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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-06-02 Daily Xml
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BAROSSA VALLEY ROADS

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (15:47): Today I rise to express my concern at the state's spiralling road toll. The Barossa lost its sixth for the year last week, a young lad who did the eulogy for his friend the week before. Why? What can we do? There are so many questions. The RAA's 'Vision for South Australian Roads' was released in April, and I have to say that, with regard to their recommendations and analysis of roads in the Barossa Valley, I was not at all surprised.

I have spoken numerous times in this house about the state of the Barossa Valley Way—the main route for freight, tourists and the locals throughout the Barossa, and the recommendations support what I have known and have been advocating for a long time. These two young men lost their lives in separate incidents along this stretch of road, and it makes one wonder whether these tragedies would have occurred if the road conditions had been improved. Hitting trees seems to be the main problem. In government we removed many problem trees along the Lyndoch to Gawler road, and more were earmarked. But we have not removed those. They are still there. The RAA's 'Vision for South Australian Roads' report states:

The Barossa Valley Way is currently rated well below standard by the Australian Road Assessment Program's accepted four-star standard, with almost 75 per cent of the road rated at only two stars.

The report goes on to state that:

Roadside hazards and a large number of unprotected curves are also of major concern. In the five years to 2007, more than 20 per cent of all crashes occurring on the Barossa Valley Way occurred as a result of run off road crashes.

This has been proven true in the worst possible way. The two young Barossa men, both under the age of 20, who were killed in the past two weeks slammed into trees on the side of the road. I have been calling for extra funding for this road specifically for many years, along with funding for other dangerous roads in the Barossa, and the response I have received from the other side of the house, particularly since the Northern Expressway project has been under way, is that the government has spent more money on roads within the Schubert electorate than many others. That is the only response I got.

Well, I ask the state Rann Labor government, in the wake of the spate of recent fatal crashes that has taken place: what price do you put on a life? It is blatantly clear to all who travel along the Barossa Valley Highway that it is in serious need of an upgrade, and the RAA has rated it as two stars for years. What will it take to see some action?

Two weeks ago there was a further fatality on another heavily utilised road in the Barossa, at a dangerous level crossing on Railway Terrace, the main road which connects Nuriootpa to Angaston. I have been concerned about this level crossing for some time. It is on a sharp bend in the road, and there was another fatality there just four years ago.

Despite this, they missed out on funding from the Level Crossing Black Spot Program and any other funding to make it safer. I understand that the council has now been awarded funding to upgrade another crossing in the area, and that crossing was probably as dangerous as this one. Surely, the government could have provided funding to upgrade more than one crossing in the area, especially when it clearly poses a danger to motorists.

I make this simple suggestion: that the government implement the cuts to government advertising the Premier announced in the 2006-07 budget, rather than defer them, and spend the money on improving the safety of our roads, especially at black spots such as these.

To many, these young Barossa men, killed so tragically in the past couple of weeks, may just be another road statistic, but to many I know, because I have been their representative for so long (last night there was a huge public meeting in the Barossa attended by 250 people), they are so much more than a statistic: they are sons, brothers, nephews, colleagues and friends. They were living, breathing human beings whose lives were filled with potential and hope, but they have now been cruelly wiped out.

In these difficult financial times, when we see the Treasurer trying to convince the rating agencies about our credit rating and see debt increasing to stimulate the economy via infrastructure expenditure, I fear that the country will be forgotten again. We are expanding the O-Bahn, extending the southern rail corridor, refurbishing the Belair line and extending the tram service. These are big ticket items, but where are they? They are all in the city, once again demonstrating the city centric attitude of the Rann Labor government.

In order to save lives so that South Australia has a future and invest in infrastructure for the future of the state, the government needs to spend more money on country roads—and it needs to do it now. I hope that the budget on Thursday contains some funds to upgrade at least the Barossa Valley Way, and I ask again: what price do you put on life?

I know that factors other than the roads must be considered in this spate of fatal accidents—speed, high performance cars, sports mufflers and poor driver attitude, especially the feeling of invincibility inherent in our youth. How do we know? We were all young once, but we did not have cars like the young ones have today. This is a sad, serious matter. To all the families affected by these tragedies, I extend my sincere condolences.

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