Minister Wingard must come clean about Gawler Line reopening

Infrastructure and Transport Minister Corey Wingard needs to come clean with Gawler Line commuters and tell them if there are further delays on the Gawler Electrification Project and when services will resume.
 
The Opposition has been told that services aren’t likely to resume until April next year, something the Minister refused to rule out when asked in Parliament yesterday:

SA LABOR LEADER PETER MALINAUSKAS: Will (the Gawler Line) be (operational) before or after the March state election?
 
TRANSPORT MINISTER COREY WINGARD: I can't give any more detail to the member other than what we have said publicly, and that is that it will be ready early next year. I have outlined the factors we have been dealing with. We have been dealing with COVID.

Originally the line was scheduled for completion in late 2020, which was later changed to January 2021. In April, Minister Wingard said the Gawler line would be closed until November 2021.

During Budget Estimates this year, the Minister revealed it would not reopen until “early next year”. And yesterday, when asked if the Line would reopen before the March State Election, the Minister could not provide an answer.

This means the entire Gawler Line will be closed for at least 18 months. Meanwhile, the cost of the project has also blown out by $100 million.

In April 2021, Labor called for free substitute bus services to provide some relief to the passengers on this line. However, Minister Wingard ruled it out.

The Government is providing substitute buses, but commuters are paying full price fares, despite the inconvenience and longer journey times.

Quotes attributable to Shadow Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Tom Koutsantonis

The Marshall Liberal Government is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of commuters.

It is farcical that the Gawler line will be closed for this long, and that the Minister is refusing to provide an honest timeline to South Australians.

The Government’s management of this project has been appalling.

Quotes attributable to Member for Light Tony Piccolo

Local residents are sick of these delays and just want a straight answer to a simple question – when is the Gawler Line going to reopen?

Most understand there would be reasonable delays during the electrification, but this is getting ridiculous.