South-East Roads

The Hon. J.S. LEE (14:55): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Road Safety a question about road conditions in the South-East.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: A number of constituents have expressed concerns about the current condition of the Southern Ports Highway, in particular the road connecting Millicent and Beachport. The road has been described as extremely rough, with various potholes and some sections not having any white lines marking the road's edge.

One constituent in particular, Mr Craig Skeer, a concrete truck driver who drives regularly along the highway, confirmed in TheSouth Eastern Times that the road is extremely rough and is very unsafe to drive, particularly at night-time. Mr Skeer's main concern was during the holiday period, when the road traffic population doubles, which can be very dangerous to other commuters and tourists. The media has also reported that there seems to be millions of dollars available for super ways, freeways, overpasses and O-Bahn extensions in Adelaide, but not a lot of money for country roads. My questions to the minister are:

1. With the current condition of the Southern Ports Highway requiring urgent repair and upgrade, can the minister outline what the government's future plans are for the South-East?

2. What funds will the minister allocate to fix the problem to ensure the safety of commuters along the Southern Ports Highway?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:57): I thank the honourable member for her questions. It is an unfortunate reality that a majority of road deaths that occur in South Australia do indeed occur in our regions. Sixty per cent of fatal crashes that occurred in 2015 occurred on rural roads. This is a figure that is down, in percentage terms, compared to the year before. Nevertheless, it is an unfortunate reality that a majority of the road deaths that occur on South Australian roads happen within our regions. This is why, as a government, when it comes to road safety policies and measures, we pay particular attention to the investments that we make on regional roads throughout the state.

In 2015-16, the state government, I am advised, has allocated $138 million to regional roads spending in South Australia. That is a figure that is up from $122 million in the previous year. We are doing everything we can to allocate funds to spend on regional roads, because it is appropriate. There are a range of things that contribute to accidents that occur on regional roads. There are, of course, the fatal five, which I understand are the major contributors to road deaths in South Australia. Of course, conditions of the road do make a difference, which is exactly why we have allocated the additional funds that are referred to—the $138 million—during the course of the last budget, to ensure that we are improving our roads where we can.

With regard to the specific road that the honourable member refers to, obviously in my role as road safety minister I receive enormous amounts of correspondence from constituents across our state, located in both metropolitan and regional areas. They convey to me concerns they have regarding specific roads. In each and every instance, I seek to get a response from the department as to the status of that road, whether or not there is any allocated funding that is likely to be spent in the near future and, of course, where it is appropriate to do so, we undertake reviews of such roads to make sure that a current analysis is done, if it is appropriate to do so, which can inform decision-making going forward.

If the Hon. Ms Lee has a specific road that has come to her attention that is of particular concern that she feels as though has been overlooked, I am more than happy to seek some feedback from her regarding the roads that she refers to. Indeed, if the Hon. Ms Lee writes to me that will initiate a formal process that I am more than happy to make sure gets a response as quickly as possible regarding the particular road that she refers to.

That said, the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure does have a forward plan when it comes to expenditure of funds on regional roads to try to make sure they are achieving a road safety objective, so most of those funds are planned for some time in advance. But, nevertheless, like I said, if the Hon. Ms Lee wants to convey to me the specific road, I am more than happy to make some inquiries and get a response back to her as soon as I reasonably can.