Golden Grove Road

Ms LUETHEN (King) (14:26): Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

Ms LUETHEN: My question—

The SPEAKER: Yes, one moment, member for King. The Minister for Education gesticulates, but I did hear the leader, and he is warned. The member for King.

Ms LUETHEN: My question is to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government. Can the minister update the house on the Golden Grove Road upgrade?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:26): I thank the member for King for her question. Can I say that often in this place and in this job it is hard to get something done. Often in this place, you have to fight and fight and fight to get something done. But what we've seen, last night, is the final piece in the puzzle—

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Playford is on two warnings.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —for a project that has been dear to the member for King's heart for years.

Mr Boyer interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Wright is warned.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: From the waving of the first signs on Golden Grove Road to the securing of funding through the former government jumping on board with the MYBR update, obviously the Liberal government's commitment to this project, the tenaciousness and tenacity of the member for King knows no bounds. As of today, we can announce publicly that CATCON, a good local South Australian firm, is getting on to deliver Golden Grove Road for the communities in and around Golden Grove.

I lived for quite a long time not far from Golden Grove Road. In fact, I can remember when Allington's was still there. I can remember when there was actually still an attendant-operated service station on site. Can I say, what wasn't there in those times—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: I was tall enough to see out the window of a car. What wasn't there at that time was an entire suburb. What we have seen is that Golden Grove and Greenwith and those suburbs around there have grown. What we haven't seen is an upgrade to Golden Grove Road, which to my mind is a massive oversight in the growth of what otherwise is a beautiful master plan community and something that needed to be rectified.

Not only was the member for King able to secure funding and make sure that this project went ahead but we then embarked upon a consultation process in conjunction with the community to make sure we got this project right. Whether it was simple things like making sure that we had a driveway crossover for the local church, whether it was making sure that the local pizza shop retained parking in front of their premises, whether it was making sure the ingress/egress to the local servo and the other shops there is actually maintained, we have made sure that this project delivers properly for the people who drive through Golden Grove Road and also those businesses and residences on Golden Grove Road.

There were some other hurdles, and those hurdles were that, like every other project of its type, like happened on dozens and dozens of occasions with the former government, we needed to partner with local government. We needed them to come onboard and pay essentially for their assets: their stormwater, their footpaths, their kerbs and gutters. The Tea Tree Gully council—after their mayor in 2017 publicly admitted that they were going to be on the hook for some cash—tried to suggest that somehow this had been sprung on them. I thought, 'I just want to try to get something done,' so, with the member for King, we went down to the previous—

Mr Boyer interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Wright is warned.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —council meeting at Tea Tree Gully and we essentially begged for them to come onboard. We said, 'Look, this is a fantastic project, this is fair and reasonable, you have actually known about this for a while. Give us a hand and we can actually deliver this project for the community together.' But that's not what happened, and can I say that the speeches I heard that night I have never heard or seen anything like in my life.

The level of partisan disgrace that was spewed out of the mouths of councillors Jones, Rankine, Savvas and Field was disgraceful—absolutely disgraceful—but last night we saw common sense prevail. Even though there was more bile that was spewed from the mouths of Labor Party councillors on the Tea Tree Gully council last night, they did the right thing, they came to their senses and they have helped to fund this project.

For this long journey that the member for King has been on for a long period of time, the final hurdle has now been cleared and, for the residents of Golden Grove, they will get their road upgrade.