Regional Roads

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (15:42): I might just indicate that I am not in any rush to bring the member for Giles' contribution in that respect to a conclusion really at any stage. I listened very carefully. I am very interested in the member for Giles' observations, knowing as he does more than many if not all of us in this house about the trials and tribulations of those very important works in Whyalla.

I rise to draw the attention of the house to the parlous state of regional roads, many examples of which are located at all parts of my electoral district of Heysen through the Adelaide Hills. It should be no surprise, in fact it has come as no surprise to anyone in my community and I think across the state, that we have on this side of the house launched a campaign led by the leader and the shadow minister for regional roads, along with regional members, to draw attention to the parlous state of roads throughout the regions.

We have begun to encourage people in communities across the state to Report Your Road, to report those particular concerns about roads throughout the state with a view to making sure that, on coming to government, we will reinstate the significant funds that have been withdrawn by this state Labor government from the necessary work to make sure that regional road maintenance is kept up.

Of course, we knew there was a very substantial backlog on coming to government, one that the Marshall Liberal government addressed by the application of very significant resources. That has been illustrated by the chopping and changing that has occurred in relation to the Hahndorf bypass, or the lack thereof, at all stages of the time since the Malinauskas Labor government has been elected.

We saw in September 2022 that there was a kind of downgraded semi-bypass that sort of promised to do some work in terms of improving the Verdun interchange, but it walked away from a significant part of the commitment of state and federal Liberal governments before the further insult of that work, that funding, as far as the federal government was concerned, being withdrawn altogether, leaving state Labor to withdraw in an instant and say, 'Alright, we're out of here altogether as well.' Then, in the last federal budget we see some of the money back on the table for that work, and I have welcomed it. I said I will believe it when I see it at this stage because we have seen residents in the Hills just shunted from one announcement to another without any coherence or consistency at all, and that is what people in the Hills have come to expect from state and federal Labor over these past, now, more than two years.

In terms of local roads, I receive more than in any other way reports from the local community about road concerns, whether it is damage; unsafe driving conditions on Meadows Road at Echunga; and the failure of maintenance, including of drains on Old Norton Summit Road—a matter that the Norton Summit CFS brigades raised with me recently—caused by excess water building up due to the lack of drain maintenance. The Mount Barker Road between Stirling and Aldgate is raised very often.

Who can forget the landslide at the top of Greenhill Road that the member for Bragg and I brought to the government's attention and got repaired at least six months earlier than the department was going to repair otherwise. Brookman Road is well known for its difficulties, crumbling road shoulders, potholes and overgrowth on Piccadilly and Mount Lofty Summit roads—intersections generally throughout parts of the Hills. Safety concerns have been raised about the Battunga Road at Echunga, poorly sited intersections and in other significant ways.

That is in contrast with the significant the work that the Liberal government did over its four years, including the third lane on the freeway between Crafers and Stirling. To illustrate the need, I observe the RAA is calling for a $1 billion investment over four years to address the $2 billion road maintenance backlog identified by the Auditor-General. This government has to do much, much better.