An elected Federal Labor Government will work with the South Australian Labor Government to ensure key public transport projects including the Gawler line electrification and the AdeLINK tram network become a reality.
Both projects appear on Infrastructure Australia’s Infrastructure Priority List, published in February 2016.
Upon being elected the Coalition cancelled every dollar of public transport funding for South Australia including $76 million federal funding from the Gawler line electrification project and $31.5 million for the Tonsley Park Public Transport Project.
In last year’s Federal Budget the Coalition Government cut $318 million from job-creating South Australian infrastructure projects, despite the state having the nation’s highest unemployment rate.
This included reductions in the South Road upgrade, Goodwood and Torrens Rail Junction Upgrade, Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program and the Bridges Renewal Program.
The former Labor Government almost tripled annual infrastructure spending from $109 to $272 per South Australian, including the construction of South Australia’s first electrified rail line to Seaford, which created 2000 jobs and is now used each weekday by over 15,000 people.
Only a federal Labor Government will invest in the job-creating, productivity boosting infrastructure, including public transport, which South Australia needs.