Road Upgrades

Mr MURRAY (Davenport) (14:33): My question is directed to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. I ask the minister to provide an update to the house on how the government is building important road upgrades over the next six months.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:34): I thank the member for Davenport for his question. I know he is really keen on the Flagstaff Road project. We were up there kicking this off. Early works are beginning on that very, very shortly—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —and big works will be happening, of course, next year. Again, we have discussed this, and we know there will be some inconvenience to the people in his electorate.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for West Torrens!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: He said to me he is very confident that his community will work with him because they have waited for decades and decades because those on the other side never delivered a project like this. So we are very excited to be doing this. We are putting our money where our mouth is and we are building job-creating infrastructure.

Over the next six months, we will begin more than $1 billion worth of projects creating 1,300 jobs. That's jobs for South Australians. It's important to put that infrastructure spend in context. In 2016, those opposite were spending $200 million on transport infrastructure, on road projects, and in the next six months we are doing a billion dollars, a billion dollars out the door and moving, $200 million to a billion—have a think about that.

Over the next six months we will start those projects, and it's way more than those on the other side ever did. If I can just take some time to inform the house of some of these projects, and the Premier has already mentioned them, we can't go past the Joy Baluch Bridge. It is a really exciting program—again, ignored for years by those opposite but we are delivering it. There are some 114 jobs associated with that infrastructure build.

We have $124 million for the Port Wakefield overpass, the duplication project there, and 95 jobs on that project; work on the Strzelecki Track, again talked by those opposite and just ignored. We are delivering for our regions some 31 jobs on that project as well in the state's Far North. The north-south freight route is a $12 million project, with 25 jobs associated with that project as well, and in the city the Ovingham level crossing will create some 100 jobs as that project gets underway—so very exciting for the people in that community.

There are also our congestion-busting projects. These are important, that we get these jobs underway and we bust congestion in this city. There is the Portrush and Magill intersection upgrade; the Grand Junction, Hampstead and Briens roads intersection upgrade; Main North Road and Nottage Terrace upgrade—I know the member for Adelaide is excited by that one, and so is her community—Main North, McIntyre and Kings roads upgrade; and the Goodwood, Springbank and Daws roads upgrade is being delivered, and we are excited by that. It's a $1 billion tidal wave of projects that are going to get underway and 1,300 jobs in the process. So we cannot be happier to be delivering for our community because we know those on the other side just didn't do it.

Of course, road safety upgrades: we know our regions are far too over-represented as far as road safety and lives lost on our regional roads; it's just not acceptable, so we are investing heavily into that. We did inherit a $750 million road maintenance backlog from those opposite when we came into government. They ignored the regions for some 16 years. Well, we are delivering and we are fixing more than a thousand kilometres of country roads to help save lives. In fact, I was just up in the member for Chaffey's electorate over the weekend at the Sturt Highway and having a look at that, and we've got more works to do there because it has been ignored for so long.

We had a look at Browns Well Highway as well. That's one of those roads that got too hard for those opposite, so what do you do? Do you fix the road? Do you improve the road? 'No, just drop the speed limit.' That's the easy way out. Well, that's not acceptable and we won't be doing that. We are improving those roads. So a billion dollars worth of projects over the next six months are getting underway and, again, from those road safety perspectives we know how important audio tactile line marking is. Shoulder sealing and road widening are really important, and road lighting improvements are as well. It's all generating jobs—jobs in the regions, jobs for South Australia—and that's what we are about.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the member for West Torrens, I call to order the member for Mawson, warn the member for Playford and I warn the member for West Torrens for a second time.