Federal Funding

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:07): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the minister, as leader of government business, some questions about accessing federal funding.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: In the last week or so we heard the minister repeatedly saying that the federal government gave no new funding to South Australia at the last budget. Of course, we know that that is not true because even today—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: —the federal minister, the Hon. Simon Birmingham, was in Adelaide with other education ministers trying to sort out how they spend the additional money. However, after the disruptions at—

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: I thought you didn't like them anymore.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: What I like is proactive and positive government that fights for South Australia instead of bringing chestnuts and red herrings forward that are a delusion from the truth of what they could be doing to help this state. That is what I like, minister.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Brokenshire, just take a seat for a moment.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: I think it is totally disrespectful for any person asking a question to be mocked or ridiculed while he is asking that question. Please allow the Hon. Mr Brokenshire to finish his question and then receive an answer. The Hon. Mr Brokenshire.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: Thank you once again for your protection, Mr President. As recently as a few days ago we saw the debacle about Blackwood and the Adelaide Hills when a locomotive broke down. I understand, from my reading of the budget papers, that there is a significant global budget for railway infrastructure, both new and upgraded, available through the commonwealth government. My questions to the minister are:

1. Has the minister or his government put forward a plan or an application to access this pool of money for rail infrastructure to start to address the problem through the Adelaide Hills and Mount Lofty Ranges and bypass it and, in doing so, also assist with the growth of the intermodal at Monarto and make it a more efficient and economic growth opportunity for South Australian businesses into the future?

2. What is the minister doing to access that money, rather than misleading the people of South Australia that there is no money available?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (15:09): Mr President—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: All you do is whinge. You get $90 billion for defence, and you just whinge.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Whinge, whinge, whinge.

The PRESIDENT: Will the honourable Leader of the Opposition desist.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: All I can hear is, 'Whinge, whinge, whinge'. Can the honourable Leader of the Opposition desist. There is a question here and I'm sure the honourable minister is looking forward to answering it.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: I thank the honourable member of Australian Conservatives for his questions and, Mr President, old habits die hard, with him defending the federal Liberals in Canberra for their shameful treatment of South Australia in this federal budget. Let's have a look. There are a number of things—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Point of order.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: The point of order is simply relevance. I asked a specific question about what the government is doing. I do not need any more rhetoric.

The PRESIDENT: The minister will answer the way he sees fit. Minister.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: The honourable member talked about funding generally. We had discussions earlier this week about education funding and the $265 million which sees this state worse off under the federal Liberal government than they would have been under a federal Labor government. This state is $265 million worse off. The Hon. Robert Brokenshire drew our attention, again, thankfully and helpfully, to the amount of infrastructure spending we get. I thank him for pointing out that not one cent of the $70 billion in new infrastructure funding was for South Australia.

We see billions of dollars for other states. We see more than $1 billion to Western Australia from something that had nothing approaching a business case: not even an idea, not even the back of an envelope, but still, 'We'll give WA $1 billion.' How much to SA? Not one cent. I thank the Hon. Robert Brokenshire for highlighting this, yet again. I know he talks about him and his mates. I think it was referring again to the 'glob link' plan that he is so enamoured by. He loves the 'glob link' plan.

There was $10 billion, with an allocation, I understand, to possible rail infrastructure in the federal budget and, again, not one cent was allocated to South Australia. So, I would appreciate it if the Hon. Robert Brokenshire, instead of coming here and talking about 'glob link' all the time, actually pressured his former mates in Canberra to actually make, maybe, one cent of allocation to this state in new infrastructure money.