Address in Reply

Address in Reply

Adjourned debate on motion for adoption.

(Continued from 6 February 2020.)

The Hon. R. SANDERSON (Adelaide—Minister for Child Protection) (11:02): I rise to continue my remarks. The Liberal government has achieved so much already in our first two years in government, and there is a lot more on the horizon. I continue to work to represent those who live and work in the electorate of Adelaide, which incorporates the beautiful City of Adelaide, the heart of our state. In partnership with the federal government and local council, this government has released the Adelaide City Deal. This includes $551 million centred around Lot Fourteen's innovation and cultural precinct.

Already, Lot Fourteen is adding economic opportunities and vibrancy to Adelaide. It is creating a job-generating, nation-leading innovation hub. I was there with minister David Pisoni on Friday and visited the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) team, which is part of the Stone and Chalk innovation hub. The work that is being done is amazing; most of the heritage buildings are being restored, and there is a really good vibe on Lot Fourteen.

The location will ultimately be home to the space industry; an international centre for food, hospitality and tourism studies; and an Aboriginal arts and culture centre. It is expected to attract lots of local and international visitors. Just yesterday, the Premier opened the Australian Institute for Machine Learning at Lot Fourteen.

Located in the same precinct is Adelaide Botanic High School, which opened its doors to students one year ago. In my maiden speech, delivered in this place in 2010, I referred to the Liberal Party policy, which was led by me with the help of minister Pisoni (then shadow minister for education), to build a second high school for the electorate of Adelaide.

It was discovered from doorknocking back in 2008 that there was a serious need for the residents of Walkerville and Prospect in particular for a local city school. I am so pleased to be part of the governing council at both Adelaide Botanic High and Adelaide High School and see both schools flourish and really provide an opportunity for children from Prospect, Walkerville, the city, North Adelaide, Ovingham, Gilberton and surrounding areas to attend such an amazing school. Albeit a vision of another government, ABHS was opened under this government and it is a shining success.

Adelaide High School, also in my electorate, will benefit from an $18 million announcement, which is to engage capital works in anticipation of the expansion of student numbers with the introduction of year 7 into high school, bringing South Australia in line with the rest of Australia. This is another election commitment that we are delivering on and that I think is well needed, as for a child moving from Victoria to South Australia in year 9 there were inconsistencies with some subjects running on and some repeated because of the year levels, so it is good to finally be in line with the rest of the country and working towards that.

A further $500,000 was committed to a joint project with Adelaide city council in the precinct of Adelaide High School for the improvement of the West Terrace, Currie and Glover streets intersection. I was there this morning to check it out and see how it is working. It is almost finished. There will be a new pedestrian crossing, so children can cross in all directions now, and removal of the left-hand turn lanes, the slip lanes, which also increased the danger for people crossing the intersection. It will also now be Disability Discrimination Act compliant and is a great improvement that we have achieved very soon into our term of government.

This morning, I was also at the City South tram stop, which, as the member for Adelaide since 2010, was an issue that entire time that was ignored by the previous government. It was very narrow. It was very unsafe. It is now wide. It is compliant. It has shelter. It is disability access compliant and universally accessible, so I am very proud to be part of a government that is delivering on its commitments. I would also note that residents who generally are disrupted by roadworks such as these were so pleased with how swiftly this government worked on that project, particularly the City South tram stop. It worked to a tee. It was delivered on time, with as little disruption as possible to residents and businesses in the area.

We also saw the $10 million investment in building a roof on the Memorial Drive Tennis Centre. This has generated interest from around the world. In January, we hosted world number one, Ash Barty, as part of the ATP and WTA tournaments. I am sure you would have heard that the Davis Cup tie against Brazil will take place in Adelaide next month. Squarely in my electorate, the upgrade to this facility will I hope inspire children and young people to follow in the footsteps of our local heroes, such as Lleyton Hewitt, who won our local event as a 17 year old and, as we all know, went on to be one of our most successful national tennis players.

Since 2015, skaters have been without a permanent location in the CBD to skate. Last year, minister Knoll announced a $3 million commitment to a new skate park in the city to be built at the same intersection I visited this morning: the corner of West Terrace, adjacent to Adelaide High School. This will be a new city skate plaza, which is a new design, and I am really looking forward to work commencing soon. I believe that it is still in the development and design stage. Just this morning, I saw children with their skateboards, clearly coming into the city ready to skate, and soon they will have a permanent amazing place where they can skate. As I mentioned, we have also upgraded the City South tram stop. That was part of a $17.5 million maintenance and upgrade project.

Coinciding with Chinese New Year last month, plans for a $4 million revamp of Moonta Street in Chinatown were announced. This is a joint fifty-fifty investment with the government and the Adelaide city council. The works will include both revitalising and rejuvenating the iconic destination, as well as stimulating retail and shopfront investments. Wall art from artist Vans the Omega is already up. I saw about three or four that I have taken some photos of that are beautiful street art.

The revamp will improve safety through upgraded lighting, improve the streetscape, increase the number of trees, increase outdoor dining space and provide new paving. I was there a few weeks ago with the Lord Mayor and the Premier for the opening of the lighting section, but there is still more work to go ahead. Nearby, at the old bus station on Bowen Street west, the Cool Road Adelaide project is underway. I would encourage people to go to have a look and make their comments online at the YourSAy website.

I joined the Minister for Environment and Water, the Hon. David Speirs, and saw firsthand the test sites for heat reflective treatments and learned how they work to reduce heat absorption and cool the area. There was an up to 6˚ difference between the heat measured from the normal asphalt on our city roads and the roads that had the heat reflective surface on them. We all know about the difficulties or the problems in cities with the heat island effect. It is fantastic to have the Minister for Environment so engaged in climate change initiatives and improvements such as these.

The Women's and Children's Hospital also recently had a $50 million upgrade announcement. This is a sustainment program that includes a new child and adolescent mental health ward, the upgrade of the paediatric emergency department and redevelopment of the neonatal areas and operating theatres. This will ensure that the Women's and Children's Hospital continues to have a world-class facility as we plan to build a new hospital.

The longstanding congestion in my electorate is being addressed with a $19 million upgrade to Scotty's Corner, due to the traffic bottlenecks. Again, this has been an ongoing issue for years and years. Many people seek to avoid that intersection by rat-running through Collinswood and going in through near where Officeworks is. It does cause a lot of issues through the electorate. For those using Scotty's Corner there is a bottleneck because it goes from several lanes into one lane when you leave the intersection. We hope that this will be a project that will stimulate other rejuvenation in the area. I believe it will, so I am looking forward to the ongoing uplift to the economy from that project.

At a local level, I have worked to support my electorate in smaller projects, such as the North Adelaide Croquet Club, which received $20,000 for new LED energy-efficient lighting. Local businesses in Prospect are benefiting from the $38,000 that was secured to support the GigCity high-speed internet program with the Prospect council. We have included a pedestrian-activated crossing on Park Terrace for greater safety for the residents of Gilberton and North Adelaide who are crossing Park Terrace. There is also $100,000 per annum being included in our budget to reduce the total build and removal time of the Superloop grandstand.

These are just some of the things that are being achieved by this Liberal government in my local area, with a lot more to come in the future.