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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-02-05 Daily Xml
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Train and Tram Services

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (14:34): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the minister update the house on the return of train and tram services to public hands and any alternative views?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:35): There has been a flurry of activity since the government—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Thank you. It's good to hear our opponents parroting back our messaging. It must be getting through. I can inform the house that there have been alternative views, some of those dating back to as far as December 2022. I just want to read a quote to the house, which I think is telling:

The Opposition has now been informed negotiations—over the 12-year contract worth $2.1 billion—recently broke down following intervention from Peter Malinauskas' office.

They continue:

Sources say Peter Malinauskas' promise is unworkable and an impossible demand to meet without incurring a huge cost—of up to $70 million—to taxpayers.

The most telling of all of these quotes is:

The reality is the public transport system works well and trains, trams and buses run on time. If it's not broken, don't fix it.

You've got to ask yourself, 'Who would say that?' It was my young apprentice, the now Leader of the Opposition. In the formative periods of his apprenticeship, he put out a press release saying that the undoing of privatisation was impossible, it would be costly, and 'Why do it?' It goes back again to our point.

His shadow minister was asked by The Advertiser if he would rule out privatising these services and again refused to do so. He then gets told by his leader, 'Rule out—we're doing it again.' He then comes out and says, 'No, no, no, we will never privatise these assets.' That then comes to the point: will the Leader of the Opposition now admit it was a mistake? Does he now admit he made an error? Does he now admit he was wrong to vote, support and argue even after they had lost an election that undoing the privatisation was not worth it?

But do you know when it's really bothering them? I will tell you when you know it's really bothering them. After the Premier made remarks in the parliament yesterday, appropriately he shared them with the people of South Australia. Do you know who complained about those remarks?

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: Who would complain?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The Leader of the Opposition's office—upset that we might be promoting the fact that the government has kept its promise to undo the Leader of the Opposition's privatisation because now we know he didn't want to do it, he thought it was working quite well, he liked it being owned privately, he thought if it's not broken don't fix it, but now he wants you to believe (1) it wasn't a mistake, and (2) he won't do it again if they win. Come on!

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, it is true. It is sometimes a much-used term, but I think the guilty party really does apply to the Leader of the Opposition and his very large team.

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