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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-06-12 Daily Xml
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CADELL FERRY

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (15:24): I rise today to speak about the government's disgraceful decision to close the Cadell ferry. Apparently this decision has been made so that the government can save $400,000 per year. I can understand that there is not endless money to spend on everything going on in the state, but what is most concerning for me about this is the fact that the $400,000 is going to be spent in another town. There will actually be nothing saved to the state: this is just a penalty on Cadell. They will relocate the ferry, or perhaps sell the ferry, and the annual operating budget will just be transferred to another town on the Murray where a ferry currently operates.

The town of Cadell has approximately 100 people. It has suffered enormously over the last 10 years through the worst drought on record in our state. Cadell, probably more than any other town in the river, has suffered, and that is very clear to anybody who takes the time to visit and look around at what were vineyards and orchards and what was a thriving small country town.

This town has a very good and strong heart. It is towns like this that deserve support. It is not good enough for the government to just say, 'This is a small town with one of the least patronised ferries on the river, so we'll just get rid of it.' It is actually the government's job to provide these services. It is the government's job, in all different portfolio areas, to provide services where business cannot. That is one of the main reasons we have government. Just to say to Cadell, 'Sorry, bad luck, we're going to put these resources somewhere else,' is not good enough. Why is it that every time this government needs to save money, it turns to regional South Australia first? Why is it that this government looks for soft targets? I can tell you that the township of Cadell will not be a soft target. The township of Cadell will do whatever is required to stand up against this decision. This ferry is incredibly important to this town.

Another really disgraceful aspect of this decision is the lack of notice. There was no community consultation. The community was informed informally last Monday (4 June) that the ferry is going to be pulled at the end of this month. It got no formal notification until late last week. So the community has approximately three weeks' notice that one of its most important assets is going to be taken away.

This ferry is very important for many reasons, not the least of which is that in extremely high water, in flooding times, it is one of the last ferries able to operate. So, it may well be one of the only ferries at a time of flood—this one that is to go—that is able to operate. Another of the most important aspects about this, which I just do not think the government gets, is the impact on the school.

Members here have heard me talk about small schools in regional South Australia many times. At present, there are 26 students in the Cadell school, of which five, plus two staff, travel to school every day on this ferry. If they cannot get to school on that ferry, they then have to travel via Waikerie or Morgan. Why would you drive right past another primary school to take your students to Cadell? The shortest route right now is directly to Cadell. I think it is very likely that these kids will go to one of the other primary schools that they will have to drive past. I really fear that this will be the last nail in the coffin for the Cadell school, which is actually a fantastic local primary school that does wonderful work and which is extremely well supported by the whole community.

This extra burden is imposed not only on the school but on the locals, businesses and visitors. Asking people who come to Cadell from that side of the river to travel through Morgan or Waikerie (of course, good luck for Morgan or Waikerie—and I do not begrudge them at all) has the potential to kill Cadell.

Cadell has a great spirit. The community works extremely hard in many ways, including with tourism. They put on the Cadell Easter Harvest Festival, and I can tell you that the ferry at Morgan and also at Cadell is packed on that day. This is a community that works exceptionally hard.

It is absolutely outrageous that the government can spend $40 million on a footbridge for pedestrians to walk across the Torrens to get to the Adelaide Oval for entertainment but cannot spend $400,000 a year for this important piece of infrastructure so that local people, businesses, tourists, all sorts of visitors, can travel across the River Murray to get to Cadell. It is outrageous that the government can find $40 million for that footbridge, on top of the $535 million for the upgrade of the Adelaide Oval, but cannot find $400,000 for Cadell.

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