Heysen Boulevard, Mount Barker

The Hon. D.R. CREGAN (Kavel) (15:15): As members will know, in 2010 1,300 hectares of land was rezoned in Mount Barker for residential use. This was a very controversial decision. It has far-reaching consequences. The consequences of that decision are being felt by my community to this day. Through the new estates that have developed in the south of Mount Barker runs the Heysen Boulevard. It is intended to act as a connector road to ensure that residents can move freely to and from their homes. It also serves as an important emergency access route for emergency services vehicles and, if there ever was a natural disaster that impacted the south of Mount Barker, it would be a path that many would wish to travel to leave the town to a place of greater safety.

It is important to emphasise in this place and to emphasise to the government that this road is not functioning as it was intended. It cannot serve as a connector road because, amongst other matters, there is a railway line that intersects the corridor. A crossing is required. It will be a costly exercise to ensure that these works can be completed. I have been strongly making presentations to the government in relation to the urgency of these works.

Can I say this: amongst the many frustrations that residents have in relation to infrastructure that has not been completed, there is no greater frustration than travelling a road that is advertised as a connector road only to find that there are many impediments to those connections into town or to elsewhere.

Can I say this too: the difficulties that residents face are real. Many residents write to me expressing their deep concern and alarm that, if there were a bushfire, for example, they would not be able to leave. It is a matter that we of course have raised with the previous government, it is a matter that the council has raised with the previous government and it is a matter that the council has again raised with this new government. One of the obligations of governments to areas that are developing quickly is to not only meet the needs as they might have been planned for but also to appreciate that there will be unforeseen development consequences flowing from development.

The government deeds that were put in place to ensure that developers rather than the state or the council will fund much of the infrastructure necessary to complete this road see sections of the road completed in a piecemeal way, completed in conjunction with or in association with the completion of developments. It is natural that developers will act that way, but it is not natural that a government or the community would have to wait for the completion of a commercial development in order to get the infrastructure that a community needs in order to enjoy free movement through the township.

It is for this reason that I again raise this issue with this government. I am pleased that the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure has taken this matter seriously. I am hopeful that a resolution can be achieved but, in the absence of a rail crossing alongside this generally fragmented road corridor, there are going to be continual frustrations, and my community will continue to be rightly concerned and alarmed about the scope of development and the nature of development and the apparent lack of planning in relation to this and to many other issues. I call on the state government to address this issue urgently.