Grievance Debate

Hartley Electorate

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley) (15:07): I rise today to talk about two issues in my electorate in Paradise. The first issue, of course, was from last Saturday, where residents were unfortunately awoken by a very severe burst water main in their street at Hamilton Terrace at Paradise. It was absolutely awful stuff. Unfortunately, they have suffered dearly from this burst. Several residents have actually had to move out of their homes. What is devastating in fact is that this is probably the fourth burst, one resident was telling me, that has occurred in some 15 years. Residents have had to move out. There is water damage right throughout the houses. It is absolutely devastating stuff. People have been literally forced to move out, which is very sad for them.

I have since written to the Minister for Water. What I am encouraging the government to sincerely investigate, and I am hoping they do take this on board, is to actually replace the burst water main infrastructure. People are over the bandaid solutions that have occurred along that street. What we now need is a proper, permanent, long-term solution—that is, to continue to significantly upgrade, replace in totality the burst water main and associated parts along that street. People of Hamilton Terrace have just suffered for way too long.

It was devastating to go out in the heat and just smell that stench—that stench that you cannot forget. These people unfortunately now have been inconvenienced. They are out of pocket. We know that insurance covers a little bit, but it never covers the whole lot. As members of parliament, we are sent into this place to do a job, and I am sincerely advocating for my residents along Hamilton Terrace, and I am hoping that the Minister for Water and her team take that on board and do manage to get that infrastructure replaced.

Secondly, I want to talk about another part of Paradise, which is Gorge Road, Paradise. We know that Gorge Road is a road that traverses many electorates in this place. Recently, what we saw, as reported by The Advertiser, was a severe incident at Gorge Road only last week. We saw that several trees were in fact collected. But before that, only last year in fact, we know that Gorge Road was subject to several serious crashes. In one particular case we saw a car go over to the wrong side of Gorge Road in Paradise and actually collect several houses. I have several residents who continue to live with fear, who continue to live with trauma and are quite traumatised by that incident.

After that series of incidents, we arranged a meeting with representatives of DIT on site. We met with the residents about what solutions could be worked through. I have written to the government, suggesting things like safety bollards, permanent barriers, crash barriers. They have come to the table with some what I would call temporary measures like yellow strips in the middle of the road. Council is coming to the party and replacing some of the trees with some mature trees. While that is a good start, we are still seeing these serious crashes continue to occur.

What we actually need is a more permanent solution. We need road safety barriers, we need crash barriers, we need more education along that stretch. Personally, I think we should also investigate the plausibility of speed monitoring there—do we need a speed camera more often or, in fact, do we need a fixed camera? Should the council and the government also look at speed reduction in parts of this road?

This is a very wide road; it is a road that has quite a decline, especially if you are coming from the Athelstone part of the world down to Paradise. Residents should not continue to be traumatised, to live in fear with the possibility that a car could end up in their front yard. It is just not good enough. That is why I am imploring the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, and also the Minister for Police, to work together and ensure that there is a more permanent solution to this part of Gorge Road at Paradise.

We do not want to see someone killed on this stretch and, as I have said, we have seen far too many incidents on this road already. It cannot continue the way it is going, and that is why the government needs to come to the party. If the minister has not received the correspondence already, he will be receiving it very shortly. I encourage the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and the Minister for Police to come to the party and deliver a more permanent safety solution at Gorge Road in Paradise.

I note that local resident Kosta and some of his friends are working hard to petition the state government for a solution. I believe the petition has already garnered over 150 signatures in the space of a week, and I will continue to keep the house abreast of any updates.