SOUTHERN EXPRESSWAY

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (15:39): Thank you, sir, yes. I am very happy to return to congratulate the team responsible for the open day held by the Southern Expressway duplication project on Sunday. It was attended by about 400 people, with 17 local businesses participating, as well as the remarkable and almost ever present Kiwanis, with their barbecue. There was construction equipment and a fire truck on display. The highlight, as far as I was concerned, was the bus tours which took residents for two possible inspections of some of the activities along the expressway. There was a shorter tour down to the escarpment at Darlington and quite a lengthy tour, of nearly two hours, that took residents to have a look at three of the important sites.

These included the Smith Creek bridge, which is the tallest bridge over a creek in Australia at 30 metres, and the Pedler Creek bridge, being the next tallest at 27 metres, and yet going over that bridge you would have no idea of all the marvellous engineering work that has occurred below it. We also went to look at the Sherriffs Road intersection and the Flaxmill Road intersection.

During the tour we learned a whole stack of very interesting facts and figures, such as the fact that approximately 3,430 people have been inducted onto the said site, over 1,600 employees have been employed on the said project, and approximately 35 to 400 people are working on the site every day, with other people working in various manufacturing and construction firms around the state. These are the people who fabricate the fences, the steelworks, not to mention the asphalt and various other components used in the construction of the expressway.

The government set out right from the beginning to make sure that the project left a legacy not only of infrastructure for the community but also in the skills that were developed in the community, particularly for southerners. We wanted to see that all this government money—which means people's money—was being spent in a way that would give a start to people who were finding it very difficult to get into the workplace. So, it is very important to recognise that over 90 per cent of the workforce are South Australian residents and approximately 60 per cent of the workforce are southern Adelaide residents.

The opportunities that have been built are wonderful: 3.7 per cent of the workforce are Aboriginal people, and this exceeds the target of 2 per cent; about 20.9 per cent of the workforce are local people who have experienced barriers to employment, and the original target for that was 2 per cent. So, to increase it tenfold shows the commitment of all the people who have been involved in the project—both the people from DPTI and the people from the contractors.

About 7.3 per cent of the workforce are apprentices, trainees or cadets, and 2.4 per cent of the workforce are people who are undertaking training to upskill through employment on the project. Over 315 subcontracts have been let, with approximately 80 per cent of these awarded to South Australian businesses, and approximately 23 per cent of contracts awarded have gone to southern Adelaide businesses.

This has been an excellent project. I must say, when I heard about it to start with, as much as I wanted to see the duplication of the 18.5 kilometre roadway, I thought, 'Here comes a lot of work for us,' because our experience with the construction of stage 2, which was put out by the former Liberal government directly to the private sector, was not a happy experience. There was very little public consultation.

I had people ringing me who were experiencing sleepless nights and people who were selling their houses because of the lack of concern and consideration for them. This project has impacted on some people, and I send my recognition, particularly of the inconvenience caused to the residents of Scottsglade Road, who have sound walls right up on their back fences, and there are some others who also have this experience.

Time expired.