Grievance Debate

ONKAPARINGA CITY COUNCIL

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (15:13): I would like to pick up on a few local government issues, one of which surfaced this afternoon regarding the City of Onkaparinga. The mayor of Onkaparinga, Lorraine Rosenberg, and the CEO, Jeff Tate, have raised some major concerns over the extension of the urban boundary change down in Onkaparinga. They are most concerned about the next 22,500 people who will move onto land already zoned and, if this urban boundary is extended, we will have another 14,000. As was discussed by the Minister for Transport this afternoon, there are some major issues down there. The issue that the council is raising relates to the lack of the extension of the train and public transport down to that rapidly growing area. It is a matter of grave concern to myself and the opposition that the South has been deserted largely by this government and it is being treated with disregard and disdain. Then we saw the mayor being put down in the parliament this afternoon. I think it is most unfair and unfortunate to a volunteer in that situation.

I would like to also add that an extended urban boundary is going to add more than 680 hectares of urban land to the City of Onkaparinga. According to the mayor:

Unplanned and uncoordinated growth will create significant impacts on the delivery of services and facilities to future generations in suburbs already experiencing a population boom, and where deficits in infrastructure and services have been identified.

Just going on, we have the case of another council in the north, the northern councils actually, who are most concerned about the removal of the 200 regional administrative jobs under the Shared Services plan. What I am alluding to is where on earth is this government going with local government in this state? What are they trying to do to rural communities? What are they trying to do to regional communities. We saw the Health Care Bill debated in this place over the last couple of days. Mayor Geoff Brock from Port Pirie has been on the ABC, on 639 up there, vocally calling the government to account on the removal of these jobs and, in fact, they are looking to come and see the government to talk to them about it.

If I go a bit further, and indeed down to my own electorate, I refer to the recent cabinet trip to the island, where they met with the local council and local communities. The communities raised a number of issues with the government and raised concerns. I am pleased to say that there has been some money contributed towards the upgrade and completion of boat ramps on the island. But actually the key points have been missed in a fob off. There are two key issues for Kangaroo Island. The first is the cost of getting back and forward, the freight costs, the passenger costs and the charges back and forth from the island, which conveniently were put to one side by the government, although some members of the government expressed horror at the prices.

The other key issue over there is road funding. There was absolutely nothing outlined or put out by the government on assistance to Kangaroo Island Council for dealing with this road funding and there was absolutely no talk about the major issue of subsidisation or some scheme of providing for the island, providing for those people who live there, and, more to the point, also providing for those people who wish to go there, in streamlining and making the costs much cheaper. That was all put to one side and, unfortunately, it was just the issue of the boat ramp funding—which, as I said, we were appreciative of—that got front page in the local press, and the rest did not even get heard of.

It is just an absolute nonsense, and it is typical of the spin doctor tactics that are used by this government, quite cleverly, to con the community into thinking that they are doing a wonderful job. But the guts of it is that absolutely nothing has happened in that area, and it is a great concern to me. There is a study being done which has been funded by the state government, but I am afraid that myself and others have seen a million studies done and gathering dust on the shelves of various buildings and councils and government departments. Indeed, in my office at home I have I think a two-foot high pile of studies done of Kangaroo Island into freight and roads, and we are still waiting to actually see something happen. It is a very sample task.

Time expired.