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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-10-30 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

Election Commitments

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (15:04): It is remarkable that the Premier is fighting tooth and nail for a policy he did not take to the election—his land tax increases—yet he is prepared to abandon a signature infrastructure policy he did take to the election and sought the endorsement of the people on. It is unprecedented.

The Premier is now attempting to tell the house that GlobeLink really was just a set of principles, a vision statement, more like an aspiration than a policy. When you read the statements the Premier put out during the election campaign, none of it was aspirational. All of it was 'we will': 'We will build a freight corridor and we will build a 24-hour freight-only airport.' Apparently, private equity would be falling over themselves to invest in this brand-new, 24-hour freight airport, despite Adelaide Airport being a 24-hour freight airport now and despite all the expert advice that decoupling freight from passenger air transport would be a disaster.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, Minster for Infrastructure! Leader! The member for West Torrens has the call.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Thank you, sir. I am used to dealing with my children at home. It's very easy, sir. You just ignore them and keep on speaking. Also, of course, we were promised an intermodal export park. We were promised a brand-new corridor bypassing the Adelaide Hills, making sure that the freight line that was recently upgraded through Goodwood and down on the Torrens junction would be ripped up and there would be a brand-new freight line. Of course, none of that is true—none of it. None of it is going to happen. Indeed—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —18 months—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —into this government, a $20 million report still has not been released. The default Treasurer, who recently spoke to the South Australian Freight Council said that at the end of the day he did not mind what the answer was about the outcome of his GlobeLink investigation. So much for commitment. The report has come up with about 60 options—we do not know what those options are—to address the problems with GlobeLink. Are the problems perhaps funding: no-one wants to do it? Everyone he has spoken to thinks it is a bad idea: Adelaide Airport, Freight Council, the commonwealth government, probably all his colleagues, probably the Premier, probably anyone who has any ability to walk upright and has opposable thumbs, thinks that this is a bad idea.

I have to say that I am impressed with the ability of the government to say something that is patently untrue and pretend that it is all going to happen one day in the future. They then attempt to compare the government's commitment to the north-south corridor, which they wanted to cancel in 2014—the section Torrens to Torrens—to building the Regency to Pym section with their commitment to GlobeLink. That is like saying because you bought a cat, you like dogs. It is stupid.

This government has done nothing to make GlobeLink work. This government is attempting to put a bandage on a gaping wound. The government promised at the last election that if they were elected they would build a 24-hour freight only airport and they would bypass freight from Adelaide directly to our ports. They would build new roads, there would be an intermodal park and there would be foreign investment and equity pouring into this 24-hour airport. None of that is going to happen—none of it.

Mr Malinauskas: Fantasy, and you know it.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: But, of course, perhaps maybe—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —the minister will make a statement to the house one day in the future, perhaps in 2021 on the eve of an election, saying that if they are re-elected there will be another study, there will be another investigation. Perhaps you can turn the sod on, what was it, the finished project?

Mr Malinauskas: Turn the sod on the completion.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Perhaps we can move the 24-hour freight airport from Murray Bridge to Adelaide Airport and say, 'Here it is. Here's your 24-hour freight airport,' and the tunnel going past Sir Donald Bradman Drive and Richmond Road is this new sweeping corridor avoiding the Adelaide Hills. Perhaps we can rename the freight line something else: Mission Accomplished.

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