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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-02-03 Daily Xml
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Public Transport Privatisation

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (15:47): Ask anyone in politics if they can be trusted to keep their word and they will tell you that their word is their bond. However, if you step outside of this place and ask anyone out on the street what they think of politics or politicians, I imagine we would all be sadly disappointed with their response. I found that very much to be the case when I recently went out and spoke to commuters on public transport in our state. Be it on buses, be it on trains or be it on trams, for a service that is so regularly used by so many in this state, it is very hard to find many people who catch that service trusting those who are governing the use of it.

People are nervous about what is happening to their routes, people are nervous about what is happening with the cost of their service, and people are nervous about whether the bus or the tram stop that they use will even be there in a year's time. People are confused about why the free bus to the Christmas Pageant and the football were cancelled recently and why security guards were removed from their service, but equally why the cost of their ticket and the cost of their Metrocard have both increased.

People are concerned about the simple act of taking public transport to work and why it is not so simple anymore under the Marshall Liberal government. Of course, the irony is that this government claimed the reason it needed to privatise and cut services on the buses, the trains and the trams was to improve patronage. At least, that is the reason for privatisation that the Liberal Party is currently providing.

Before the last state election, Steven Marshall said that he had no privatisation agenda. That is right; we all heard him say it. The problem is that he then went and privatised the state-owned power assets, the generators at Elizabeth and Lonsdale; he privatised the Remand Centre; he threatened to sell SA Pathology; and he privatised portions of DPTI's facility services. For a party that wants the South Australian people so badly to trust them to deliver on health and the economy during a pandemic recovery, my question begs: why should they?

Not one person I have spoken to while on public transport has said to me that their services would be improved by privatisation—not one. Not one person who used the services of SA Pathology during the pandemic, or who worked with the Remand Centre said their service would be improved by privatisation—not one. Not one person thought that privatisation would create jobs, but they all said that they were aware of Steven Marshall's broken promises on privatisation.

All of them have said that the pandemic has made them more likely to buy local. All of them said they want more of our assets and services to be kept in public hands. People do not want privatisation of their services. People want to see jobs kept here—good jobs kept here—a message that seems lost on the Marshall government. All other privatisation attempts of the Liberal Party aside, the privatisation of our trains and trams has been nothing short of a complete shemozzle.

Steven Marshall's almost half a million dollar a day sell-off of our train and tram network is filled with scandals and stuff-ups: private operators who do not have enough train drivers to operate them; reports that train drivers are being bullied into working for them; other bidders have complained that the contract raised services around the legality and integrity of that process; a special loser fee of $1 million to make sure that you bid to buy the train network; and, of course, it has been revealed that it costs more for Keolis Downer, the new owner of our train and tram network, to run the network than it did when it was in government hands.

The Liberal minister and Steven Marshall say the privatisation of our trains and trams is about delivering a better service. My response to that is: why could you not have made it better yourself without privatising that service? It is your job as minister and Premier to improve our trains and trams, not sell them.

They told everyone that the privatisation of our trains and trams would be a win-win for everybody. The only winner I see in this train wreck of a privatisation is the new owner, Keolis Downer, which is pocketing half a million dollars a day to run our trains and trams. Trust in politics requires commitment. It requires you to keep your promises. Steven Marshall promised he did not have a privatisation agenda going into the last election. The fact is that he has broken that promise.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: Point of order: the honourable member has been here long enough to know that you do not address a member in the other place by his name. He is either the member for Norwood or he is the Hon. Steven Marshall or he is the Premier.

The Hon. J.E. HANSON: I am happy to apologise to the Hon. Mr Stephens.

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