North-South Corridor

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:34): This is a David and Goliath battle, but unlike the biblical epic outcome this is one in which the underdogs are not likely to win against the weight of the state government and their impenetrable laws. Allegro Music, near the corner of Anzac Highway and South Road, is the music school run by Koula and Mary Raptis for 37 years. They love what they do in their quaint but delightful period house they bought when their previous two properties were compulsorily acquired for the Gallipoli underpass.

Any thoughts the sisters had that they would see out their retirement there were cruelly dashed in March, when the government told them they were seizing it for a loopy redesign of the Torrens to Darlington upgrade. The government wants to remove a right-hand turn lane from Anzac Highway onto South Road and replace it with a series of loops, adding at least an extra $8 million to the cost of the massive $15 billion north-south corridor project. I cannot imagine how ugly this is going to look, but former minister Tom Koutsantonis has promised they will save motorists two minutes.

According to Koula and Mary, there was very little consultation or community engagement done. The decision has broken their hearts, especially after the department promised in 2007 that they would not take their new property. As we know, governments like this one break promises. Koula and Mary also claim they have been misled, first by the Rann government in 2007 and then again by this government, which had claimed it had multiple meetings with them when there was only one. This has caused them enormous emotional stress and health issues.

To their credit, Mary and Koula have refused to surrender, against insurmountable odds. They have been pleading with the government to spare their property, but nobody wants to know them. They have until 2027 to find a new place, and in the meantime they will have to pay rent on their property once it is taken. As Minister Koutsantonis pointed out, there are no guarantees that homes near intersections of major arterial roads will not be compulsorily acquired as our population and suburbs expand. Nevertheless, Koula and Mary wrote an impassioned letter to meet with the Premier and Mr Koutsantonis, but like the proverbial annoying mosquitoes buzzing around your ear Koula and Mary were brushed aside. I seek leave to table that letter.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: The sisters also did their own research. They filmed the intersection at peak times of the day, which showed a low volume of traffic and vehicles unimpeded by the single turning manoeuvre at the lights. They doorknocked hundreds of homes in surrounding suburbs for a survey. Of those surveyed, 96 per cent wanted the right-hand turn to stay and 94 per cent said they had not been consulted on the redesign. They have collected 3,251 signatures supporting their Say No to the Loops campaign. They have not been able to view modelling the former minister had claimed was carried out.

They sought legal and professional advice to support their case. Former DIT senior engineer Luigi Rossi, who was involved in many other major government road projects, said the redesign was not necessary and a waste of taxpayers' money, as any time saved was inconsequential. Koula and Mary took their fight to SACAT last week. Think of the lone man clutching the plastic bag standing in defiance in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square and you will get the symbolic picture of what sisters Mary and Koula Raptis were up against: a lawyered-up government with a rock-solid piece of legislation in their corner against a couple of hopeful individuals with everything to lose.

Their footage and survey were ruled inadmissible, because Koula and Mary were not professional camera operators nor qualified to do surveys. What did emerge under questioning from Koula is that making a right-hand turn onto South Road using the proposed loops would be more complicated and take longer. So what about the two-minute saving the former minister claimed? The process has soured Koula and Mary's perception of government. As they state in their letter:

This is so very disappointing and cruel coming from a house of democracy. How can politicians simply sit on their hands and do nothing to help us?