Northern Adelaide Food Park

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (16:19): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Automotive Transformation a question regarding duplication of Elder Smith Drive at Mawson Lakes following the release of the Northern Economic Plan, entitled Look North.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: Recently, the Premier and the minister released the long-awaited and overdue Northern Economic Plan, which allocated $7 million to the development of the previously announced northern Adelaide food hub at Parafield Airport. I note that the plan made absolutely no mention of or commitment to the desperately needed duplication and extension of Elder Smith Drive to provide freight access in and out of the Food Park from major roads such as Port Wakefield Road, Main North Road, Salisbury Highway and the soon-to-be-constructed Northern Connector.

Without such a commitment, the earliest the people of Mawson Lakes and potential businesses that will call the Northern Adelaide Food Park home will see any progress on Elder Smith Drive, according to the state government's own Integrated Transport and Land Use Plan, is between five and 15-plus years from now. This is despite traffic volumes on Elder Smith Drive increasing by over 300 per cent since its construction in 2006 and the road operating at saturation levels during peak hour. This is all before you add any traffic associated with the development of the Northern Adelaide Food Park.

The City of Salisbury has long identified and lobbied for the duplication and extension of Elder Smith Drive as a priority. This has been brought up with the government prior to the 2014 state election in response to the government's Northern Economic Plan's directions paper and most recently in correspondence with various ministers, local members of parliament and the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure. Indeed, I raised it in this chamber on 29 October last year. However, these efforts to date have been to no avail, and since the release of Look North it appears the severe traffic problems identified by council are going to get a lot worse before they get any better.

My question is: will the minister commit to the urgently needed duplication and extension of Elder Smith Drive as a key piece of infrastructure in the rollout of the Northern Economic Plan and the development of the Northern Adelaide Food Park as an immediate priority?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (16:21): I thank the honourable member for his question and his quite genuine interest in these areas as someone who is very concerned about the economic development and progress of the north. If it had been another member asking the question, one who was not so genuinely committed to these things, I would have pointed out that it was being asked by the party that gave us the one-way expressway, but I know the member is very genuine about it, so I will resist that temptation.

I know that work is going on about the planning and other things that will be needed, not just around the Northern Adelaide Food Park but around a whole range of initiatives in northern Adelaide. I will take that question on notice and bring back a reply from, I think, the Minister for Planning or Transport about where we are up to on a whole of issues related to the Northern Adelaide Food Park.