Personal Explanation

South Eastern Freeway

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (17:53): I seek leave to make a personal explanation.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Earlier today, in response to a question from the member for Kavel, I made a statement, and I quote:

The last time any surfacing work was done there was 20-plus years ago, so we know that we are adding to safety on that road.

The member from West Torrens subsequently brought to the attention of the house that some works had been undertaken in 2016. For clarification, the context in which that comment was made was with respect to the $35 million of resurfacing works on the South Eastern Freeway that we are undertaking between the Tollgate and Crafers. There was indeed 5.5-lane kilometres of repair work undertaken in 2016 at a cost of around $1 million between the Heysen Tunnels to Crafers, with various resurfacing treatments. However, the work we are undertaking between the tollgate and Crafers amounts to significantly more.

It is 45-lane kilometres of pavement rehabilitation, with deep-lift asphalt surfacing, fixing all lanes. The asphalt will also reduce the noise, improve drainage and make the roads safer and more comfortable. As I said in my response, this project is creating 165 jobs. As of approximately two weeks ago, the team out there has already done about 12-lane kilometres and laid more than 35,000 tonnes of new asphalt. We look forward to that deep-lift asphalt resurfacing continuing.