Road Funding

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (15:25): Last week, I had the pleasure of twice travelling the Tod Highway in the seat of Flinders on Eyre Peninsula, that distance of road between Karkoo and Kyancutta that I have spoken about often in this place. On both occasions, I was visiting the town of Wudinna; the first was to join our shadow minister for local government, Steven Griffiths (member for Goyder), to take part in a meeting he was having with representatives from the Eyre Peninsula Local Government Association and councils from right across Eyre Peninsula.

The second visit I had to Wudinna was on Sunday last, and it was an absolute delight to be able to join 100 year-old Maurie Bartley at his birthday in the Wudinna sports club. He was joined by family, friends and residents from all over Eyre Peninsula, giving him their best wishes. I was pleased to see on driving that road that preparatory work for the much anticipated shoulder sealing had begun, on a stretch just south of Lock.

I was aware that this work was to begin, that funds had been committed and was pleased to see that work had started. What concerned me a little was that when I was in Wudinna on Thursday the Mayor of Wudinna raised concerns with me about ongoing funding for the shoulder sealing. I indicated that I had seen that it had already begun and she said that was funding that had already been committed and they were a bit cautious about the ongoing funding to see the job completed.

Earlier this week, having visited Wudinna, I read a press release from our federal member, the member for Grey, Rowan Ramsey. It states:

The Member for Grey Rowan Ramsey is disgusted that the $800K from the Federal Government for upgrading the Tod Highway has been refused by the State Government. 'It's unbelievable really,' Mr Ramsay said. 'The Tod Highway as part of the state network is 100% State Government responsibility and for the want of a 20% top-up they [the state government] have refused a virtual gift…They could have spent a million dollars on the road for a net cost of $200,000.'

He goes on quite rightly to say, and I have mentioned this many times:

The Tod Highway is a major transport route and is vitally important to the most important industry in the region, agriculture.

Mr Ramsey had announced federal funding in July last year and since that time has tried to work constructively with the state government because he believed eventually they would come to the table as the deal was too good to pass up. Now it just seems that the state government does not seem to care about rural South Australia.

For Mr Ramsey, it is an enormous challenge to quarantine the funds for the future, given that the end of the financial year is looming, as is the upcoming federal election. It has not only left the Tod Highway on the table but also a similar road in Goyder, the Kadina-Kulpara road, on Yorke Peninsula. In fact, the member for Goyder asked the question of the Minister for Transport yesterday relating to that road.

The minister's response was that it was one of a list of projects which was put to the government as part of a $25 million roads package some time ago from the previous federal assistant minister. Our Minister for Transport said that what the commitment overlooked is that it was a redirection of $25 million which was to be spent by South Australia as one of four basin states in the Murray-Darling Basin for water initiatives. Redirecting it to this purpose would necessarily trigger a readjustment of our GST revenues.

The minister went on to say why the particular road project that the member for Goyder raised was not funded:

That's because it was part of a larger package of road funding projects which, rather than ending up with an 80:20 federal/state funding contribution, would have in fact ended up as basically a 100 per cent state funding contribution. Notwithstanding that, my commitment, as I have expressed to the federal minister…remains. I will continue working with him; the federal department…as well as even regional mayors, if that helps, to try to deliver these projects in a way which doesn't penalise South Australia…

On the back of those comments, I look forward to working with the minister to deliver these road upgrades across South Australia, particularly the Tod Highway on Eyre Peninsula, for which I have lobbied for many years in this parliament and in many other places. I say enough with the smoke and mirrors. It is time for this government to demonstrate that it really does govern for all South Australians and commit to making our country roads wider and safer.