House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-05-15 Daily Xml

Contents

Public Transport

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (14:15): My question is for the minister for industry and trade. Does the minister still hold the same concerns about the privatisation of the rail network as he expressed in his media release, dated 4 February 2016, when he was shadow transport minister?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:15): Let's be very clear. This question was—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Premier, please be seated for one moment. If this sort of behaviour continues, members will be leaving the—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Humiliating the Liberals?

The SPEAKER: Yes. Members will be leaving the chamber for interjecting if this continues—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: I'm trying to stop humiliating you all.

The SPEAKER: —beginning with the member for West Torrens, perhaps. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The question from the member for West Torrens was directed to the minister for industry and trade. I don't know what sort of bygone era he was harking back to.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We have a Minister for Innovation and Skills, and might I say—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —what a fine job he has been doing. It is really quite an outstanding job that he has been doing. We speak as one on this side of the house. The reality is that we will look at all options that achieve two outcomes for the people of our state; one, of course—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

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

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We're really going to miss him, sir. We are going to make all our decisions based on these two criteria: (1) improving outcomes for public transport users in South Australia, and (2)—a very important caveat and one which those opposite failed to observe for a long period of time—we want value for money for the taxpayers of South Australia. Let's not forget that the taxpayers of South Australia very significantly subsidise the public transport system in South Australia, so we need to be able to assure them that we are spending their money as well as we possibly can to achieve optimal outcomes for the service.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Giles and the member for Light are called to order. The member for West Torrens and then the member for Newland.