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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-10-29 Daily Xml
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ROADS, APY LANDS

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (15:02): My question is to the Minister for Transport or whoever will answer this on his behalf. What is the government doing to improve road conditions on the APY lands? I have been informed that, on the evening of Thursday 9 October 2008, an ambulance had to drive from Pipalyatjara to Nyapari with a severely ill patient who was intubated and who had a number of intravenous lines inserted for medication and connections for monitoring. The patient was accompanied in the back of the ambulance by a doctor and a nurse. The ambulance had to stop on four occasions because the corrugations on the road were interfering with the monitoring equipment which was essential to gauge the status of the unconscious patient. In addition, the dose of anaesthetic administered had to be increased on two occasions because the patient was waking up and the doctor felt that this was almost certainly due to the vibrations from corrugations.

On that occasion, the patient was delivered safely to the Royal Flying Doctor Service plane, but the delays encountered and malfunction of equipment could have had a far more deleterious outcome for the patient, quite apart from the risk to the health of staff.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Environment and Conservation, Minister for Early Childhood Development, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister Assisting the Premier in Cabinet Business and Public Sector Management) (15:03): This is a serious matter. We are aware of the poor conditions on the roads in the APY lands generally and, of course, it is desirable that people do not have to travel large distances on those roads at all, because they will never be the sort of surfaces designed to transport people long distances. Getting the Flying Doctor Service into upgraded airports is an important part of our strategy. We have been working with the commonwealth about upgrading a range of the airports in the APY lands. That is the first big answer to this question.

There is also a related issue about service delivery which needs to be considered here; that is, the way in which those airports are maintained. The reforms that we announced in our discussion paper the other day go to the question of how emergency services officers in the communities ensure that those airports are maintained. The roads are in a poor condition. It is largely due to the current drought conditions which are affecting all outback roads across the state.

The lack of moisture in the roads and the limited availability of water for road construction purposes have caused severe deterioration in sections of the connecting roads between communities. Roads tend to deteriorate very quickly following grading, and an independent planning report produced this year in conjunction with the Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure identified and prioritised upgrading and repair work. The commonwealth has made capital funding of $585,000 available for the first six months of this financial year and will make $109,000 available in the second half. Funds have been used this year to seal the internal roads in Indulkana, and commonwealth funding has also been used to provide an all-weather gravel road from Indulkana to the Stuart Highway of approximately 11 kilometres.

DTEI is engaging, by a memorandum of understanding with my agency (Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation), to project manage the planning, upgrading and maintenance of major APY roads. DTEI has secured black spot funding for the erection of safety signs and the upgrading of creek crossings near Pukatja, both of which are to be included this year. We are working on the issue, but much more needs to be done.

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