Main North Road-Nottage Terrace Intersection

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (14:42): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the minister please update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is busting congestion through the Main North Road and Nottage Terrace intersection upgrade?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:42): I thank the—

The SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat. The member for West Torrens on a point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Standing order 97: questions should not involve argument. 'Congestion busting' is argument.

The SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order. I will give the member for Newland an opportunity to rephrase the question.

Dr HARVEY: My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the minister please update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is upgrading the intersection of Main North Road and Nottage Terrace?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: I thank the member very much for his question. I know he is interested in how we are busting congestion on that road. It is an important question—another day, another milestone in one of the many projects being delivered by the Marshall Liberal government. With a record $17.9 billion in the pipeline, there is no shortage of infrastructure milestones or jobs to talk about. On Monday this week, I was joined by the member for Adelaide at the notorious Scotty's Corner. Scotty has never seen an upgrade like this before. Scotty's Corner is just another intersection—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hurtle Vale!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —that was ignored by the former Labor government for 16  long years. We know they ignored a lot of infrastructure and roadworks and that's why we were left with a three-quarters of a million dollars road maintenance backlog. The member for West Torrens, who was Treasurer at the time, couldn't bring himself to invest in roads when he was in that position.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat for a moment. The member for West Torrens rises on a point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Standing order 98: the minister was debating the answer by talking about my time as Treasurer, sir.

The SPEAKER: I don't uphold the point of order for the time being. I am conscious of the terms of the question and also I'm very cognisant of the provisions of standing order 98. The minister has the call.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Relevance—does the member for West Torrens have any relevance? That's the question I ask. I was out with the member for Adelaide, as I said, announcing that this week we opened two of the newly constructed lanes. It was the first traffic switch on this very important project. This project is tracking well and is to be completed soon. It should be open to traffic and completed by the end of the year.

The SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat for a moment. The member for Elizabeth on a point of order.

Mr ODENWALDER: Point of order: all of this information is publicly available in a press release released on the 6^th of the 9^th by the minister. I'm happy to send it to you, sir.

The SPEAKER: Notwithstanding any elements, the very fact of the upgrade might be in the public domain. The question is in order and the minister is entitled to answer the question. The minister has the call.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: I know they don't like infrastructure projects on that side of the chamber, but we are proud to be delivering those. I mentioned that I was standing with the member for Adelaide and she was so happy as she looked over the intersection and saw the work that was going on and talked about how it is going to improve rat-running in her local area, a problem that is an issue in the electorate of Adelaide. She is fixing that problem with this great project and we are proud to be doing that. Every day, 66,000-plus motorists use that intersection and a lot of them of course are rat-running as well, so there is more on top of that. This is going to help with that.

Crashes—there have been more than 30 crashes over the last five years at that intersection and Labor refused to fix it. That's why they are interjecting. That's why they don't like this project. They ignored it.

Ms Cook interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hurtle Vale is warned.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: It created jobs as well—about 15 jobs for this project—and that's part of the 19,000 job bonanza that has come with our $17.9 billion infrastructure spend. It's more jobs for the people of South Australia. It's jobs now and jobs for tomorrow. That's way more than the previous government ever produced in their infrastructure spend.

Once complete, this intersection will see two right-turn lanes from Main North Road onto Nottage Terrace to improve traffic flows and safety. That will get South Australians home faster and that's what we are focused on. They can spend more quality time with the ones they love and it will be far more efficient during the busy peak periods. The member for Adelaide made that point and that's why she was excited about this.

The intersection upgrade will also include widened sections of Main North Road and Nottage Terrace, a new north-bound priority bus lane, upgraded pedestrian crossings and an extension of the existing north-bound cycle lane, so that is a great win for all people on all forms of transport—motorists, pedestrians, cyclists and all road users.

Down the road, there is also a $6 million fund to help work with the federal government to fix Nottage Terrace and North East Road. It makes sense. The traffic is going to flow around the corner. We are moving on. Again, the member for Adelaide is very excited to see that roll around to improve traffic flows.

All up, that is a $25 million improvement to traffic flow along this section of Main North Road and Nottage Terrace, and that's all thanks to the wonderful work and advocacy of the member for Adelaide. She is passionate about this project and she knows it's going to deliver for her local communities. She knows, as I said, that it will very much help with that rat-running.

Down the road, of course, there is the Ovingham level crossing upgrade as well, another great project that is decongesting our roads and allowing people to get home quicker to spend more time with their families—so yet again, here we are, the Marshall Liberal government building what matters.