Penola Bypass

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:32): My question is to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government. Can the minister update the house on the benefits to the township of Penola from the completion of the bypass?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:32): I am very glad to stand up and answer this question from the fantastic—

Mr Odenwalder interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Elizabeth is called to order.

The Hon. A. Piccolo: We've heard this before, Mr Speaker.

The SPEAKER: I remind the member for Light that he is on two warnings.

The Hon. A. Piccolo: Two warnings? Since when?

The SPEAKER: Yes, two warnings.

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education is also called to order.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: I would like to thank the member for MacKillop for his hospitality. On 5 October, I had the opportunity to go down and see his neck of the woods and look at some of the infrastructure challenges that exist down there—and there certainly are a number of challenges in relation to heavy vehicle productivity improvements and in relation to road quality concerns, especially some road safety concerns relating to future works required for shoulder sealing and some other basic infrastructure requirements.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: A fantastic thing we put forward in our first budget, and a commitment we took to the election, was to complete the Penola bypass.

The Hon. A. Piccolo: We've heard this before. He's wasting your time and our time.

The SPEAKER: The member for Light will leave for 20 minutes under 137A.

The honourable member for Light having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: I am trying to listen to the minister's answer; I can't do it when I hear objections.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: As I was saying, the current situation in Penola is that they have half a bypass. To explain to the house how useless half a bypass is, it is the fact that you drive—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left! Minister, please do not provoke the opposition.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —around the first half of the bypass and then cruise back into the centre of town, an entirely unsatisfactory position. What the Liberal government took to the election was to finally fix up this mess and complete the Penola bypass. It's something we delivered on in our first budget and something I was really excited to go and see firsthand with the member for MacKillop.

In doing so, can I say that we all understand the reasons why we needed a completed bypass, and that is there is a lot of heavy-vehicle traffic that currently goes down the main street of Penola. We need that traffic to get out of the main street of Penola, and completing this bypass is going to do that. It is a project that we are actually working cooperatively with the federal government to deliver, something that those opposite couldn't achieve because they have found a lot more benefit in throwing stones and throwing mud rather than actually just getting on and being a responsible adult government. But more than that, what this is going to do is to improve—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —the amenity of the people who want to visit from a tourist aspect the town of Penola. This is the birthplace of Mary MacKillop. This is a place that is very special and dear to those who see that St Mary MacKillop is a fantastic part of the Roman Catholic Church and who want to go and visit some of the great work and see some of the great sites that exist down in Penola. If you're visiting Penola, odds on you haven't stumbled across it by accident. It is a destination to go and visit from a heritage sense and from a historical sense.

What I really want to impress here is the fact that getting heavy-vehicle traffic out of the main street of Penola is going to make things better and easier for tourists and hospitality operators in the main street. We know that when you get the trucks out of a main street, you actually create a more inviting outdoor cafe scene for those people who want to come and visit.

What I'm really looking forward to as part of this project is to make sure that the heavy-vehicle and bypass traffic go around the outside, and those who want to enjoy what is a beautiful little town of roughly 1,300 people in a beautiful part of the Coonawarra—not the best wine region in South Australia but it's pretty close—and visit that beautiful part of our state can enjoy it without hearing the roar of heavy vehicles going down the main street as they enjoy their afternoon coffee.