Marion Road-Cross Road Level Crossing

Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (15:20): Thank you so much, sir. It is nice to finally have the opportunity to say my piece. Let me take you back a little while; in fact, let me take you all the way back to 2017. Back in 2017, I was knocking on doors around Plympton and around South Plympton, and people were telling me that what they really wanted to see was an upgrade to the Marion-Cross Road tram crossing. There is a level crossing there and people were telling me that not only do they experience incredible delays there—about 20 minutes of every hour, cars are spent backed up at that crossing—but also that there are significant safety concerns there as well.

Luckily there have not been too many incidents but certainly the risks are ever present when you have level crossing trams, you have a high volume of traffic, you have pedestrians making their way around shops and nearby schools, and you also have cyclists who are using our busy Marion Road, Cross Road and Anzac Highway as well. At that stage, I was obviously very persuaded way back then about the merits of removing the level crossing at that particular location. There are actually two points along the tram line, both at the Marion Road intersection and also a little further down towards the bay, only about 100 metres down is the second crossing, so it is actually a dual-level crossing at the moment.

I was persuaded by the arguments from local people that something needed to be done and that is why, at the 2018 election, I took a policy to my local community and Labor took a policy forward in that 2018 election that we would remove those level crossings and remedy that situation. Of course, we all know that unfortunately Labor was not successful at the 2018 election, but I truly thought that the arguments that were put to me, and I imagine the opposing candidate at the time, and the then Marshall Liberal government, would have persuaded others just as they persuaded me. I fully expected that the previous government would actually take up that suggestion, that plea from the community, for infrastructure investment there to see that level crossing removed.

Alas, it did not happen, and I am not really sure why those opposite did not pursue that at all. It has been a pretty obvious project that has needed to be done. Nor was it pursued at a federal level, nor to my knowledge did anyone from the then state government, the Marshall Liberal government, make any advances to the commonwealth for funding for it either. But, never fear, of course we had a different result at the 2022 election, which saw the Malinauskas Labor government take the helm.

Of course, we went to the last election again making that commitment that we would remove those level crossings and make the community so much safer for those in the Plympton area, but also improve travel times for people who are going through that intersection each day to get to the city, to get to work, to get to school. Our government put forward $200 million for the project. We were, of course, delighted to see for the first time in 78 years that Labor also managed to win the seat of Boothby, and what that meant was another $200 million from the federal government to ensure that this project would happen. I have been working very closely with my colleague, Louise Miller-Frost, the member for Boothby and, of course, the Minister for Transport, Tom Koutsantonis, to ensure that this project happens.

Right now, we have released the designs for the project and consultation is now underway. I myself have held two community meetings already. About 20 people came along to the RSL the night it was announced and then 65—I have to say my street-corners are not usually that well attended, but such was the level of interest in this project that 65 people turned up to Incognito Cafe in Plympton to hear and see more about this project and also to contribute their ideas.

There are quite a few benefits of this upgrade. I want to just press that the overpass design is the best solution. There have been contributions from others in local government who wanted to see an underpass, but it is really important that my community understands that the overpass solution provides greater safety, greater constructability, a quicker construction of the project and less downtime with the tramline being out but also it provides for fewer land acquisitions.

As a result of this, there are three on the actual overpass that are being acquired and only 10 all up in comparison to the tens and tens that we would have seen otherwise. I would have liked to have said more but, unfortunately, I had the leader to contend with earlier, so I will have to leave my remarks there.