MacKillop Electorate, Road Audits

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:49): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Minister, who is responsible for auditing repairs that have been done on the road highways in my electorate? Mr Speaker, with your leave and the leave of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr McBRIDE: The Southern Ports Highway and Princes Highway are among the most complained-about roads in my electorate. Constituents say recent road maintenance is already showing signs of deterioration and works are not to a quality standard.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:49): The Department for Infrastructure and Transport has resurfaced three sections of the Southern Ports Highway. It totals just over eight kilometres between Beachport and Millicent, valued at about $2 million plus, including preparatory works. Those preparatory pavement repair works commenced in March of this year. Two of the three sections, between Lake Frome and Rendelsham and between McCall Road and Bowman Road, have been completed, including the final seal. The final 2.4-kilometre section at Mullins Swamp has had a temporary seal applied, with the final sealing scheduled for late 2024.

There have been a number of community concerns raised about the quality of these works, which I think goes to the heart of the question. I think they relate to the failure of the surfacing on some of the preparatory works, which were stripped due to poor adhesion, I am advised, of the primer seal. These issues were rectified prior to applying the final two-coat seal in April 2024. My understanding of this—and I am not an expert in road sealing—is that these works will reduce the deterioration of these sections, but they will not significantly improve the road roughness.

The community may perceive this as an inadequate treatment, but I am advised by the government that it actually is working well. We as a government are continuing to work towards improving the condition of our regional roads. I look forward to tomorrow's budget, but the blowout in the maintenance backlog that was incurred under the previous government is something that one single term of government cannot overcome.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: For those who missed it, the opposition repeat to me as a form of criticism that we have been in office for 18 of the last 22 years—as a criticism. That is the criticism, I understand.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: That’s right. The three sections of the Southern Ports Highway that we targeted I think will make improvements. We do the assessments. This is ongoing work. I would like to cooperate with the member on more work in the South-East. The South-East is a peculiar part of the state when it comes to road maintenance. There was a contract that was privatised by the previous government. That privatisation was done on a cost basis. That privatisation came in at a relatively low cost.

What we are seeing is that the actual cost of maintaining the roads is much higher than was budgeted for by the previous government. The deterioration that occurs in the South-East is unique given the levels of rainfall that occur in the area. I think it is fair to say that yourself and the member for Mount Gambier have had a lot of complaints about the road conditions in the South-East post the privatisation of that contract. I will have more to say about that contract in coming days.