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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-03-22 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Election Commitments

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (14:15): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the minister please update the house on the state government's delivery of election commitments that relate to his portfolios?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:15): There is no more sacred promise than delivering our election commitments. Sunday marked—

Mr Tarzia: Forty-six per cent.

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

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Hurtle Vale is warned for a second time. Order, member for Wright!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: My young apprentice is talking about numbers again.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: It's 50 per cent plus one.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Treasurer is called to order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Vincent, I told you, don't talk about it publicly—privately. We had this discussion. Anyway, Sunday marks 12 months since the former Liberal government was decisively ejected from government and the Malinauskas state government was formed. Marking the occasion on Sunday, the Deputy Premier released a statistic highlighting one metric for the performance of government. In our first year of a four-year term, nearly half of our election commitments have been delivered. Given the substantial agenda we took to the election, this is a considerable number of commitments that have been delivered. Just in my portfolios, we have reviewed the Torrens to Darlington design, which led to the once-in-a-generation major infrastructure project having a functional design—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Badcoe, member for Newland!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It's like champagne, these tears. This is unlike what was being proposed by the former government. We have made public transport free for Senior Card holders, providing convenience and saving for our seniors—hundreds of thousands of dollars they have saved since the introduction on 1 July 2022. We repealed the previous government's electric vehicle tax, which was serving as a barrier or, as the previous government would say, a handbrake on electric vehicle uptake—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Whetstone: How's the north-south corridor going?

The SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It's going really well.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Newland! The member for Elder is warned. Member for Wright, member for Badcoe, order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: We reversed Liberal cuts and reintroduced the outer—

The Hon. B.I. Boyer interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Wright is warned.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —vehicles registration concession on 1 July 2022, which has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars for people from Kangaroo Island, Coober Pedy, Roxby Downs and other remote areas. So much for the party of regional South Australia.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is warned for a final time.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Minister, please be seated. Order! Member for Chaffey, member for Mawson, you can depart the chamber under 137A for the remainder of question time.

The honourable members for Chaffey and Mawson having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: Minister.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: We implemented a suite of initiatives to support South Australia's taxi industry, reintroducing government-funded managed taxi ranks, which were cut by the previous government, and reducing compulsory third-party premiums for taxis.

In contrast, after one year of the previous government's first year, they announced cuts to bus routes, the closure of Service SA centres and revealed their privatisation plans, amongst other failures. We are addressing many of the former government's failures through our commitments.

For example, we are progressing our commitments to increase our bus services around Parafield Gardens, Croydon Park and Lightsview. We are not only keeping Service SA centres open but, as I went into detail to the house yesterday, also opening on Saturdays for key areas and of course, importantly, reversing a broken promise by the previous government, that they didn't have a privatisation agenda, by bringing our trains and trams back into public hands.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hartley! Order! Member for Elder! The member for Elder is warned.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: In addition, we are working on our world-leading hydrogen facility, which is already positioning our state and Whyalla at the forefront of a new industry, with the government's request for proposals, ending just last week, attracting 29 proposals from around the world. The on/off ramps on the Southern Expressway at Majors Road are a very popular initiative, even in the member for Bright's electorate—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Newland!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Davenport!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —and of course the Aquatic Centre, a much needed upgrade in our Parklands. We will continue to deliver for the people of our state.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the member for Schubert, I observe that the member for Elder and the member for Newland are both on two warnings. The member for Schubert.

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