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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-06-18 Daily Xml
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PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (14:33): Can the Minister for Transport advise whether he is aware of the suggestions for public transport development other than those suggested by the government?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Energy) (14:33): I can, sir, because you would have to live under a rock somewhere not to know that just last week we announced the greatest improvements to public transport the state has ever seen, and a lot of work is going into it. It was an announcement that I must point out was met with almost universal praise.

The Hon. K.O. Foley: Let me think: who opposed it?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Let's see: who didn't like it? I was very disturbed to find out–in fact, I rang my chief executive that evening—that they were not our ideas at all, because the first thing that, of course, was said about our plan was by the Leader of the Opposition.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: What did he say?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The Leader of the Opposition said, 'I've pretty much designed this budget.' He said, 'They are our ideas'—

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: What was that again?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: 'I've pretty much designed this budget. They are our ideas'—

Mr Hamilton-Smith: On trams it is.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Oh, on trams it is? 'They are our ideas; they will always be our ideas'—

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Of course, trains; he has helped me with my next quote because, yes, it is on trains. This is what he said—and I want people to hold in their minds the words that he said, because this Leader of the Opposition hopes that people do not remember the day before. He just hopes—

An honourable member: Because he doesn't.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Because he certainly can't himself. He said this:

We have been calling for electrification of rail for years, we said we would do it in my master plan for Adelaide, we reiterated it several times.

I thought, 'Hang on, I'm pretty sure, even though it is a bit tiresome, that I read his master plan, his press release on it, his speech on that day to the Press Club, and I do not remember it.'

There is another thing I want people to remember on this—and you know you have an opposition floundering on a bank like a gasping fish when the first thing they say about a budget is how good it is, 'It's all my idea.' Apparently it is not anymore. But remember this: the first mention of the electrification of rail is in the 2005 infrastructure plan, when we announced we would look at it. Having looked at it, I am very happy to say, three years later, that we have realised we can pay for it, and we are doing the program.

I digress to something Neil Smith, who runs Torrens Transit, says: 'Give us a better public transport system than Western Australia', which is currently considered to be the best. Here is what the master plan actually says, what this man hopes people do not remember. The press release on public transport states:

The current system is an embarrassment—

he is entitled to that view—

a comprehensive transport plan will be released in the near future.

The Hon. K.O. Foley: A plan.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Yes.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: To be released.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Remember what he said: 'We said we would do it in my master plan for Adelaide.' Okay, we will go to your master plan, and here it is:

Our plan joins the needs of road users to the needs of public transport users.

I think that is very important. The roads should go to where the buses and trains are. Very important; well thought out. It states further:

If we build more tram routes they will link to all other components of transport.

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Yes, I am.

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I am, and as soon as you're quiet I'm going to continue, because I haven't got to the good bit yet. Remember—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Remember: he said he'd do it, and he reiterated it several times:

Our rail system needs urgent attention and already our shadow transport minister is working on options for electrification of light rail. We will announce more details of the major public transport plan in the coming months.

We told people in 2005 we were studying it. So I thought, 'Well it's not there, perhaps it was in his speech to the Press Club,' because he reiterated it over and over. Here it is—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: No, here it is:

Extensive plans for modernising our rail fleet will be detailed in the future.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: We copied it? No, we didn't copy it, we didn't release plans 'in the future'. We have released plans now; funded plans for the best public transport system in Australia. But what he does indicate that would come in their plan—and listen to this carefully because what he did say in his great visionary speech was:

The tram is here to stay, the money has been spent, but let's not make any more mistakes. Let's get our passenger transport priorities correct.

His priorities: buses, then trains, then trams. That is what we were going to get when they eventually released a policy: buses, then trains, then trams.

I thought to give him the benefit of the doubt: maybe they did it earlier, because one of the other things that he said about our budget was that we should have done this six or seven years ago, and he would have done it. We remember those glorious four weeks when he was a member of the previous government.

Mr Hamilton-Smith: He's reading our plans.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I am reading your plans.

Mr Hamilton-Smith: This is fantastic.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Then why are you protesting so much?

Mr Hamilton-Smith: Look up to the media.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I am. I am waiting for the bit where the Leader of the Opposition actually did say, 'We said we would do it in my master plan for Adelaide.' We said, 'We would do it.' We said, 'We would do it—details to be released later.' It is a bit like the South Sea Bubble prospectus (for those who know anything about law).

But, given the benefit of the doubt, we will look at the opposition's 2002 election policy. For six or seven years we should have done it, but all we can find is $2 million for a community bus trial. What will they do? They will do a detailed business case for electrification. It is something we started a year ago, so they had to say that, didn't they?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: William Shakespeare said it so well: methinks he doth protest too much. The truth is that—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I will wait. Everyone on this side feels the hurt, feels the pain. Look at the anger and feel the pain. Of course, we do know that Marty did believe that we should look even more closely—sorry, the Leader of the Opposition. I apologise and withdraw.

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: I have a point of order. Mr Speaker, the minister spent most of this morning asking you to correct members on this side for using inappropriate titles. Since the minister has just called me Marty—mind you, I love him being cuddly like that—I ask you to correct him. He cannot have it both ways.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I have apologised already.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The house will come to order. I uphold the point of order. All members know to refer to members by their titles, not their names, whether it be their Christian name or surname.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I did apologise, sir. I will refer to him as the Leader of the Opposition and I pray he stays Leader of the Opposition for as long as is humanly possible. Since Thursday last week, when these were all his good ideas and his budget, he has probably had a think about it and thought, 'That's probably not the best line to run on a government budget.' Now he is saying, 'They are my ideas, but they are bad ones.' At least we are getting a little insight into his condition. 'These are all my ideas but they are terrible!' What we do know now is that, while they are his ideas, he does not like them anymore because there will be no tram extensions anywhere. That is what we now know.

The proposition of the Leader of the Opposition is that there should not be a tram extension to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, because the only reason we intend to build it is that two weeks ago—one week before the budget—the Treasurer went to the entertainment centre and found that parking was free, so came to me and said, 'Quick, build a bloody tram extension. Damn it, they are parking for free!' Can I say that Kevin would have thought of something cheaper, like those little boxes where you buy tickets. He would have thought of something cheaper.

What a dopey comment! But he has said 'no more tram extensions'. I do not know what Rob Gerard will think about that. I would think there would be a bit of value added to that Clipsal site as a result of a tram extension. No doubt, the Leader of the Opposition will be having that conversation soon.

We also heard a lot from the Leader of the Opposition about how we say something and then do not do it. We know that he opposed the tram extension and we know he opposes all the new tram extensions. It is interesting to go back to 1997.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: You know you are going well when members opposite mention the State Bank. This document states:

To progress our bold plans to achieve the highest standard of transport services, a Liberal government over the next four years will prepare a 10-year investment plan to do [inter alia] the construction of a new rail link to Football Park and the shopping centre at West Lakes...and an extension of the tramline north of Victoria Square.

Mr Speaker, it is an interesting date—

Mr Pisoni: What were you saying about the GST about that time?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Oh, I don't know; I was always a Keating fan! Mr Speaker, I just want people to remember this: the next time this guy goes out and says, 'I've already said this,' go and check, because this bloke—I am sorry, the Leader of the Opposition—believes that everyone has got an attention span as long as his, which is about as long as a goldfish's, as far as I can ascertain. I do not mean to be mean to him, but his reply speech today was the most unpleasant pile of personal invective. I guess that, when you steal a bloke's ideas, he thinks that is the way you behave, but you just cannot make it up. People will check. Believe it or not, I will check. People will check.

The truth is that the first people to put electrification of rail on the agenda was us in 2005 in the Infrastructure Plan. In 2008, to have a fully-funded program to give us what one independent person says will be the best public transport in Australia, I think is good government, it is good policy, and I am sorry it was not their idea.

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