Morphett Road Level Crossing

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (15:27): I take the opportunity in parliament today to thank the thousands of people who signed the 'Fix Morphett Road' petition that has delivered a huge victory for our community after funding was secured for an overpass at the congested Morphett Road tram crossing. It has been a major traffic bottleneck in the electorate of Morphett for decades. Especially at peak times, the red lights flashing, the bells ringing and the boom gates down means only one thing, and that is a delay, a delay that has only got worse with the urban infill at Glengowrie, Morphettville, Camden Park and other suburbs that has increased substantially over the years.

I have been advocating for a solution since before I was elected as the member for Morphett in 2018 to reduce congestion and improve safety at this intersection. In early 2022, the state and federal Liberal teams secured funding to undertake planning and design works for this intersection. Last year, the state government announced that the Glenelg tramline will be closed between Glenelg and the city to allow construction of an overpass at Marion Road and Cross Road.

A significant number of residents contacted me saying that the Morphett Road tram crossing is more congested and should be fixed while the tramline is closed. Prior to the budget in 2023, I raised these concerns with the minister in parliament, but sadly these concerns were dismissed, with the result being no funding was provided in the budget. Not going to take no for an answer, I launched a petition earlier this year to demonstrate the large amount of community support to fix the Morphett Road tram crossing.

The petition called on the state government to work with the federal government to fully fund and construct a much-needed overpass or underpass at the Morphett Road tram crossing while the Glenelg tramline is closed, fixing a major traffic bottleneck in our community. Importantly, I was joined in my efforts by Nicolle Flint who successfully fixed the Oaklands Crossing when she was the Liberal member for Boothby. Together, we ramped up the campaign to fix the Morphett Road tram crossing, holding listing posts, doorknocking, going to shopping centres, and we had thousands of people sign the petition.

The huge number of responses to the petition showed me that there is massive community frustration at the congestion and delays that are caused at this major traffic bottleneck. Previously, in parliament, I highlighted some of the responses to the petition, which show why people want it fixed. One such response sums up so many people's frustration, 'It's a nightmare. You can be stuck there for way too long.'

Disappointingly, the state and federal Labor governments did not commit the additional funding needed to fix this dangerous tram level crossing in either of this year's state or federal budgets, meaning that there have been six state and federal Labor budgets and not one budget has had a single dollar in it to fix the Morphett Road tram crossing. Only two months later, with a determined community behind this campaign, the federal and state governments jumped on the bandwagon and have agreed to provide funding for an overpass at the Morphett Road tram crossing.

With the threat of an early election, and Labor's inactive member for Boothby under huge pressure, the government rushed out this funding announcement. How do we know it was rushed? Funding was not in any of the past six state and federal budgets. Freedom of information requests I had made revealed that there is no detailed design for the overpass yet. These FOI requests also revealed that there has been no recent correspondence from the Labor member for Boothby to the state Minister for Infrastructure relating to the Morphett Road tram crossing.

Just two weeks before the funding announcement, Labor put out a flyer to get a petition signed. Locals saw through this, with numerous people asking me, 'Why would we sign it? We have already signed Stephen and Nicolle's petition.'

Ultimately, it was the community that came together on this and achieved a great win, a win that has been sought after for decades. An overpass at this bottleneck will massively reduce congestion and improve road safety at this intersection. Thank you again to the thousands of people who signed my Fix the Morphett Road Tram Crossing petition. Your voice has been instrumental in delivering an overpass at the Morphett Road tram crossing.