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The South Australian Labor Party has been accused of rank hypocrisy after it has been revealed it voted in State Parliament to continue to outsource the provision of bus services.

In 2003 the Labor Party voted against a proposal to stop the outsourcing of bus services.

The former Labor government last outsourced the provision of bus services in metropolitan Adelaide in 2011 and did so multiple times over their 16 years in government.

This means the former Labor government outsourced 70 per cent of the current public transport network which is the component of the overall network provided by outsourced bus services.

The former Labor government’s privatisation record speaks for itself, having privatised around $5.5 billion worth of State Government assets, including;

• Over $2.8 billion Motor Accident Commission;
• $1.6 billion Lands Title Office;
• $670 million Forestry SA; and,
• $427 million SA Lotteries.

“The Labor Party’s faux outrage on the outsourcing of public transport services is nothing short of rank hypocrisy,” said Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government Stephan Knoll.

“The former Labor government voted in State Parliament to continue to outsource bus services and went back out to the private sector to run Adelaide Metro buses in 2005 and 2011.

“If Labor didn’t think this model was providing better services for South Australians – then why did they continue to outsource these services over their 16 years in government?

“Labor are just playing politics and sold off around $5.5 billion worth of State Government assets when they were last in power.

“Unlike Labor, we are not selling any assets.

“We will continue to control fares, service frequency and own all the assets, including the trains, trams, tracks and stations.

“We know that almost half of commuters don’t believe they are getting good value for money and we have seen patronage growth across our public transport network stall.

“That’s why the Marshall Government is moving to implement a model that will provide better public transport services for South Australians.

“We agree with South Australians that we need to provide a better service to encourage more people to hop on a train, tram or bus.”