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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-05-02 Daily Xml
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Commonwealth Infrastructure Funding

Mr TARZIA (Hartley) (14:43): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Are any South Australian infrastructure projects at risk of delay or cancellation due to the federal government's 90-day infrastructure review? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr TARZIA: Yesterday, the federal infrastructure minister announced that she would review infrastructure spending, including for half a billion dollars of future investment in South Australian roads and projects. Civil Contractors Federation SA CEO, Rebecca Pickering, said, 'This review may lead to decades of delays for these projects that are crucial for the advancement of South Australia.'

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:44): I would like to thank my young friend for his question and his keen advocacy on behalf of infrastructure. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Tony Pasin for his words of praise this morning on morning radio, which I thought I might talk about in the context of these infrastructure programs. Mr Pasin admitted on radio today that in the last commonwealth Coalition budget there was, and I quote, 'very little on budget night in relation to infrastructure or otherwise for South Australia'—a remarkable admission by a senior Liberal Party frontbencher on the last commonwealth Liberal budget to be delivered in Australia.

Of course, we know that my young friend has been out trying to frighten people, saying that the north-south corridor won't be included in the federal budget. Those cries have now gone silent given, of course, he has seen the commonwealth government commit to this project. I do say this: as you heard with the Treasurer's quote earlier about some frontbenchers, my young friend is ringing a lot of media, getting a lot of media attention. I think the training is starting to pay off. I think it is getting close to 'Time for Tarzia', but I think we are almost there. A bit more coaching and a bit more hard work and we will get there.

In terms of this review, Mr Pasin went on to say today about me, and I quote, 'I hope he is going to be as aggressive towards that government,' being the Albanese government, 'as he was towards our government', and that's the Morrison government, where he admitted next to nothing in the last federal government for South Australia, 'because ultimately'—and this is the part that's going to be on bumper stickers across West Torrens—'he's the guy who stands up for South Australian infrastructure projects'. I could not put it better myself.

I want to thank the Liberal Party for that endorsement. Although I know not everyone is endorsing Tony Pasin's candidature; I understand there is some movement at the station, as it were. But I say this out of self-interest: given those words of praise I hope you last a long time, with no disrespect to other candidates who are there. Obviously, the key word in my young friend's question there was the word 'may'.

Mr Tarzia: Is this a new tactic: 'young friend'? You were here for 12 years by the time you turned 37. You didn't learn anything though.

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I am here and you are there. Last time I checked, four-year Wonder Boy over there, a part of your demise was some of the things I picked up along the way.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes. So I am very interested in what the commonwealth government are doing in this review. They claim it is necessitated by the infrastructure programs that were rolled out by the previous government that were often without BCRs, often paper projects—

Mr Tarzia interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Majors Road is a good project. It was a project advocated and supported by the previous government up until the point the leader aspirant—the most powerful person in the cabinet at the time—couldn't get his project funded. Then, of course, after the election of a Labor government, that project was funded and is now very popular in his local electorate.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It's not popular? Okay, we will see. We will work collaboratively with the commonwealth government to make sure that South Australia's points of view are put. Obviously, every government is entitled to review projects. We reviewed the north-south corridor and found that the plan was insufficiently funded and would have caused further congestion, so no doubt there will be improvements out of this review as well.

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