Public Transport Privatisation

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (14:51): My question is to the Treasurer regarding train privatisation. Why were $1 million loser fees for bidders in the train privatisation included after the tender process had commenced and do the loser fees allow the government to keep intellectual property that was included in the bids for use by the successful bidder or the government and what was that intellectual property?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:52): As the government has indicated, there hasn't been a train privatisation. There has been an outsourcing of the provision of the services. The government hasn't sold a train, a train track, a train station or, indeed, the lot. We have guaranteed the ongoing employment of workers.

The Hon. Mr Wortley and other members of the Labor Party can engage in whatever sophistry they wish to try to scare as many people as they wish and promise the world that they are going to reverse something which, when they were in government, in terms of transport outsourcing, they willingly signed up to right across the public transport system. Putting that hypocrisy to the side for the moment, if I might—

The Hon. E.S. Bourke interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Emily Bourke is out of order.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: The issue of what the honourable member characterises as loser fees has been publicly responded to by the government, the minister and possibly even myself if I was acting for the minister at the time. It was consistent with the practice of the previous government in relation to quite a number of projects in the transport area under, I believe, ministers Conlon, Mullighan and possibly even the member for West Torrens, former Minister Koutsantonis—certainly a number of Labor ministers in transport projects. Half a dozen of them were listed publicly where the former Labor government and Labor ministers paid what the member characterises as loser fees in relation to it and it was publicly explained.

I can refer the honourable member to those publicly available comments. I believe in those comments the same justification that was given in relation to, in part, intellectual property, which was used by the former government to justify what he characterises as loser fees, was also placed on the public record by this government.