House of Assembly Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1) 54 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Grievance Debate Hillbank Community Hillbank Community Ms LUETHEN House of Assembly King Ms LUETHEN (King) (15:13): I rise today to share some— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: I am listening to the member for King. Ms LUETHEN House of Assembly Ms LUETHEN: —incredibly exciting news from the Hillbank community, which I care deeply about—the Leader of the Opposition might not, but I do—in the King electorate. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left! If you are not speaking, please leave. Ms LUETHEN House of Assembly Ms LUETHEN: Prior to the 2018 state election, while doorknocking in my community I was told of the importance of improving road safety along Black Top Road, particularly on the western end, after the intersection of Main North Road. Hillbank residents living on Skyline Drive and the surrounding backstreets pleaded with me for the delivery of a dedicated slip lane so that they would be able to safely turn left from Black Top Road into the road leading to their homes. I took to the election this position to fight for the delivery of a safer turn-off and promised my community that this much-needed infrastructure development would indeed be provided and that I would fight for this as hard as I could. Construction on this project began last month and followers of my Facebook feed may have seen that I visited this site last weekend, once again to check on the progress being made. To my excitement, the slip lane was already being driven on and nearing completion. As I took an up-close look, I received several friendly waves and thumbs up as residents drove around this very corner. I really thank the Hillbank community for taking their time to share with me their feedback on this important safety concern and I am so pleased to be able to deliver this safety improvement for them. For those not familiar with this turn-off, it has been hazardous because large trucks and cars start to accelerate at this spot before they battle up the hill near Skyline Drive. Often, this provides insufficient time for local residents to safely turn off Black Top Road and into their local area. These safety issues have now been mitigated thanks to the swift action of our Marshall Liberal government. One of my local residents, Denis Facey, who lives in the immediate vicinity of the area, called my office recently to pass on his elation that the slip lane had been completed in such a short amount of time. Recently, when I visited the site with the Minister for Transport, one local resident pulled her car up on the verge of the road to personally pass on her thanks to both of us for working on delivering this incredibly important upgrade. She had just had a recent car accident on this very spot. It is projects like this that can make the difference day to day in the experience of King residents and businesses. I encourage my constituents in King to continue to raise their ideas and their issues— Mr ODENWALDER House of Assembly Mr ODENWALDER: Point of order, sir: I draw your attention to the state of the house. A quorum having been formed: Ms LUETHEN House of Assembly Ms LUETHEN: Again, on one of the Minister for Transport's regular visits to King, we had a look at this problem that existed for Hillbank residents and we have fixed it. This is an example of good, strong democracy and a swift government listening and delivering on residents' concerns. I thank the hundreds of residents along Skyline Drive, Brooker Drive, Rhodes Court, Hilltop Boulevard and Sunset Court for raising this issue with me. The minister has previously described the upgrade at Skyline Drive as an easier solution to a road infrastructure issue. This was because no land acquisition was required and there was ample room to provide this additional turn-off lane. I have been advised that the project has been relatively simple to complete. This highlights just how important it is for the community to share their feedback with local representatives like me right across the state. Each time I visit a shopping centre for my listening posts, each time I am out doorknocking and each time I hold my weekly coffee catch-ups on Mondays, I always ask my community what is most important to them and what would improve their quality of living. Please continue to provide your feedback to me and pass on what is most important to you because I am certainly listening. I look forward to utilising the new slip lane at Skyline Drive as I return to my doorknocking in this local area of King in the very near future.