Planning and Development Fund

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (14:56): Supplementary: so how much of that money is being used to enhance open space in local council areas?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:56): Again, I thank the member for Florey for that question because it does bring into light the $50 million—in fact, I think in the end we got around $65 million worth of benefit out of the Planning and Development Fund this year. We did bring forward funds from future years to bring it to this year so that we can help to use that fund and that money to provide stimulus into the economy right when it is needed most.

That has meant that we can deliver projects right across South Australia to improve open space, whether that be all the way out north in the Mangrove Boardwalk that is up at Tumby Bay in the member for Flinders' electorate, or whether that be in Breakout Creek in the western suburbs, which I think is actually in the member for Colton's electorate, although I think it borders with the electorate of the member for West Torrens, or whether there be works that I know are happening behind Modbury Hospital near to your electorate, member for Florey.

Ms Bedford interjecting:

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Yes, it is in the member for Newland's electorate, but as I understand it people don't identify electorate boundaries. If it's within their area, they will use it. This is a Planning and Development Fund that we have actually retooled, and it is something that I am very proud to have worked with the Minister for Environment and Water on to retool this towards better open space outcomes.

In the past, we have seen a lot of playground upgrades and we have seen a lot of main street upgrades. We know that, as our city densifies and we see more and more people choose to live within the existing footprint of Adelaide, we need to do more to generate better open space. That is why we actually retooled this fund as part of this stimulus to focus more on doing simple things like planting trees.

I know that in the member for Elder's electorate there are a number of projects where we are planting new trees. In fact, in the member for Black's electorate I know we are also planting some extra trees. Whether it be redesigning existing public parks and open spaces to be able to green them, all these projects we know are going to help in some way deal with the urban heat island effect that we know exists in our city, but also to make Adelaide, which is already one of the most livable cities in the world, that much more livable.

As our city grows and our city welcomes more people, we are investing that money in the right areas to continue to make Adelaide that cooler, that greener, that more environmentally friendly and that more livable city we have all come to love.