House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-06-19 Daily Xml

Contents

North-South Corridor

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (14:28): My question is again to the Premier. Premier, how much additional debt will be required to fund the remaining sections of the north-south corridor upgrade, due beyond the forward estimates?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:28): I am very pleased to talk about the north-south corridor. This is an important project for South Australia. In fact, I think it's probably the most significant infrastructure project ever undertaken in this state. Of course, we on this side of the house tried to do it 50 years ago and were somewhat constrained by the subsequent Labor government sale of all the land that had been acquired for that purpose.

Mr Brown: You cancelled it because of Rose Park residents.

The SPEAKER: Member for Playford!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: But let's leave that alone because that is a historic piece of information that probably isn't relevant to this particular question. Back in 2013, though, we did reach an agreement with the commonwealth government—the Abbott government, at the time—to have a continuously flowing north-south corridor. We wanted to see that happen as a matter of priority. They committed to it as a matter of priority as well.

With credit to the previous government, they did work on some sections of that north-south corridor. I would note that they did leave the complicated parts to us. We are not complaining about that, but I think it's fair to say that the remaining sections are the more complicated sections. We have now negotiated a funding envelope of $5.4 billion: that's $2.7 billion from the state and $2.7 billion from the commonwealth. Of course, we have some money contained within the forward estimates, which is critical for us to get on with the early works—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and design works for this important project, and that's precisely what we're doing.