GlobeLink

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (16:48): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment regarding GlobeLink.

Leave granted.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: My apologies, Mr President. My question is for the Minister for Trade and Investment. The minister has previously said that the Marshall Liberal team's GlobeLink policy is, and I quote, 'unequivocally great news for South Australia' and will 'create jobs, increase South Australia's export capacity, get freight off metro Adelaide roads, improve road safety and grow our regions'.

Unfortunately, it has been recently reported that the company that prepared this business case for GlobeLink found that it doesn't stack up. There will be no jobs, there will be no increased export capacity, there will be no freight taken off metro Adelaide roads, there will be no improved road safety and it will not grow our regions because it does not stack up. My question is: why did the minister and the Liberal Party mislead the voters of South Australia about the benefits of GlobeLink when it would not ever stack up?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade and Investment) (16:49): I thank the honourable member—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, I would like to hear the minister's answer. Minister.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Thank you, sir, for your protection. I thank the honourable member for his question. His question, if I remember correctly, is: why did we mislead the South Australian public? Well, we didn't mislead South Australia. There have been a—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Minister.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: There have been a number of studies done over a large number of years in relation to getting the trains out of the Adelaide Hills. There is a lot of noise, squealing, double-stacking of—

The Hon. E.S. Bourke interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Bourke, I would like to hear the minister's answer, please. Minister.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: There has been a large amount of work done over a number of years. There is a large intermodal facility at Monarto. There has been a lot of commentary around the potential to have a look at an alternate route for both heavy freight and rail. Of course, some land had been set aside many years ago by the opposite members' sort of father figure, the Hon. Don Dunstan, when he was premier, for Monarto and Monarto airport. The opposition, as we were at the time, took the view that we should have a look and do the business case, which is what we told the people of South Australia, into—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Scriven, I would like to hear the answer and I can't hear the minister while you are all shouting at him. Minister.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: The policy we took to the election was to do a business case on what was called GlobeLink, which was about a train, a road and potentially an airport. We have done the business case. We have proven once and for all that, in the medium term to probably even the long term, it doesn't stack up. We honoured our commitment to the South Australian people. We have done the business case. We will now, as we heard in the Governor's speech, focus, as I had on a number of occasions before, on the north-south corridor, which is the priority of the Marshall Liberal government.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hunter, you have a supplementary?