they are catching a publicly owned service operating in the interests of people rather than profits going to the French or some other overseas company. And in the middle of this year, we will yet have cause for more celebration in regard to our public transport network as the trams also come back into public operation. This government values public transport, we see it being a public good, and that is why we are very proud of honouring our promise to the people of South Australia.