Service SA Mount Barker

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (15:05): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the minister update the house on the opening of the Service SA centre in Mount Barker for the Hills?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (15:06): I thank the member for the question. It was just a few weeks ago that I was up in Mount Barker with the member for Kavel and yourself, sir, the member for Heysen—two fantastic advocates for their respective communities, who work incredibly hard to deliver the outcomes for the people in their electorates.

I had the great pleasure of showing these two members the brand-new Service SA centre in Mount Barker, which opened to the public this month. This is a landmark moment for the member for Kavel, the member for Heysen and the member for Hammond as well to deliver the Marshall government's election commitment to their communities.

We know that the wider Hills district but particularly townships like Mount Barker have experienced explosive growth in recent times. That's why the Marshall government is planning for the future for these communities by bringing the Service SA centre right to their doorstep. Delivering better services for the people of South Australia is something that the Marshall government is passionate about.

Until now, the people of those communities who wanted to go to the Service SA centre would have had to go to Murray Bridge or down to Mitcham if they weren't operating in town or working in town. To have it in Mount Barker is a great win for them. Now the people of their communities have that option, and it is far more convenient and more accessible for them to access those government services. The new Mount Barker facility is modelled on the Currie Street Service SA centre, which is the flagship store of the entire network.

The Currie Street Service SA centre opened in February 2020, replacing the former North Terrace site, and it has been a raging success. So far, we have used that template for the Mount Barker operation. The Mount Barker centre is roughly 160 square metres and has two face-to-face counters as well as a manager's office for meetings. It has seven digital kiosks, made up of two self-service points and five assisted service points, which have been loved by the local community up there since it opened.

The Currie Street centre uses new technology and customer flow measures that have seen waiting times reduced, and we anticipate the same benefits will flow to Mount Barker. It is a modern, attractive, clean, fresh format store which is orientated towards providing good old-fashioned service but also helping transition towards using streamlined digital and self-service options.

The Mount Barker centre will adopt the same technology to improve customer satisfaction, shorten waiting times, provide accessibility, offer assistance to the elderly and provide education to customers on digital transaction options. Importantly for this community given its population growth, the growing demographic there, there will be the provision of learner theory testing and hazard perception testing for people to acquire their driver's licences. That is something that the member for Kavel pushed for very hard, and we are glad to deliver that.

As mentioned before, the facility is equipped with a number of self-service digital kiosks, counters for face-to-face interactions with the friendly Service SA staff and a comfortable waiting room and meeting room and office space as well. Importantly, the staff have amenities such as a kitchenette and a dining and back-office space. The centre is located right in the heart of Mount Barker on Morphett Street, an epicentre for the explosive growth that I mentioned previously.

When you enter, you will be greeted at the reception desk by a friendly face with a friendly smile at one of the Service SA centres. But I must say, the smiles on the staff when I entered this centre were nowhere near as big as the smiles on the faces of the member for Kavel and the member for Heysen when I visited with them as they deliver better services for their local community. That was a commitment we made when we came to government. We promised more jobs, lower costs and better services, and this is an example of delivering those better services.