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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2007-10-25 Daily Xml
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TRUMPS

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (14:44): My question is to the Minister for Transport. What is the minister doing to fix delays, registration errors and cost blow-outs being encountered with the Transport Regulation User Management Processing System (TRUMPS)?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Energy) (14:45): I want all members to note that the honourable member said 'cost blow-out', because he was on the radio again today saying that there was a cost blow-out in the TRUMPS program, which he knows is not true. He knows—

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Mate! I think our serial misleader has a glass jaw. The truth is—

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Yes, and the truth is—

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morphett will come to order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Nothing cheers me up like the misfortune of others!

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Oh, dear, it is still not going any better for you. The truth is—

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: No; just let me talk. The honourable member cannot hide his embarrassment by interjecting all day. As the honourable member well knows—

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I am sorry? What is it now? Sir, are they insulting me on the basis of my generous proportions and expecting it to hurt me? Sir, this is all spoken for; it was all well earnt. I think that is very harsh, sir. I can tell members that I look a bit like Brad Pitt in a certain cut of suit. But it does show just how pathetic they are. In New South Wales they call it the bear pit: in here we call it the teddy bear pit!

The SPEAKER: Order!

Ms CHAPMAN: I rise on a point of order, Mr Speaker. If the minister can't or won't answer the question, he might as well sit down.

The SPEAKER: There is no point of order. The Minister for Transport.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: If people make personally offensive interjections, I cannot help but respond. I was very hurt by that. The truth is that the blow-out to which the honourable member refers is, of course, the fact that the TRUMPS project was started with a certain licensing and registration scheme; and, as was identified by the Auditor-General in last year's report, it had to be changed to take into account what, from memory, is called the graduated licensing scheme, where we converted our licensing scheme for a very simple one where you have a learner's permit and then subsequently a driver's licence into a complex graduated licence scheme. It was well identified that the TRUMPS scheme had to spend a great deal of money to incorporate that.

The truth is that the scheme started, and the criticism of the Auditor-General that was made last year was that those scope changes were not sufficiently dealt with in submissions to cabinet. That has all been changed and fixed up. That was the criticism—not a blow-out—and it is utterly erroneous and misleading to say that. The TRUMPS scheme has had some problems since set-up on two occasions. One of them was an issue with a server company providing services. I will not name it; that is not fair. There were issues with a server company providing services.

On another occasion it was a break in a Telstra line. I will name Telstra because it probably does not like me anyway! Those things happen, okay? It is a new scheme and it will be criticised. It will be a very good scheme for the people of South Australia. There have been issues, and issues with vehicle dealers have been raised today. Our office has been in contact with the MTA and said, 'If there are any issues, can you please contact our office that so we are aware of them and can deal with them.' That is a proper response.

The great way not to have problems with a new system is not to set up new systems. There are problems in new systems. A courageous and a good government introduces new systems. What you must do is to take into account changes in law, such as the graduated licensing scheme. It is just utterly misleading, once again, for the honourable member to suggest that it is a cost blow-out.

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