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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-05-13 Daily Xml
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RAIL ELECTRIFICATION

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop) (15:02): My question is to the Minister for Transport. What is the total cost of the modernisation and electrification of the Gawler railway line, and what is the cost to be paid by the state taxpayer? The 2007-08 state budget allocated $115 million to Adelaide rail modernisation. Yesterday's federal budget allocated $294 million specifically towards the Gawler line, but no total project cost has ever been given for this project.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Energy) (15:03): The total cost—I am quite happy to go back and look over the information that has been provided and provide that to you. It is hardly something that we are going to keep a secret. Can I say there is—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The Deputy Leader of the Opposition, I do not think, has ever allowed any member of government to utter more than one sentence without interjecting. Wouldn't it be good if just once they made sense, or they were funny, or they were informative?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for MacKillop will come to order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I assure the member for MacKillop, I do not know what he is here for. I have no idea why he is here. I think he should have stuck to farming myself, but—

Ms CHAPMAN: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. That is a reflection on the people of MacKillop who have elected the member to this house and it is totally out of order.

The SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I tell you what: I will be down in a month's time and I will see whether I get out of there all right. I will be down in a month's time. I am quite happy. I might ride my bike around there. I'll see how I go. I am pretty confident, Mitch. There is nothing about you mob that frightens me.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I have just told you I will be doing it—in fact, I invite you to come out for a ride.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: No, there you go.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I point out, Mr Speaker, that I have been threatened by the member for MacKillop, who said I would not survive visiting his electorate.

Mr Williams: That's not what I said Patrick, and you know it.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Well, I heard what you said. Did anyone else hear what he said? I would not survive it. I have to tell you, sir, those threats will seriously undermine my capacity to do my job as a minister, where I will be quaking in my boots so often. I will not be sleeping at night.

The Hon. M.D. Rann: Shaking in your lycra!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I don't think you would want to see me shaking in my lycra. I just point out that that is the level of debate we now get from the opposition. He says, 'Answer the question,' and every time I draw a breath he interjects.

I am quite happy to get the total cost. I will point out that the cost of a rail upgrade will depend on the treatment of stations, where those stations are, how they are upgraded and to what extent—disability standards and those sorts of things. We are quite happy to go and have a look at what we believe that cost will be and deliver it to it. To come back to the point, what you have here today is an opposition desperately trying to seek a negative out of some of the best news the state has ever got in capital funding. Well, good luck to you. We are quite happy to provide the information.

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