GAWLER tradies would be “the first” to be impacted by major changes to the State Government’s move to outsource the management of its public maintenance sector, according to opposition leader Peter Malinauskas.

Currently, the State Government and private company Spotless share management duties of the Department of Planning Transport and Infrastructure’s (DPTI) Across Government Facilities Management Services (AGFMS).

This department is responsible for booking maintenance jobs on public buildings such as schools and hospitals and regularly sub-contracts local small and medium-sized businesses when work needs to be completed in their locality.

Under a new State Government plan, Spotless would take over 100 per cent of the department’s management.

Mr Malinauskas said the plan was “another privatisation” move by the State Government, and tradies in the Gawler region would be the worst affected due to their proximity to Adelaide.

“They (Gawler-based businesses) will be the first to go,” he said. “You can say with a degree of confidence they’ll be the first to go.

“If they (the future private manager) can do it cheaper from Adelaide, then that’s the exactly what they’re going to do.

“What you’re doing is putting the profit motive of a major corporate (company) at the heart of every decision.

“Their job, not unreasonably, is to maximise their profit on behalf of their shareholders.

“What is happening to a local tradesperson in a peri-urban community is a low-order consideration for a major corporate company.”

According to infrastructure minister Corey Wingard, the move to outsource the department’s management was made after a review identified safety issues inside the previous arrangement.

These safety issues included the death of a catering employee at the Echunga Police Training Facility in 2016 after she became trapped in a freezer following a maintenance issue.

Mr Wingard said the State Government wants a system in place where local contractors are engaged for work under the new arrangement.

“The overwhelming majority of work is carried out by local South Australian small and medium-sized businesses and that will continue under this model,” he said.

“The former Labor government is completely two-faced on this issue. If they were so concerned about this model, why did they re-sign the contract to continue outsourcing half the Facilities Management work in South Australia to Spotless in 2015?

“This proposed model simply extends the former Labor government’s policy to the rest of the state.”

Mr Wingard added he had asked DPTI to organise information sessions with tradies and subcontractors to “alleviate their concerns”.

“The Marshall Government is fixing a broken maintenance administration system so that we can work better with our tradies and sub-contractors to make our schools, hospitals and other government buildings safer,” he said.

“The new arrangements will also make it easier for our network of tradies and subcontractors to do business with government.”