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

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (14:49): I have a supplementary for the minister. Can you explain why over 80 per cent of the funding for the regional road upgrade initiatives contained in the budget occurs beyond the forward estimates?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:49): I reject the fact that exists within that question.

An honourable member: How?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: By standing up and rejecting it.

The SPEAKER: We have the question. The minister has the call. I don't need any assistance, thank you.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: I will sit back and bring an answer back to the member for precisely how much money is inside the forward estimates for these projects.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Sorry, member for Lee. The minister is still answering the question. I will come back to you.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Of the $1.15 billion worth of money, there is $550-odd million that exists already now within the forward estimates for these projects. More than that, last year we were able to demonstrate that working with the federal government delivered benefits for South Australia. There was $506 million that we were able to bring forward from the federal budget, post our budget, into the forward estimates, those projects being the Gawler line electrification, the Regency to Pym Street section of the north-south corridor, as well as the Joy Baluch Bridge—$506 million that we were able to bring forward.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Point of order: my question was specific to the regional road upgrade projects contained in this budget.

The SPEAKER: The point of order is for relevance/debate.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I also advise the house he would need to bring back details to the house.

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order. I do believe that the minister is answering the question in a manner that is germane to the question, but I will listen carefully and then I will come back to the member for Lee.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Thank you, Mr Speaker. The difficulty, post this federal budget, is that the federal government went into caretaker. The best news for South Australians is that the Morrison Liberal government was re-elected. In fact, since their re-election, without which, can I say, this $1.15 billion package would not be on the table in the first place because there is certainly no way that those opposite would have asked for that money and there certainly was no guarantee from the alternate—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —Labor government of a commitment to this money, and to then somehow stand here and disingenuously tell this house that they are somehow bleeding for regional South Australians is ridiculous. There is only one party that is going to deliver road safety outcomes for regional South Australians and it's the people who sit on this side of the house. More than that, in the time since the election, between the Premier and I, we have had discussions with four separate ministers in relation to—

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Point of order: this is clearly debate. It was about specific initiatives in the budget.

The SPEAKER: I ask the minister to come back to the substance of the question. I have given you some latitude in your answer thus far.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Let me just draw a bit of a line here: the regional projects that are in the budget and the timing profile of those projects, that is what we are talking about right now. They are the same projects that the member for Lee asks questions of. There have now been discussions with the Prime Minister's office, minister Cormann's office, minister Tudge's office, minister McCormack's office, as well as Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's office, and the answer from every single one of those ministers and the Prime Minister has been, 'We will work with you on reprofiling these projects.'

In fact, in the Australian Financial Review, only last week Treasurer Frydenberg said to the whole of the country, 'We want to get shovel-ready projects out of the ground as soon as possible.' Regional South Australia stands ready to have these projects underway as soon as possible. We have already had discussions with Treasurer Frydenberg, as well as half his cabinet. We will deliver road safety outcomes as quickly as possible. For all those projects that I just outlined in the previous answer, we are going to get on and deliver those but, again, this is the government that put these projects on the table in the first place. They are moving infinitely quicker than they would have under any sort of red-striped government, both state and federal.

South Australians and regional South Australians, who, by the way, have been waiting 16 years for this budget, will now know that putting their faith in the Liberal Party in South Australia is paying dividends for them, especially for their loved ones, when they get into a vehicle every single day.

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