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

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (14:40): My question is to the Premier. Will construction on the Premier's signature infrastructure policy, GlobeLink, announced at the last election, begin construction before the next election?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:40): Let me see if I can try this again. I certainly remember there being a lot of discussion in 2013 by the man who was the leader of the opposition, who is now the Premier of South Australia, standing up and saying that South Road is our biggest infrastructure priority here in South Australia. In my view, I thought it was the subject of bipartisan support. What we have done is we have got on and secured the money to deliver what is our largest infrastructure priority in South Australia. I have said that to this chamber so often I am not sure—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —I understand why there is a degree of confusion. The north-south corridor, we are getting on and delivering the next section, the Regency Road to Pym Street section of the north-south corridor.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: Point of order for debate.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The question wasn't about South Road or the north-south corridor. It was about GlobeLink, sir.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Yes.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: The question was about the signature infrastructure policy, and the Minister for Transport has just described what that was.

The SPEAKER: And whether it would be built before the next election. The question was very specific, much more specific than the former, and that's why I reckon the minister is going to come back to the substance of the question.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Again, the idea that you can just look at one little project in isolation from the broad pipeline of projects we have had is absurd—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —absolutely absurd. Undertaking infrastructure projects of large magnitude does take years to deliver. What we have and what we have been left with is the most difficult sections of the most important infrastructure project in South Australia's history, the largest infrastructure project in South Australia's history, being the north-south corridor. I have said to this chamber—I haven't hidden it from anybody—that the north-south corridor is our number one priority.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: What is interesting is that, again, you cannot look at a road traffic network as one road in isolation or a couple of roads in isolation. We need to look at the network effect of the infrastructure projects we undertake. So, when we look at the north-south corridor, when we look at an intergenerational idea like GlobeLink, these two ideas cannot exist in isolation.

Ms Stinson: Funny that they don't want to talk about GlobeLink.

The SPEAKER: The member for Badcoe can leave for the remainder of question time. I am trying to hear the answer. I ask that these interjections cease.

The honourable member for Badcoe having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: I am not going to take frivolous points of order. I have the points of order. I am listening carefully. I have asked the minister to come back to the substance of the question.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: The answer to the question is: you cannot look at GlobeLink in isolation. You have to look at GlobeLink in conjunction with the other projects that this government has on the table to improve—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —the road traffic network here in South Australia.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: 'It will definitely happen,' is what you said.

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is on two warnings.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: The GlobeLink proposal is one that fits and works together with the north-south corridor. It is designed to link in to the north-south corridor. It's why we need to take a holistic network approach to the way we deliver things. I reiterate again—and this isn't news to anybody who has been listening to anything that the Premier has said over the past five or six years of his leadership—that the north-south corridor is this government's number one priority.

GlobeLink is an idea that we took to the election. The promise at the election was to deliver a business case. That's precisely what we are doing. Again, that's something I know others may not want to hear, but it is precisely what we are doing: delivering on another election commitment. These ideas need to be looked at collectively. We will consider the information as it is presented, we will go through a proper rigorous evidence-based process and we will have that discussion publicly with the people of South Australia all in good time.

But in the meantime this government is getting on with delivering $11.9 billion worth of infrastructure over the next four years, seven to 7½ billion of which is road infrastructure projects that do help to improve freight productivity around South Australia. As we forward plan, as we look into the future and as we build the roads that future generations need us to build, we will do so with a process that treats taxpayers' dollars with the respect that it deserves and the respect that was lacking for 16 years.

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