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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-12-01 Daily Xml
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RAIL SERVICES

Ms PORTOLESI (Hartley) (14:35): My question is to the Minister for Transport. Will he advise the house on the difficulties of moving the interstate train terminal from Keswick to Adelaide?

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for MacKillop!

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Finniss!

Mr Williams: You've given up, haven't you?

The SPEAKER: The member for MacKillop is warned.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Energy) (14:36): Even though I did not have much notice of the question, it is easy to give the answer because, in fact, this matter has been looked at on a number of occasions over time.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: It's us, we are negative. That is what Mitch says—out of touch, we are negative.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: It was, in fact, raised before. When the member for Adelaide was the lord mayor of Adelaide, she approached the government, on behalf of the council, about this very matter—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: —no, just wait—and she explained that she was provided incontrovertible evidence at length by the minister that it was impossible.

The Hon. J.D. Hill: And who was that minister?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: It was the Hon. Di Laidlaw. They have no corporate memory whatever. When Di Laidlaw was the minister for transport—when she had the benefit of a department, when she was the expert—she persuaded the city council that it was impossible, but let me explain why. One of the things—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Things have changed, that's right—the trains have got smaller. The trains have shrunk and got smaller. Since that time, things have changed: the interstate trains have got longer, and they are going to continue to get longer. Can I say that one of the things they did not do in this grand vision was talk to anyone who actually operated the trains, who owned Keswick, or who—

An honourable member: How do you know?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I know because we do talk to them and they told us. They told us that you did not talk to them. In fact, she told us she didn't talk to them. The Leader of the Opposition told us she didn't talk to them. Apparently, according to the Leader of the Opposition, the interstate passenger rail operated by Great Southern Rail, who they had not spoken to—Great Southern Rail, incidentally, had a 38 year lease on the land at Keswick—is not only going to accept losing its lease but also help pay for the new facility. I look forward to those negotiations.

The passenger trains they operate are some 800 metres long. Whenever they add freight, as they do on the Darwin run, they are longer. At some point in the future, they intend having trains up to two kilometres long. Apparently, these trains are going to share the Adelaide Railway Station with suburban trains, and the suburban trains will just stop and wait for the two-kilometre train to eventually leave. I am sure everyone wanting to get to work will be patient and wait for the two-kilometre train to get out of there.

There is a way you do that: you have to grade separate it. Therefore, there will be trains there, with little trains underneath. Somewhat of an expensive exercise. But wait, sir, there is more. If they had talked to Great Southern, they would know that, if they are to relocate there, it is not simply their two-kilometre trains, they have to relocate their rolling stock and their maintenance, which means a bigger marshalling yard than we have at present. So, what we are going to do is replace the marshalling yard under this grand vision with a marshalling yard—a great big marshalling yard for the biggest trains in the state.

So, what do we do? Obviously I have seen the picture, Mr Speaker. I cannot see a marshalling yard because, apparently, it is underneath. The 80,000 person stadium has a grade separation for the freight rail underneath, with the freight marshalling yard; then we have the best of stations; then wait, underneath that, we have 13,000 car parks. My God, this is not a project: this is a geothermal project. It is a journey to the centre of the Earth. We have got a stadium; we have got an interstate train yard; we have a local rail yard; and then, underneath that, we have 13,000 car parks. It is the biggest hole in the world. Goodness me. I recommend that you stop when you get to China.

This is comical. This is why Di Laidlaw convinced the council that the proposal they have is absolutely impossible. But it does have one other flaw, in my opinion, Mr Speaker: where is the monorail? What decent, harebrained scheme does not have a monorail? And perhaps a chairlift to Mount Lofty! Why not an escalator to the moon, let's not be negative!

Mr GRIFFITHS: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I think it is fair to say that I am sincerely concerned about the Minister for Transport's blood pressure with all this rambunctious behaviour and losing his cool in the matter.

The SPEAKER: There no point of order.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Mr Speaker, what is plain is that, when the Leader of the Opposition decided to have a grand vision for Adelaide—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Can I assure the member for MacKillop that I think your idea is some of the best news I have ever heard.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: What is plain is the opposition has never spoken to anyone involved. But can I say one more thing? How are they going to pay for it, a development at Keswick? You are going to develop Keswick. You are going to develop Keswick, that is what you told the radio. Is that what you are going to do?

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for MacKillop has already been warned once.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: So, Mr Speaker, they are going to develop Keswick, which I am sure is going to be a great disappointment to the Australian Rail Track Corporation who thought they owned the buildings and land at Keswick. In fact, I am not sure what state powers are to acquire property of the commonwealth, because I have not done law for a while, but I—

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Yes, I did practise, in fact. I did practise rather successfully, if I say so myself. I did practise, but I have to say, on this effort on this stadium, it is going to be a long time before I am back on the tools, a real long time. Does anyone in the world believe that you can put a stadium on top—

Mr Williams: Yep.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Yep, they do. Di Laidlaw doesn't. Maybe we could get her out to support your idea of an interstate rail service and marshalling yard, on top of our major domestic rail station, on top of 13,000 car parks. They do not have to worry about the fault line any more, they have dug it out! It is absolutely plain that the idea is ridiculous. That is why Di Laidlaw, the last Liberal minister for transport, said it could not be done and that is why it still cannot be done.

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