Question Time

Job Creation

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (14:24): My question is to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government. Can the minister please update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is creating more jobs in our regions on regional infrastructure projects?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:24): I thank the member for Narungga for his question and note his presence on Sunday morning as we demonstrated very clearly to the people of South Australia that South Australia doesn't finish at Gepps Cross. The reason that we can say that hand on heart is that we have funded two massive projects to help deliver jobs in the north of our state.

It was great to be there with the winning contractors who are going to deliver two very important regional projects for us, those being the Joy Baluch AM Bridge in the member for Stuart's electorate and then the Port Wakefield duplication and overpass in the member for Narungga's brilliant electorate. What was exciting with these contractors—CPB together with Aurecon and GHD, as well as McMahon Services, their tier 2 subbie; and John Briggs from Intract—was the commitment by those businesses to delivering local jobs for local people who can deliver their own road upgrades up there in both Port Wakefield and Port Augusta.

Excitingly for these projects, we are talking about over 200 jobs that are going to be created over the life of this project and some $320 million of a $12.9 billion infrastructure plan that is funded over this next four years of the forward estimates, that is going to deliver thousands of jobs right across South Australia for South Australians and for work that is being conducted by South Australians. What was also exciting was the model that that we chose to take to deliver this project: an alliance model, one where the contractors—Aurecon, CPB and GHD—together with the department come together as an alliance to deliver this in a coordinated and collaborative fashion.

What that means is that we are able to help make sure that any issues with the project are dealt with early, that if there are savings that those savings can come back to the taxpayer and also give greater certainty then for contractors that they've got somebody to work with who is going to be open and honest. More than that, what it does is it also helps to deliver a superior outcome. What we have done in both of these cases is to listen very strongly to local community feedback. In talking to the member for Stuart and the mayors in his community—

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell: You want some feedback from Aldinga? Duplicate Main South Road.

The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is called to order.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —what we have been able to do is to enhance the design—for instance, especially around shared use paths along the side of that bridge—taking into account the feedback. And, again, Rowan Ramsey, the member for Grey, also talked about the fact that it is a pretty dangerous bridge to walk over for locals.

In Port Wakefield, the big debate is really around how we duplicate and whether we create a bypass of the town or whether we put that duplication through the centre. Essentially, the design we've come to is one that melds the best of both worlds, making sure that we create that separation north of Balaklava Road but then bringing it back together south of Balaklava Road to make sure that the town of Port Wakefield gets the most out of this because, yes, there are jobs during construction—over 200 for these projects—but it is also about how those flow-on effects from improved tourism benefits happen down the road.

What is also extremely exciting here, especially for Crash Corner, is knowing that this notorious intersection is going to be wiped out in a couple of summers' time means that we can help to encourage further tourism to beautiful Yorke Peninsula and up to Spencer Gulf, and it means that we can create those downstream jobs that flow on from these kinds of infrastructure projects. Both projects are funded by this government in conjunction with the federal government, who are providing some 80 per cent of the funding—again, another example of what happens when two spheres of government work together, talk together.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting:

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Instead of just having a budget that has a pretend promise from the federal government, what we have put in our budgets is real money committed in the state's bank account to deliver these projects for South Australians.

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond gesticulates. I can hear the member for Mawson and he is warned. Member for Kaurna.