Springbank Road Intersection

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (14:33): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Could the leader and the Premier please cease whatever this is. You can continue after question time. The member for West Torrens has the call.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. Given his previous answer, why did the government tell South Australians that it had done its homework, and that a double T-junction would deliver the best outcome for motorists and the local community, then several weeks later adopt Labor's plan for a four-way intersection?

The SPEAKER: Minister. There is a fair bit in that, minister.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Badcoe is warned. The member for West Torrens is warned for a second and final time.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:33): If we had adopted Labor's plan, then I would have announced a $105 million intersection that is being completed in 2024. That's not what I did. I announced a $60 million intersection that is being completed in 2022. As to what changed, when we look at this traffic intersection dealing with roughly 55,000 motorists a day, we evaluate and model the performance of that intersection based on the number of people who use it but also the projections of the number of people who are going to use it between here and a point in 2036.

The feedback that we got was that there was a whole heap of people who were avoiding this intersection whose data wasn't included because they don't drive through the intersection because they actually avoid it. Whether they are going down side streets to get around the Repat, or whether they are going down side streets to get around the back of Bedford, they were avoiding this intersection because of the existing traffic delay. We worked with the Mitcham council to get that data together, feed that into the model and see what that said, and we used that updated modelling to then put on the table the solution we put out.

Ms Stinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Badcoe is still interjecting. She is warned for a second and final time.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: It's fine. I think the public couldn’t care less about any sort of gotcha moment or government changing its mind. In the end, what people want is a government that is going to do what is in their best interests—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —not what is just politically advantageous. What is very interesting in this case is that, instead of putting out a design that maximised land acquisition but in the end was going to cost more and take longer to deliver and, whilst they were in government, not actually having a budget line in the budget that identified any funding source, what we have actually managed to do is deliver the money in the federal budget as well as in the upcoming state budget.

This project will be funded for the first time. This is a project and a problem that has been around for 30 years plus and all we saw was lip service being paid in the dying days of the Weatherill administration. We haven't promised anything, other than what we actually have money allocated for and identified in the federal budget. I think that is a massive win, and it is a testament to the fact that we have been able to have a constructive relationship with the federal government that is actually going to see money delivered for this intersection where there was none before.

I think that is a great outcome, and the people who are going to drive through that intersection every single day after it is upgraded are going to say thank you to the ones who turned around and got it done, as opposed to the ones who just talked about it endlessly.