Infrastructure Projects

Ms LUETHEN (King) (14:59): My question is to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government. Can the minister inform the house how the Marshall Liberal government is continuing to deliver jobs, creating projects throughout South Australia's record $12.9 billion pipeline of infrastructure works?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Point of order: it's debate.

The SPEAKER: Given the nature of the way that questions have gone today, I take the member for Lee's meritorious point. I am going to allow the question, however.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I am going to allow it, and if you've got a problem with it, move a motion. Minister and then the opposition.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: Is that right?

The SPEAKER: Yes. Minister.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (15:00): I want to thank the member for King for her question and note that yesterday was a fantastic day for the people of the north-east and the people of the member for King's community.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Golden Grove Road is now underway. More than that, what we had on display yesterday was the best example of community engagement that I have seen, and the fact that there were some dozen to 15 representatives of the local community who we invited to be involved. Whilst we in this place sometimes pretend that the money we spend is our own, it's not: it's community money and it's taxpayers' money. And this is not our project; this is their project. The people that were there yesterday—

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: I must admit, there was a little bit of Twitter slacktivism going on yesterday, having a hack about why there were so many people at the sod-turning ceremony. Well, they were the people who have been wanting this project for decades. We had there, apart from Deputy Mayor Damian Wyld, a staunch supporter of this project, apart from Councillor Bernie Keane, a poor guy who has been advocating for this project for a few decades, who was so excited—

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —to finally see real work on the ground happen, we also had members of the community who have been engaged in the consultation on this project. For instance, pastor John Napier, let's be honest, was pretty excited yesterday and may have interrupted the press conference to give us a bit of a gee-up. I saw him out of the corner of my eye jumping up and down and fist pumping the air whilst the Premier was speaking—a little bit disconcerting, but he was very excited. What we did is we made sure that we maintained access to his parish and his church so that his community can be fully embraced as part of this project.

We also had Meh Patel, a guy who runs a local pizza shop, who was concerned early on about the loss of on-street parking and the fact that that would have had an implication for his liquor licence. What we were able to do, as part of this project, is make sure we maintained that on-street parking, maintained the access to his premises and make sure that his local business can thrive throughout the course of this project as well as after this project. We also had representatives of the Musolino family, people who own land along that corridor, and a whole host of other people who were just keen to get involved.

I can confirm that not a cent of taxpayers' money was spent on the extra shovels that were used on the day. That's something that the taxpayers haven't picked up the tab on. It's just a great example of what happens when you actually sit down, listen to a community and work with a community to deliver a fantastic infrastructure project. But, more than that, the shovels have had a—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morphett is warned.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —good workout this week, Mr Speaker, because we were out with you on Tuesday to do the sod turn on the Paradise park-and-ride, again a project that may have appeared in some budgets from time to time but nothing actually kind of got off the ground because Labor thought it was okay to punish the people of Hartley because they didn't vote the right way in the 2014 election.

Well, this government put the Paradise park-and-ride at the top of our agenda because we know that, for all those poor souls who have to walk all the way up Darley Road to find a park after 8 o'clock in the morning, they needed an upgraded Paradise park-and-ride, and this government is delivering, with works beginning right at this very moment.

Just earlier today, we got done what the former government tried to put in their budget but they just forgot to talk to the feds about funding their half of the project. We have finally secured the money, together with the federal government, to deliver the next stage of the north-south corridor, the all-important Regency Road to Pym Street section of the north-south corridor, which is going to save money for 50,000 motorists a day.

It is a fantastic week to show that the Marshall Liberal government is getting on with our $12.9 billion pipeline, some record of $600 million over what else has been done previously, to show South Australians that we are willing to invest their money to help grow our state, grow our community and grow jobs for South Australians.

Time expired.