Northern Connector

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (14:46): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Automotive Transformation questions regarding the state government's 'Shared vision for northern Adelaide' directions paper.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: Yesterday the Leader of the Opposition in another place called on the government to commit to finally building the long-proposed Northern Connector road. The Northern Connector is a vital piece of infrastructure that is proposed to make transit time and movement of freight between Adelaide and the north easier and more efficient. In fact, when the Northern Expressway was completed, the bridge which takes Port Wakefield Road over the top of the current south-western entrance to the Northern Expressway was designed to enable the expressway to connect onto the proposed Northern Connector.

When looking at the government's own Northern Economic Plan directions paper, and in particular the key opportunities for northern Adelaide, whilst residential projects such as Buckland Park feature quite prominently, the Northern Connector—a piece of infrastructure that could create and sustain hundreds of jobs—is nowhere to be found. Given the minister's own foreword for the directions paper is entitled 'Northern Adelaide—working together for jobs, investment and a thriving community' and such a core piece of infrastructure is missing from this document, my questions are:

1. Why were projects such as the suburb of Buckland Park included as key opportunities in the directions paper, but the Northern Connector, a key piece of infrastructure for the existing northern suburbs, was not?

2. Will the minister commit to including the construction of the important Northern Connector as part of the government's Northern Economic Plan?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:48): I thank the honourable member for his very important question and his ongoing and genuine interest in matters to do with northern Adelaide and the economic prosperity and vibrancy of the northern suburbs. I am glad the directions paper has created debate and interest—that is exactly what it was designed to do—so I thank the honourable member, who I am quite sure has read that paper very thoroughly, so I can expect more questions about it in the future. Certainly that was one of the aims of the paper to create interest from community and industry.

I think he is referring to the sample in the first few pages which has a map with potential projects that may occur, and the one that he mentions is a very important project. In a perfect world governments would be able to do many projects and upgrade infrastructure. The Northern Connector is a project that certainly has been talked about and would require the federal government to work with the state government to make that occur, but I absolutely agree with the honourable member that the Northern Connector would be an important piece of infrastructure that would aid in the development of the northern suburbs. I can assure him that that will be kept in mind as we develop this plan and as we continue discussions with the federal government. Some of the project mentions were just that: just a sample. Something not mentioned doesn't mean that it's not something that is desired or contemplated by governments.