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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-05-22 Daily Xml
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Public Transport

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (15:25): I rise to speak about the very important issue of public transport in this state and in particular public transport in the southern suburbs. As we all know, a good public transport service helps people spend less time commuting and more time with their families. It also improves opportunities for people for work, study and other economic opportunities.

For many years, we had a public transport system that was ignored in this state. When we came to government, we had a situation where not one metre of railway track had been added to our public transport since the 1970s. There had not been any major purchases of rolling stock in at least a decade. Our bus service was privatised by the Liberals, just like they privatised Modbury Hospital, and our bus system did not go to the outer southern suburbs like Aldinga and Sellicks Beach. So, we had to rebuild this system. In particular, we had to rebuild the railway system in this state, which was falling apart.

I am pleased to report that this government, in conjunction with the previous federal Labor government, have extended the railway to Seaford Meadows and Seaford stations, which is a dramatic improvement for public transport in my electorate. We now have new electric trains running on that track, and they are faster, safer, quieter and larger. Anyone who has been on one of these trains has reported how fantastic they really are.

I congratulate the Minister for Transport as well for his work recently in re-looking at the timetables for this service, and we are going to deliver on our election commitment to ensure that there will be faster train services for people in the outer south. Under the timetable that he has proposed, which is out for consultation, there will be 39-minute services from Seaford in the morning and 34-minute services from Noarlunga, which will be a massive improvement against the time travelled on the road and which will drive more people into using public transport rather than driving in cars. For our system to continue to improve, we are going to have more electric trains coming over future years.

We also have more park-and-ride car parks available at Seaford, Seaford Meadows and more being built at Noarlunga at the moment. We also have services available now for people in terms of real-time arrival information for trains and buses, which is a huge advantage for people to know when their bus or train is actually going to arrive. We also have a modern ticketing system, and we did not face the troubles that Victoria and New South Wales had with their ticketing system. We now have a modern ticketing system for public transport that was delivered on time and on budget.

I would like to thank the people of the south for their patience over the recent years as we have rebuilt public transport services in the south. I know it has been difficult. I am personally somebody who uses the train, both in my previous job and now regularly in this job as well, to get between my house in Port Noarlunga South and the city. I know how important it is, and I know that it was particularly difficult during the situation where we had substitute buses, and I thank people for their patience.

But all we heard from the opposition during that period was negativity and trying to be populist and trying to jump on board that period of construction, and what we did not hear from them was any positive plan for what they saw as their improvements for public transport. The reason we did not hear that is because they did not have any plans for public transport. In fact, I was there during the election campaign at the Business SA lunch, where the Premier and the opposition leader were speaking.

The opposition leader was asked what his plan is for public transport, and he said he did not want to spend any more money on public transport, that he did not want to invest any more money in our system—not one cent more. I think that sums up the view of the opposition in terms of public transport. They are all about criticising; they are not about investing, and they are not about promoting any future plans for the service.

Here on this side we are about investing in public transport. I am happy to report that one of Labor's commitments in the election was to buy the land for a future rail corridor extension down to Aldinga Beach. As I have said, we have now extended the rail line to Seaford. The next stop, inevitably, will be down to Aldinga. We need to secure that land to ensure that that corridor is protected so that we can extend the rail down there in the future. I can inform the house that people in Aldinga are very much in support of that move and very much want to see the rail extended down there in the future. They know, as we on this side of the house know, that you need to invest in public transport, and only Labor has the track record of actually doing that.

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