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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-12-04 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Train Services

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:10): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier show some leadership and overturn the decision of his transport minister regarding the shutting down of all train services on this Adelaide test match weekend?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:10): I am not sure whether it's about showing leadership, but I am certainly not going to overturn the decision. It's a real shame, quite frankly, that the Leader of the Opposition has resorted to talking down the Adelaide test. We heard him out in the press today.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We have heard about his football antics.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Obviously, he is not a cricket fan. The Adelaide test is one of those great sporting events that we all look forward to enjoying in South Australia, but the Leader of the Opposition has been out today telling everybody that ticket sales are down, completely in contravention to what the SACA is putting out. They are saying that they are looking forward to a bumper test in Adelaide.

The reality is that the Leader of the Opposition either wants to talk down what is going on in South Australia this weekend or he has amnesia, because when we look back at the previous test that was held in Adelaide, the Ashes test, I think it had the largest attendance since back in the 1930s. The Leader of the Opposition seems to forget that he closed not one, not two, but three train lines in South Australia. Certainly, the previous government did.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We have made it very clear that we have work to do with this government to move some of the infrastructure which is on that rail line. It needs to be done. We are not going to be putting it off until next year, as that will cause immense inconvenience to the people of South Australia. Rather than talk down—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —ticket sales in South Australia, you should be doing everything you can to talk it up. This government has already made sure that there are going to be substitute buses in place.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Why? What have you got against buses, on that side? Now they are having a go at the bus drivers in South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Captain Negative is talking down the state and talking down our fabulous buses in South Australia like they are some sort of second-class mode of transport. Well, we won't have it said about our buses. We think we have excellent buses in South Australia. Of course, we don't—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Malinauskas: Why are you cutting them?

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Of course—

Mr Picton interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Kaurna!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —we regret any inconvenience. If it was avoidable, we would have avoided it, but the simple fact is that this maintenance needs to be done.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It can be done this weekend and that is the weekend that it will be done.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the Leader of the Opposition, I call the following members to order: the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Lee, the member for Reynell, the Minister for Transport, the Minister for Primary Industries, the members for Badcoe, Light, Kaurna, Mawson and the Minister for Industry. The Leader of the Opposition has the call.

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