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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-05-31 Daily Xml
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Question Time

North-South Corridor

Mr SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:12): My question is to the Premier. Did the government consult Infrastructure South Australia about the schedule for completing the north-south corridor?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:13): I suppose the real question is: why didn't the former government get some proper advice from the agency before making all sorts of pronouncements before the election?

I've got to say that the opposition leader is leading with his chin today. Rather than apologising to the people of South Australia for four wasted years—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —on the north-south corridor—

Mr Pederick interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —they're turning up as if they are shocked, somehow surprised that it's not on track, that it's somehow not ready to be delivered, but, of course—

Mr Tarzia: Is that why you went into the studio during the week?

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley!

Mr Tarzia: You made that extra effort, Tom.

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley! The minister has the call.

Mr Tarzia: Went into the studio: 'They’ll go easy on me if I go into the studio.'

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley is warned.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I will let the ABC know that when they invited me in it was all because I was frightened of the member for Hartley. It is true: he is the only one we fear on this side of the house.

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, I understand there is a point of order. I will hear the point of order under standing order 134. The member for Morialta.

Mr GARDNER: Sir, standing order 98 requires that the minister respond to the substance of the question, not debate. He has been debating. The question was whether the government consulted Infrastructure South Australia before deciding to delay this massive and important project.

The SPEAKER: The minister is not yet a minute into his answer. I will listen carefully.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I will explain to the previous government what ISA's role is compared to a service delivery agency like the Department for Infrastructure and Transport. Infrastructure South Australia and Infrastructure Australia, their role is to assess projects and their viability and their worth. The job of the Department for Infrastructure and Transport is to deliver these projects and actually build them. There is a very, very big difference.

Interestingly, having gone through the design work that the previous government gave us, I thought I would give you a small vignette, sir, of what the previous government were planning to impose on the people of South Australia—just a very small little morsel so the people of this state can know exactly what it is they thought was construction ready. They were going to have an elevated right-hand turn coming out of the tunnels onto Anzac Highway from South Road that started from a three-lane highway inside the tunnels, coming to a two-lane exit being elevated—

The SPEAKER: Minister, there is a point of order from the member for Morialta.

Mr GARDNER: Standing order 98: it was actually a very straightforward question seeking whether the minister consulted with Infrastructure South Australia or not. He is debating the matter.

The SPEAKER: There is a little force in the submission that's been made to me. I will ask the minister to take a closer line to the question, although I do observe that previous Speakers have permitted a degree of compare and contrast or, put another way, some context.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: As the good people of South Australia who are travelling north in the tunnel and coming out to get onto Anzac Highway to go into the city, the previous government would have them come out onto an elevated roadway in two lanes, then, halfway up this elevated roadway, merge to one lane, midair, and then coming down onto Anzac Highway, not coming down on the side to be able to merge right. They had them coming down alongside the median strip to merge left.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Hartley!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It doesn't work. In fact, sir—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —the cautiousness—

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —of our engineers, their advice to me was, 'This would be highly ambitious.' The truth is they weren't ready. They would have queueing in the tunnels. The only thing they got right, and at the very end, was making the tunnels three lanes. Everything else is a debacle. We have to redo the reference design. We have to redo the community consultation. We have to go out and re-talk to the people of South Australia about what they are doing.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The former government were even planning to abolish—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —right-hand turns from Anzac Highway heading to and from the city.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier is called to order. The minister has the call.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: They were attempting to close down Anzac Highway and make it basically only heading to and from the city without any access to South Road. They were making it up as they were going along.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: So, yes, we consulted with Infrastructure South Australia.

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