Northern Economic Plan

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (15:27): I have spoken in this place many times about the decline of the automotive sector and its devastating effect on the economy in the northern suburbs. The closure of Holden, as we all know, is the most obvious example of the challenges facing the north at the moment, but it is reflective of a broader decline in traditional manufacturing in the north. It is difficult to hear every day about the very real psychological impact on people in the north and the decline in morale. There is an anxiety there which we cannot ignore about the loss of the old way of doing things and about what is going to replace it.

So, my priority, while I am in this place, more than ever, is to get local people into meaningful jobs and training which will set them up for the future. That is why I support the government's Northern Economic Plan, a plan which not only identifies areas of potential growth, but also commits resources to helping small business in particular and looks at all options for future growth and employment. Importantly, it also recognises that an ongoing government commitment to infrastructure in civil construction is a key component of job creation into the future. As I said, getting local people into these jobs is my top priority.

On Tuesday, I was really pleased to stand alongside the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure when he announced that more than $3 million was being spent on upgrading the intersection of Bolivar Road and Kings Road in Paralowie in the Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse's electorate. She would know the intersection well. It is a well-known blackspot. It has been described by some people on my Facebook page as an absolute nightmare. I have family members who live out there, and it is certainly a long overdue upgrade to a very difficult part of our road network.

It is also the first component of the $985 million Northern Connector project which will improve travel times and freight efficiency and support hundreds of local jobs. The work around this intersection has been awarded to BMD Group and involves the installation of a roundabout at the intersection of the two roads, as well as a significant realignment. About 28,000 vehicles, I am advised, use Kings and Bolivar roads every day, and that is expected to increase when the Northern Connector comes online at the end of 2019.

When this work is done, this intersection will not only be safer but will also ultimately feed into the Northern Connector at the proposed Bolivar Road interchange. One of the great things about this upgrade is that it will also play a vital role in developing on-site live training programs for disadvantaged job seekers. We hope, and we fully intend, that such on-site live training facilities will be a permanent fixture along the Northern Connector work site and on major infrastructure work sites into the future.

At this site, a training site has been set up with a meeting room turned into a classroom for students studying construction and infrastructure courses and, over time, will provide a valuable opportunity for, among others, workers looking to transition from the automotive industry, as well as providing jobs for the disadvantaged and the long-term unemployed. These trainees will also receive assistance to win job opportunities in later work packages on the Northern Connector project and on other local infrastructure works.

At any one time, there are about 15 trainees on the site and they are all locals—indeed, several of them on Tuesday told me that they walk to work—and they are all learning skills in a live work site which will translate into getting tickets to work in civil construction for the life of the Northern Connector project, and beyond. My main role in relation to the entire Northern Connector project is to ensure that more than half of the 480 jobs per year that will be supported by the Northern Connector project go to local northern suburbs workers.

But, as part of this process, weight is also being given to Aboriginal employment and, already, dozens of Aboriginal workers are being employed on projects associated with the Northern Connector project through companies such as ART Services. ART Services will conduct traffic management for the Kings Road-Bolivar Road roadworks, and they played a similar role in early works on the project to upgrade the Sturt-Marion roads intersection ahead of the Darlington upgrade project. About 25 Aboriginal employees worked on the Darlington early works package, and this new project in Paralowie will employ a further 10.

My absolute priority is to ensure that there are real jobs and real relevant training opportunities for people in the northern suburbs, and the Northern Connector and the Paralowie roundabout upgrade as part of the northern economic plan is providing just that.