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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-03-05 Daily Xml
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TRAM AND TRAIN DERAILMENTS

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:14): My question is again to the Minister for Transport. Has he or any member of his staff received and seen on his behalf the publicly undisclosed full reports into the tram and train derailments or had briefings on those now secret full reports?

Members interjecting:

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: That's what they are.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: You are keeping them secret.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Energy) (14:14): I offer to the Leader of the Opposition a meeting and briefing with the manager of TransAdelaide and he can ask him anything he wants. He can ask him any question he wants. I have just asked—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I have just asked my staff to find me the one sheet of paper that is not attached to this with the two little recommendations: first, that I note the briefing; and, secondly, that I do not release documents as they have refused them under FOI, from memory, for the reasons that they would not be able to conduct their inquiries in the full and frank—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Don't—

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: That is absolute rubbish. I did not write it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: 'What are you hiding?'

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I am sorry to interrupt the Minister for Transport. There must not be a cacophony of interjections while the minister is attempting to answer the question. Members on my left must listen to the minister's answer quietly. The Minister for Transport.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Thank you, sir. Again, if the Leader of the Opposition thinks that, in some way, we have required TransAdelaide to engage in doing something they should not, I invite him to speak to the general manager. He can talk to him on his own, for all I care, and he can ask him any questions he likes. But the nub of the problem is this: the Leader of the Opposition is embarrassed by the ridiculous claims he made. Those claims have not been borne out. I am sorry, we can only present him with the facts. The—

Mr WILLIAMS: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. My point of order is again the relevance of the minister's attempt to answer the question. The question was: has he or any of his staff sighted the actual reports? That is what the question was.

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for MacKillop, I think the question was put in rather different terms than that. Perhaps if the member for MacKillop had asked the question, then I would be more restrictive over the minister's answer, but if the member for MacKillop would like to look at the question in the terms it was asked, then I think he would think it would be reasonable of me to give the minister a bit of scope. The Minister for Transport.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Thank you, sir. I come back to the point. Regardless of the fact that I am not the least bit fussed about it, I am not going to release the document against the advice of the head of TransAdelaide. I have the sheet, which I will table, with the recommendations on it. This is dated 26 February and attached to the report. This is the only thing I got—and I will come back to your point in a moment; I wouldn't forget you.

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: No, your question was actually arrant nonsense, but I will come back to your point in a moment. The note from the Acting General Manager of TransAdelaide says:

It is recommended that the minister:

Note the briefing and use it as the basis for any further communications relating to the tram derailment at the South Terrace Refuge Shuttle Siding on Thursday 6 November 2007; as

TransAdelaide requests the full investigation report that it has undertaken not be released to preserve the high level of cooperation required from staff during similar post-event investigations.

That is not something I asked for: that is something I was given. I have never seen anything but this. I do not believe my staff have, but I am sure my staff, in the diligent pursuit of their duties, have spoken to Randall Barry about these and other matters, and I would be very disappointed if they had not. The point is: if the Leader of the Opposition believes something has been left out of this, have the courage to say what it is.

Mr Hamilton-Smith: No, it's the report.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: No, have the courage to say what it is. I invite the Leader of the Opposition—and again, if he were well informed, perhaps he would not say some of the very foolish things he does. I plead with him simply to meet with the General Manager of TransAdelaide and have the general manager explain it to him. Were it Iain Evans or Rob Kerin in the position, I would probably offer them a look at it because those people were trustworthy, but I don't think I will do that on this occasion.

Mr WILLIAMS: A point of order, Mr Speaker, once again regarding relevance and a reflection on the Leader of the Opposition. The question was: has the minister or any member of his staff received and seen the full reports into the tram and train derailments or had a briefing on those full reports? The minister has done everything but answer the question as it was asked.

The SPEAKER: I do not know where the member for MacKillop was a few minutes ago when the question was asked but the question was in different terms than that. I am happy to check the Hansard. If I am wrong, I will come back and apologise profusely but that was not my recollection of the terms in which the question was asked.

Mr WILLIAMS: That is the question verbatim, as it was asked, sir.

The SPEAKER: I will happily check Hansard and, if I am wrong, I will more than happily come back and apologise profusely, but that is not my recollection. The Minister for Transport is in order.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Again, I say no, I have not seen the full report. When the general manager sends me something, I don't naturally think he is not telling the truth. I think that is the truth. I also act on his recommendations according to it. Again, I urge the Leader of the Opposition that, if he is really interested in finding out what the facts are, he will take a briefing with the general manager and the general manager can put to him his views on why you do not release full investigation reports. He said it is the ordinary practice, and he can talk to the general manager about that. If he is still unhappy with that, he can come back and argue the point. Please don't come into this place and suggest—and you know it would not be the first time we have had attacks on public servants from this mob, usually unfounded—

Mr Williams: You blamed the driver.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: No, I didn't blame the driver. The report says—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I repeat: the first person to say the driver ran a red light in South Australia was the member for Morphett. The truth is the driver ran a red light. I cannot change that. By golly, I wish he hadn't. By crikey, my life would be much better if he hadn't, but he did and I cannot change that for you. I can't make true the silly allegations you have made. No matter what you do, they won't come true. So, what I urge you to do is talk to the general manager and find the truth. If the general manager says to me, that on this occasion we should release it, that is exactly what I'll do. I have absolutely nothing to hide because the full investigations will not show you that the track needs to be torn up or the computer system was wrong or that he was waved through a red light, which is the other thing, of course.

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The Leader of the Opposition thought he was on to something big; he was on to nothing. He couldn't get a story up last week, he couldn't get a story up yesterday, he hasn't got a story up for three weeks, and all I can say is it is not our fault.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Has The Advertiser got rid of the parliamentary page? I haven't seen it for weeks. What is going on?

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Are you guys on strike or something?

Mr VENNING: A point of order, Mr Speaker: the minister is supposed to address the chair in this house, not the gallery.

The SPEAKER: Yes, it would be a sad day when The Advertiser gallery is to whom we address our remarks. I think the minister has completed his answer.

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