Amy Gillett Bikeway

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (15:27): I rise to speak about some really exciting news for my local community. It is some fantastic news that is going to benefit people right across the Adelaide Hills—including in your own electorate, sir—and indeed people right across South Australia. It is that the funding for stage 4 of the Amy Gillett Bikeway has finally been given the tick of approval. It is something that the local community has been working on together for many years. It is fantastic to see that all spheres of government have now come together in what I think is a really positive project, as I said, not just for local people but for cycling enthusiasts and for people who love the great outdoors. It is a fantastic result.

I have spoken about this bike path on a number of occasions in the house, and I would like to reflect on Amy Gillett. As we know, Amy Gillett was a member of the Australian women's cycling team until she tragically died when she was hit by a car while she was training with the cycling team in Germany in 2005. On the back of this tragedy, her family and those who were closest to her advocated very strongly to be able to have this bike path built in her name. I think it has been a really great project. It is something that her parents, Mary and Denis Safe, have been working really hard on behind the scenes.

The bike path runs 17 kilometres through the Adelaide Hills. It runs from north to south from Oakbank to Mount Torrens, and that is where it currently stops. But, as a result of the funding that has now been secured through the three spheres of government, it will now be extended to Birdwood, which is also in my electorate. Since becoming the local member and, frankly, even before that, I had been doing a lot of doorknocking, hosting community forums, meeting with the council, and raising it with the previous minister and the current minister. Something that I certainly had very clearly from the local community is that they just wanted everyone to be able to work together in a positive way to get this done, and that is something that has now been given the big tick of approval.

I was perplexed last year because this project very nearly did not go ahead, I would say, because I remember one day opening up The Courier newspaper and I saw that there was a new cost estimate to get it from Mount Torrens to Birdwood—six kilometres—and it was costed at $11.7 million dollars. What an absolute joke. Thankfully, the department and the minister did a bit of a re-scope. They had a look at what else could be done, and that cost has come down significantly. I had a bit of a joke with one of the Adelaide Hills councillors, councillor Malcolm Herman. I said to him, 'Malcolm, maybe you and I could get out there and roll the bitumen ourselves'—and we would do it for free.

Of course, it did not come to that, and now we have all of the funding needed. The funding is now locked in to deliver this for the local community. The next stage, and I do not want to get too far ahead of ourselves given that the bitumen has not yet been rolled for stage 4, but the ultimate goal is to be able to get this project to Mount Pleasant, also in my electorate. Again, I think that would impact and benefit not just those people in my own local community but people from right across the Adelaide Hills and also across South Australia.

I am fortunate in being able to hold a community stall at the Mount Torrens market, and I would like to thank everyone who came up and signed our petition just to keep informed about what was happening with this project, and I am very delighted to be able to share the news with them that this has now been delivered.

In the short time I have left I want to acknowledge the three country shows that have been held in my electorate. We have had the Angaston Show, the Tanunda Show, and we have also had the Mount Pleasant Show. I would like to give a huge shout out to all the volunteers who work so hard over an extended period of time to be able to bring these shows together. There is so much hard work but they really do speak to the essence of what makes country communities great, and I am very much looking forward to the shows that are coming up next year, and I encourage everyone else to get involved, too.