House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-04-03 Daily Xml

Contents

GlobeLink

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:37): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. How much money is being allocated in the 2019 commonwealth budget for the Premier's signature infrastructure plan, GlobeLink?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:37): If they want to keep asking Dixers, I will keep answering.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Do not provoke the opposition, minister.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: We took to the election a commitment to explore a visionary idea to change the way that freight moves around our state and our city—an idea of bringing together modes of transport in a way that delivers freight productivity efficiency because we have, as the Premier says, a higher ambition for our state. We want to grow our exports, and dealing with freight constraints is one of the key ways that a state government can help to do that, hence the idea for GlobeLink.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: What we said last year is that we would undertake the business case. In our first budget, we put $20 million aside do that. We awarded that project after the budget last year; it's been awarded to KPMG. We are currently undertaking that work at the moment. I think I have said 15, 20 or 30 times to questions having been asked about when will that be delivered that it will be delivered in the middle of the year.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: It will be delivered in the middle of the year. This is what we committed to doing before the election—that is, doing the business case development and homework to make sure that we are delivering the right projects, the best projects, and we stick to that.

The Hon. Z.L. Bettison interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Ramsay is warned.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Again, the internal logical inconsistency in the questioning and the heckling from the opposition show that they actually don't understand how this works.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Once again, we will try again: you need to undertake the business case development. We are undertaking the stage 1 and stage 2 business cases at the moment. We will then see what that says, and then we will look at the next steps. That is the prudent and important thing to do, and that is precisely what we are getting on and doing.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: The Leader of the Opposition talks about the right-hand turn. Well, guess what?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Ms Stinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Badcoe is warned for a second and final time.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: We commissioned a report to look at the issues surrounding that right-hand turn. We got the report, we listened to the expert advice, and then we made a decision that didn't waste taxpayers' money.

Mr Picton interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Kaurna is warned for a second and final time.

The Hon. Z.L. Bettison interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member Ramsay is also warned for a second and final time.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: What the opposition would prefer us to do is do the business case development, ignore the advice, waste money, and ruin taxpayers' money. I don't understand the logic.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Once again—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: If the Minister for Education and the leader want to continue this, they can do it outside.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Either way, I think we have been entirely transparent every single step of the way with this, and we will continue to be so. South Australians are coming to realise, and will come to see in the future, that this is a government that does its homework—

The Hon. Z.L. Bettison interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member Ramsay can leave for the rest of question time, thank you.

The honourable member for Ramsay having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —and makes rational infrastructure decisions, and it has set up an independent body to make sure that it checks our rational decisions based on expert advice so that we can get the best, highest priority infrastructure delivered for South Australians.