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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-03-25 Daily Xml
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TRANSPORT ASSISTANCE

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (14:38): My question is to the Minister for Transport. Will he advise the house of the benefits of the government's initiative of free off-peak travel for the elderly and how it compares with the Liberals' promise of free public transport to all commuters during Clipsal week?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Energy) (14:38): I must say that I am a little taken aback. I have never heard of something being more permanent. Things are either temporary or permanent; it is kind of an absolute. More permanent—goodness me!

I will not go over the material mentioned by the Premier yesterday, but I note that the opposition spokesperson on ageing challenged us to compare and contrast our policy with theirs for free Clipsal travel, and they asked how ours would be funded since we wanted to know how theirs would be funded. So, I think it is important actually to say something about that, but I do have your media release.

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Oh, dear! I am going to come to the facts, Leader of the Opposition.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I love to see people in pain, I really do. It is one of those things I enjoy. Our promise was free travel to the elderly—all those who have a Seniors Card and who work less than 20 hours a week, which includes self-funded retirees for the first time in something like this. That is quite logical because, as we said before, those are the first people in many ways to feel the effects of the global financial crisis, whereas people in work have at least had the benefit of dropping mortgage rates and dropping fuel costs. Self-funded retirees have seen their earnings from savings and investments diminish and, in many cases, really suffer quite badly.

It is an initiative for its time. It builds upon the fact that public transport infrastructure is very heavily utilised at peak times but under-utilised at off-peak times, so there is a capacity to do that. There are revenues forgone. It does cost us money, but it does give us the capacity, if some of those people—especially self-funded retirees—shift their travel from peak times to off-peak, to open up more capacity for what is greatly in demand at the moment, and I want people to hold that point—what is greatly in demand at the moment.

What happened during the Clipsal event was that the Leader of the Opposition just had to be noticed during a big event, and he promised there would be free transport to end the gridlock during the five days of Clipsal. It really was something he had not thought a lot about before he said it, because he obviously does not know what most of his backbenchers know (because they write to me all the time), that our buses, trains and trams are very full during morning peak hour—very full, indeed. He probably has not read the paper to note that the buses, trains and trams are full. There was quite a colourful campaign wanting me to fix this up because they are so full.

We have had complaints from the opposition spokesperson about how crowded the trams are, but apparently what the Leader of the Opposition is going to do is offer free travel to every person in the metropolitan area—

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Oh, we have not seen the fine print! Well, we do know that he said everyone in Adelaide.

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: It is your press release: 'Free public transport will be extended to all Adelaide commuters during Clipsal week.' Thank you, Marty! Now, of course, there are two ways this could be done: one is that you do not—

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The other thing they possibly failed to notice is that we are in the process of buying new buses, procuring new trams and adding to our rolling stock because of the demand on public transport. We are in the midst of doing it. I thought that an alert Leader of the Opposition might have noticed that. What would happen is one of two things: first, he would throw the doors open to everyone for free, and those people who catch the bus every morning would be crowded out by the five days of free travellers and left at the bus, train or tram stops. That is the inevitability of it unless, of course, you add new capacity.

The penny might have dropped with him that, given that we are out purchasing new capacity, there is no spare capacity. On the figures that we have, it is likely to lead to—it is a quite modest figure—an increase of 40 per cent in those travelling during peak hour. That figure would require us to purchase, on our estimates, $200 million worth of buses, trams and trains for five days. He got out there, saw the traffic jam and said, 'I'll get a grab. I'll promise free public transport.' What are you going to do with $200 million worth of trams and trains when the Clipsal is not on? We haven't got a big enough shed!

I promise members that this latest promise of the Leader of the Opposition by election time will become an option—an option to be reconsidered after the election, because no-one in their right mind would do it. It illustrates—along with the three options for what they might do, after an election, about a hospital—the fact that these people do not have a base in solid policy, they do not have a base in a united team and they do not have a base in a philosophy of vision. They simply do not have a base. If anything illustrates the incapacity of these people for government it is promises made on the run that would cost $200 million for five days a year. It is the policy of the Leader of the Opposition.

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