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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-10-13 Daily Xml
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Train Services

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (14:38): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. In the first year of the contract to Keolis Downer, what is the payment being made by the state government to Keolis Downer for that one year?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:39): I thank the member for his question. It leaves me just wondering how he operated contracts when he was in this role. I can't believe, for commercial confidentiality, that he would have outlined year on year what everyone was getting paid across the course of the year. I have outlined what the contract is worth.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the Deputy Premier!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: I have made that abundantly clear. Ultimately, at the end of the day, what that contract will deliver for South Australia—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Playford!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —is $118 million worth of savings, and they want to keep glossing over that. They want to keep glossing over the fact that actually we're going to get a better service for South Australian train users, we're going to reduce what it costs to deliver that so money is going to go back into taxpayers' pockets and we are going to be able to reinvest that in better services for South Australia. I can't be any clearer.

We came to the election and we said, 'More jobs, lower costs, better services,' and that is what we are delivering on. When it comes to public transport, we know that more people were using public transport 10 years ago than when Labor left office, and that's not good enough. So what we want to do is reinvest in our public transport, make it better and we can get people back onto public transport.

We know customer service is what people are looking for. We have signed with a company that excels in customer service. That is what they do. I mentioned the awards they won last year, the awards they're a finalist for this year. They do this really, really well. We look forward to partnering with them, working with them and delivering better services for the people of South Australia.

I talked before about the Flinders Link line and the extra trips that we're going to have, some almost 12,000 extra trips on that line. Again, what we are doing is going out and we're consulting with the people who live on that line because it's going to service the hospital, of course, and the university. We know people who work up there—shiftworkers, nurses and the like—might have a say, and students as well. They're going to have a look at the timetable. They might have a situation where they have a uni lecture that starts at 8.30, let's say, and the train might arrive at 8.33 or 8.34. We can have a look at that and say, 'Let's bring that forward and make sure that we can get them there and get them to their lecture on time so they can use the public transport system.'

This is better services. It's what we committed to for South Australians. Not only are we saving money along the way—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the leader!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —we're getting a better service so that South Australians can benefit into the future.

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