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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-06-30 Daily Xml
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SPORTS STADIUM

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Gambling) (15:33): I apologise to the house for the state of my voice because I know how much members enjoy listening to my voice—

An honourable member: Your dulcet tones!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Today I rise to grieve as a local member of parliament who is concerned about the direction in which the Liberal Party is taking the stadium debate. If the Liberal Party had its way it is now claiming that it would build a brand new stadium on the third oval of the Adelaide High School site. That Adelaide High School third oval is directly behind (or in front, depending on your perspective) of the good residents of Mile End, Thebarton and Torrensville. There has been no consultation with those residents about a 60,000-seat stadium on their doorstep. No policy was put forward by the local Liberal candidate during the last election campaign, nor did he mention what that would do to the suburbs.

In fairness to the people of North Adelaide, they knew before the election, they had a choice. They knew—

Dr McFetridge: They chose.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Indeed; the member for Morphett said, 'They chose.' There were two proposals before the parliament. If the Liberal Party had been successful—if they had actually run a decent campaign—they would have rebuilt the RAH on its existing site and used the rail yards site for a stadium. The people of North Adelaide knew that and voted accordingly. The people of Mile End, Thebarton and Torrensville did not know from the Liberal Party in advance that its new plan is to build a 60,000-seat stadium with a roof behind Adelaide High School. The Liberal Party did not tell them that at all.

I have circulated the Leader of the Opposition's quotes to those residents, asking them to respond to me about their views of this new Liberal Party policy, and I can foresee a great deal of anger towards the Liberal Party for not being open and honest. They were honest about wanting to get rid of the curfew. The Leader of the Opposition, before the election, said she wants the airport curfew changed. She made that quite clear during the election campaign, and I campaigned on that very strongly. So, tick the Liberal Party for being honest on that issue. But, when it comes to the new stadium, I doubt very much that the good people of West Torrens had any inclination that this was their new plan.

What would a new stadium do to the people of Mile End, Torrensville and Thebarton? The same way that residents of North Adelaide would be concerned about Adelaide Oval, even though they had a choice before the election because they knew all about it—

Mr Pengilly: Get Barton Terrace west opened up. That concerns us.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Not Mile End, Thebarton and Torrensville.

Mr Pengilly: No, you mentioned North Adelaide.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I would have thought that they would share the same concerns as their brothers and sisters in North Adelaide, who they have so much in common with. I would imagine that they would be very unhappy with members opposite and, especially, the Leader of the Opposition. Just to make an off-the-cuff remark as the Leader of the Opposition and say, 'Yes, we lost the election'—and I talked about that yesterday—'so there will not be a rebuild of the RAH on its current site. The RAH will be built on this new site and the stadium will be upgraded, but we are doing our best to try to stop that. But, if we are elected in 2014, we will build a stadium behind Adelaide High School.' She spent a billion dollars and decided on a site in 30 seconds, on the radio.

Mr Pengilly: You just pulled that out off the top of your head.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I would like to read about this on Facebook from members opposite. I cannot wait to read the member for Finniss' blog on his Facebook status. Last time I checked his status it said, 'Michael Pengilly, still sacked'. So, I will be taking up this cause for my constituents. I will fight any attempt to build a new stadium behind the Adelaide High School site because I think—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I got it from the radio because the Leader of the Opposition on the radio suggested an alternative site: the Adelaide High School oval. They were her words.

Mr Pengilly: Where did you get the billion dollars from?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: They were her words, again. I will be making sure that those words are distributed far and wide in the western suburbs and letting people know that the Liberal Party now has a new policy of building a new stadium behind Adelaide High School.

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey.

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Finniss! You are very noisy today.

Mr Pengilly: I am. I'm sorry, your worship.

The SPEAKER: That is an elevation in status for me. Thank you very much for that. Member for Chaffey, please ignore the member for Finniss.

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