Private Members' Statements

Private Members' Statements

Ms PRATT (Frome) (15:55): I take this opportunity to reflect on a local issue relating to code amendments. I have been engaging with a lot of locals from my community in the Clare Valley for over 12 months now in relation to their experience with the Stanley Flat code amendment. Our valley has an exciting opportunity to expand its population, increase supply of housing and, of course, pump prime the local economy, notwithstanding the imperfections of the planning process that they have experienced during their submissions.

In 2022 it was recommended by both the local Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council and the State Planning Commission that the minimum block size of this particular proposal should be two acres or 8,000 square metres, which would be in sympathy with existing blocks along White Hut Road. While the community nervously awaits the minister's determination, there are some well-founded concerns held by locals that the minimum block size will shrink to as small as 1,200 to 3,000 square metres, against all advice and common sense.

While the minister in good faith has communicated with neighbouring stakeholders, he currently reserves his right to explore opportunities that he says will be 'to create additional residential land supply', with 'the preference to using the land efficiently'. It is making locals nervous.

I would argue that while there are housing pressures of accessibility and affordability that we are feeling statewide, there remains a great social challenge for my electorate—but local opinion should still count in this matter.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:57): Today I would like to talk about a woman who has actually passed away. The reason I want to speak about her is that quite often as an MP you get to meet a lot of wonderful people in your community, and while time does not permit you to talk about all of them in this place, there are some who make an enormous contribution to the community without any fanfare. One such person is Winsome (Win) Nicolai.

Sadly, Win passed away on 17 December last year. She was the sort of person who dedicated her whole life to community involvement in addition to raising her own family. She was involved in a number of community activities. She first became involved in Girl Guides as a young person herself, then came back to the Girl Guides when her own daughter became interested. Through the Girl Guides she became a district leader and a regional leader, which covered the Mid North down to Gawler, including the Barossa Valley. She did quite a bit of work through the Girl Guides.

She was also involved in the Gawler Amateur Swimming Club and the Evanston Gardens Progress Association. She was secretary of the Gawler Amateur Swimming Club and was a volunteer with the International Women's Day Committee, the Royal Flying Doctors, etc. People like Win make our community better and I would just like to acknowledge her passing.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley) (15:58): I rise to request that I receive a response from the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport to my letter dated 9 November. In my letter I asked the minister to consider a number of suggestions for improved driver awareness at pedestrian crossings adjacent to schools on Unley and Goodwood roads.

The key suggestions included:

a declaration of designated school zones adjacent to the schools on Goodwood and Unley roads;

the introduction of prominent road-based alerts, physical road-based and also in-car audio alerts;

the reduction of speed limits, particularly at and before school transit times; and

a speed and red-light camera installed on the Walford site crossing on Unley Road.

The Hon. D.R. CREGAN (Kavel) (15:59): My community is growing rapidly, and Mount Barker will soon be the largest city in the state after Adelaide. Indeed, the whole of the Hills is growing. It is unacceptable that there is only one transport link to Adelaide from Mount Barker, the South Eastern Freeway. Passenger rail services need to be restored to the Hills to provide a second vital transport corridor. The previous government refused to permit any trial by Talgo to test its trains in South Australia. The then opposition, the new government, indicated they would permit Talgo to run a trial if there was no cost to the taxpayer.

This is a question of money and political will. Let's be brutally frank: if the government issued a tender for rail services to the Hills tomorrow, it is likely many companies would be interested and Talgo may well be amongst them. Of course, the cost and engineering challenges are real. I ask the minister not to confuse high-speed rail with the viability of conventional rail, which operated in the Hills for many years. Talgo manufactures high-speed and conventional railcars. They are not the only provider. To avoid this issue altogether simply by pointing to fast rail as unachievable misses overall, in my view, the point.