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

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (14:53): My question is to the Minister for Transport. Why has the government failed to deliver on its promise to build a rail line extension from Noarlunga to Seaford? On 6 April 2005, the minister announced a feasibility study into the rail extension. He told the Messenger newspaper reporters it would be completed by June 2006. In May 2006, the member of parliament for Mawson (Leon Bignell) told a Sunday Mail community forum:

The tram isn't our only focus. We are doing feasibility studies to determine if we can continue a train line further down south.

In August this year, the Onkaparinga council was reported in the local Messenger as demanding a meeting with transport minister Conlon because it was sick of the delays. Today, minister Conlon is quoted in The Advertiser, more than two years after he first said he was waiting for a feasibility study, as saying he was investigating the feasibility of extending rail services from Noarlunga to Seaford. How long do you need, minister?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Energy) (14:54): At least it is a different approach. Usually I have to correct the assertion of the member for Morphett, but this time he corrected his own assertion in his explanation. His question was: why did we not deliver the train line we promised? Then he talked about the feasibility study that we promised. I think that says enough for that. Let me go on to deal with the issue of delays in the finalisation of the feasibility study and some of the things that have been said by the mayor.

The Hon. J.D. Lomax-Smith: Who is the mayor?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The mayor of the Noarlunga council, of course, is a complete political cleanskin by the name of Lorraine Rosenberg. The truth is that we have had endless meetings, and I sat at lunch before Christmas last year with the mayor and the chief executive. I have driven on tours with the chief executive of the council and we have talked a great deal about it. But, let us be clear, we are not dealing with some political innocent. We are dealing with someone who used to be a Liberal member of parliament, and I suspect entertains ambitions in that regard in the future. Let us just put it all in context.

Let me give members the primary reason for the delays in the feasibility study. We had to take into account very late arguments for changes put to us by the Noarlunga council. Can I say, yesterday I met with the planning minister and we are checking it out, but the Noarlunga council now appears to have a further argument about where a rail extension should go. Now, we will deal with those and we will answer them. However, we will not be criticised for delaying a feasibility study on which the Noarlunga council keeps coming up with new ideas.

Mr Pengilly: Onkaparinga council.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Onkaparinga council, sorry. The bottom line is this: we promised a feasibility study. I have been open and honest. The honourable member asked me in the estimates committee, and I told him that the major impediment that we had seen so far is that the traffic corridor we own crosses the Onkaparinga River at its widest possible point—some 1.5 kilometres—which may not only prove cost prohibitive but may actually be impossible to build on environmental grounds. I do apologise for whoever acquired the corridor in the 1970s, but it wasn't us—it wasn't me; okay. We will continue to deliver what we promised, that is, a feasibility study. We will continue to look at new material, if the council wants to put it up, but I will not accept a criticism of delaying a feasibility study when it is delayed for ideas put to us by the Onkaparinga council.

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