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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-02-09 Daily Xml
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Keolis Downer

Mr TARZIA (Hartley) (15:11): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. When will the minister fulfil Labor's promise to tear up the contract with Keolis Downer?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (15:11): I wouldn't call it tearing it up, sir, I would say it would be righting a wrong. I would say it would be making members opposite held to account for the promises they made in 2018 when they promised they didn't have a privatisation agenda.

Now, sir, it would be grossly disorderly of me to mention that the member for Dunstan has not been in the chamber the last three days while we discuss these—

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Point of order.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I would not do that, sir. I would not do that.

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Point of order.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: The minister using sophistry does not mean that he is allowed to say what he has just said. He is in breach of that convention, the standing order referencing members' position in the chamber. He is also wrong when it comes to the point that he was trying to make. As members would all be aware, not only are members deemed to be in the chamber whether they are here or not, many of us know—and many of us saw—the member for Dunstan has been around.

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member for—

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member for Chaffey is warned for a second time. Member for Morialta, what was your remedy?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: The minister should be held up, named and removed from the chamber.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The minister, you have the call.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: After all I did for him to create a vacancy in the deputy leadership—no gratefulness at all. None.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: You're welcome. And what he did for you! But, sir, I will say that I will make an honest man of the member for Hartley, and I will make sure—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It's true. Times have changed. I will make them honour their promise that they did not have a privatisation agenda, and we will undo the harm that they did to the very fabric of the business that we are in, being politicians. There are young children growing up who used to trust what politicians said, until the 2018 election. There are whole generations now, sir, not trusting what people say.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: There is a point of order.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Yes, so this is whimsical but it is debate and it's against standing order 98.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The minister could perhaps get closer to the question.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I am, sir.

Mr Telfer interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Flinders, you are on three—actually, you are on 3½ warnings. Right?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I have to say I am looking forward to bringing our trains and trams back into public hands because quite frankly the idea that we are paying more for a privatised service than we paid for it when it was in public hands is offensive.

We had a good service that was providing a good essential service which could allow the government to plan to increase patronage on our trains and trams. Why? Because we are spending a fortune on infrastructure to grade separate intersections and build roads and infrastructure to meet peak demand because people are not catching public transport. These are fundamental questions that haven't popped up over the last 10 months or even over the last four years or even over the life of the previous Labor government. These are long-term questions that we need to address.

Bringing trains and trams back into public hands is a key piece of infrastructure that we can use, to have in our toolkit, in our arsenal, in a cost-effective way to try to deal with what is coming on taxpayers where they are stuck longer and longer in traffic for peak times. I have said this in this house many, many times: it is unaffordable to maintain this trajectory. We can't keep on doing it. It is important that we bring these back.

The commitment we made at the last election was that we would bring trains and trams back into public control by this term, sir. We would do it this term.

Mr Telfer interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It would be done this term. If the member has something different to say, he should stand up and show the evidence of that or move a substantive motion to accuse me of misleading the parliament.

Mr Tarzia interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Hartley, you are warned for the second time.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I wish things were as simple as they are in the mind of the shadow minister, but they are not. We live in a complex world where we have to undo a contract that was designed to try to thwart exactly what we are trying to do. I also point out that we are also investigating—

Mr Tarzia: Parliament is sovereign.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Parliament is sovereign. That is true: parliament is sovereign. Congratulations, a great lesson—and lessons will keep on coming.

But we will bring the trains and trams back into public hands as quickly as we possibly can. It is coming soon. In fact, I had a meeting today with Keolis Downer which was very productive where I met with Julien, the new Australian chief executive, who was a former adviser to the French minister for transport, who understands the importance of public ownership of essential services. We, on this side of the house—being the last member in the house to vote against the privatisation of ETSA, I am proud to say that we are undoing another privatisation.

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