6 May, 2026
The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (16:27): I move:
That this bill be now read a second time.
The Passenger Transport (Free Public Transport) Bill 2026 will make public transport free across trains, trams and buses for the next six months. This will provide much needed cost-of-living relief to South Australians who are struggling. While other states such as Tasmania and Victoria have made public transport free during this fuel crisis, Premier Peter Malinauskas and Labor have been missing in action. With inflation and the cost of living skyrocketing out of control, South Australians need urgent relief.
Let's look at what has happened in other states when action has been taken on public transport fares. In Queensland in August 2024, the previous Labor government announced a six-month trial of 50¢ fares on the public transport network of buses, trains, ferries and trams, and the results were very positive. In that state, from 2022 to 2023 there was an 18.3 per cent jump in the number of people taking public transport. Train travel went up 18.6 per cent and bus travel by 15.8 per cent. Some of the steepest increases have been outside metropolitan Brisbane. Indeed, in south-east Queensland, the number of people catching public transport increased by 49 per cent in Gympie, 37 per cent on the Sunshine Coast, 35 per cent at Noosa and 21 per cent on the Gold Coast.
Patronage was also up 20 per cent on average across all regional bus networks with the biggest increases being in Townsville, 49 per cent, and Mackay, 40 per cent. So it was a success and, as a result, it was a policy that was supported by both the Labor government at the time and backed by the opposition, and it has remained under the LNP government as well. It was something that had multiparty support in Queensland.
Here in South Australia, while public transport fares have been reduced in other states, our citizens pay some of the highest public transport fares in the country. It is just not good enough. This bill will provide an opportunity for South Australians to get free public transport for the next six months. I have spoken a little bit over the past few days in this place about some of the cost-of-living pressures that people are facing in the community.
Free public transport for six months would save South Australian families a lot of money. According to Adelaide Metro data, a family with two adults and two teenagers would be spending about $258 a week on public transport. That is a student 28-day pass and a regular 28-day pass. That works out to be about $6,000 that could be saved by an average South Australian family over the next six months. That is more money that could be spent on groceries, on electricity bills, on rent or on increasing mortgage payments.
According to the Transport Affordability Index, the average South Australian family would save $454 a week on travel with free public transport if people left their car at home, given the cost of car registration, licensing and fuel. These are significant savings that potentially could be passed on to South Australians.
By getting more people on public and active transport, we also unlock fuel to maintain services in regional areas. I do recognise, and this is an issue that is often raised with me when the Greens talk about free public transport, that obviously public transport is not always available for people in regional areas. Indeed, a lot of regional centres are poorly serviced by public transport. One of the benefits of making public transport free across the state, though, is that those in regional areas would then get priority access to fuel because it would reduce some of that pressure.
The hope and expectation is that if free public transport is made available then those in metro and inner city areas are much more likely to use it and that reduces pressure for those in regional areas who do not have the benefit of being able to access public transport. Of course, from a Greens' perspective, we will continue to advocate for public transport to be appropriately available in regional areas. Members know that I am particularly passionate about regional rail, and that is an issue that I intend to prosecute during this term.
This is a test of leadership for the new Labor government. I know that our Treasurer, Tom Koutsantonis, will say, 'Well, this is something we can't afford.' Here is an idea: why not scrap the $45 million that the government is going to pump into LIV Golf for this Labor lemon, for this white elephant in North Adelaide, for a golf tournament that is not going to go ahead? Why not put the $45 million instead towards free public transport for South Australians who are struggling at the moment, and roll out some bikeways while you are at it? The government can afford it. It is a question of priorities.
I intend to bring this bill to a vote in coming weeks so that this chamber will have the opportunity to take a position on this important issue and so that it may well inform the budget considerations of the Malinauskas government. This is a chance again for us to send a very clear message to the new Labor government early on in this term about what we see as the key priorities here in the upper house, recognising that this is a chamber, of course, where the government does not have the numbers.
I hope that all parties will consider supporting free public transport so that we can support South Australians who are struggling. With that, I commend the bill.
Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.