Don't hand public road maintenance to the private sector

South Australians deserve safe public roads. If the maintenance of our roads, traffic signals, level crossings and street lighting is privatised, safety will be at serious risk, and will result in more costs to taxpayers.

Public servants working in the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI) have decades of experience in maintaining our public roads -- there is no logical reason to hand what is a key government responsibility to the private sector, which is renowned for cutting corners to increase profits.

There are hundreds of publicly managed roads around in South Australia. Privatisation will lead to reduced quality roads -- slower turnaround time for repairs to malfunctioning traffic lights and signals, a deterioration of road quality, particularly in regional areas, and a loss of industry expertise.

Private companies are only interested in generating profits for shareholders. This means any workers who are employed by the new private provider will eventually suffer reductions in wages and conditions.

The Public Service Association is opposed to privatisation, which always costs the community more at the expense of quality services.

We ask you to tell Premier Marshall to end his government's ideological obsession with privatisation and to start investing in our public services, not cutting them.