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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-02-22 Daily Xml
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SOUTHERN EXPRESSWAY

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (16:32): One of the key election commitments and major infrastructure investments of the Rann government is the duplication of the Southern Expressway. Naturally, this project is of major importance to my electorate of Mitchell. It will provide enormous benefits, including local employment opportunities, during the construction and long term economic and social benefits to the community.

On 20 and 24 November last year, the Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure held two community information open days, inviting the public to come along, provide input into the planning process, hear about the time frames for construction and the community engagement process that will occur along the way.

I personally wrote to more than 2,200 households closest to the current expressway to ensure that they were aware of the open days. I have also hosted briefings at my office with the Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure and local environmental groups, including the Friends of the Lower Field River and Friends of Glenthorne, to make sure communication is open and ongoing. These face-to-face briefings mean that everybody is involved and that there is open, transparent and up-front communication. I will continue to work to ensure that the local community groups are kept in the loop regarding this project.

We all understand that the reality of large infrastructure programs is that there is going to be a certain amount of inconvenience and some environmental and community impact along the way. The objective is to try to minimise these negatives and maximise the positives that can be realised from the completion of a project this size.

There has been a lot of feedback from residents in Mitchell, who will remember the project the first time around. I have got to say that much of this is negative. Aside from the disappointment associated with having a one-way expressway, residents also report lack of communication on the part of the former government as well as a lack of transparency throughout the process.

The key the success of such projects is to do everything possible to ensure that residents, business and community groups are as involved in the project as possible. I am pleased to note that DTEI has set up a hotline number and email address linked directly to the project team, so the questions and concerns can be addressed as they arise. Next Wednesday, the industry capability network will be hosting a breakfast to increase awareness around the business opportunities available to suppliers and contractors for the project. Most importantly, the project impact report and concept design will be released before the middle of this year. The community will have 30 days in which to provide feedback. DTEI will consider and respond to every group and individual who provides a written submission during this process, and the investigations from the planning study will be summarised in the project impact report.

The concept design was developed following these investigations and balanced with a range of factors, including safety, community needs, environmental impact, local heritage and visual amenity, as well as cost and construction. I will work very hard to ensure that business, community groups and residents of Mitchell are given an opportunity to understand and provide feedback on the project report and concept design.

Certainly, everyone I have spoken to has expressed disappointment that it could not have been done right the first time around. However, despite having to fix the mistakes of the former government, we can work together to deliver positive results this time.

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