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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
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REGIONAL TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (11:36): I move:

That this house recognises the significant positive contribution that transport infrastructure throughout Regional South Australia makes to regional communities and to our whole state's economy.

I was extremely fortunate last year to have an intern from Mr Clem Macintyre's program, as we all have the opportunity, come and work with me and my staff member Mr Chris Hanna, on some very important regional development matters. I particularly asked for an intern with a strong economics background, not particularly studying politics. I wanted somebody who understood economics and regional communities, because that is what I wanted to delve into. I wanted a report that would contribute to quantifying exactly how different infrastructure provided by the government in regional communities contributes to regional economies and also regional communities with regard to more the important social strengths aspect.

I was very fortunate to have Ms Alexandra Grigg come and work with me and do an excellent job. What I asked her to look at specifically was the different ways that health facilities and infrastructure, sporting facilities and infrastructure, education and transport impacted on regional communities. Some of the measures used were population, income, crime rates, volunteering rates, employment rates, and age spread, which is a very important gauge of any community. If you have a fairly even spread of ages—lots of young people, lots of middle-aged people and lots of old people—whether it is a big or a small community, that is a very important gauge of the health of that community.

Ms Grigg did some excellent work for me and was able to, through her economics and in fact econometrics knowledge, really start to quantify some of this. I am going to read some excerpts from her report.

Economically, it can be seen in the findings of this report that transport infrastructure expenditure increases real median weekly household income by $128.47 per unit invested. This additional expenditure has economic multiplier effects, including increased employment opportunities which flow on to influence the social welfare of the community. Transport services facilitated extended access of regional South Australian towns' residents to other opportunities, both economic and social. As a result of increased transport facilities in the district, there is a greater ease with which community members can access other services available in both their immediate and surrounding networks.

As you know, Mr Deputy Speaker, this report was into a range of facilities: sporting, health and education, as well as transport, but I am confining this discussion and these quotes to transport. The report continues:

As can be seen in the town population regression in section 3.1, a one unit increase in regional transport facilities generates 2,274.70 (significant at a 5% confidence level) increase in the population of that district...

The increase in regional community population due to transport infrastructure also results in the diversification of age groups present in the diversification of age groups present in the district. With the increase in businesses and services responding to increased demand due to urbanisation, and the greater ease with which residents can access these facilities, the increase in local population is coupled with the diversification of age groups present in the town. As can be seen in the regression in section 3.1, transport infrastructure investment increases local age group diversity by 0.364 units. This result is also significant at a 5% confidence level.

These findings suggest the multiplier effect to investment in rural transport facilities significantly increase the social capital of the district, in turn ,enhancing community strength.

Another excerpt states:

The networks developed through rural, social and economic facilities create support and interaction which results in numerous benefits including increased perceived community safety and a reduction in crime rates. Investment in these facilities allows social networks to prosper, in turn, developing greater social capital. As a result, the community is able to experience many economic and social opportunities, allowing for further economic and social welfare multiplier effects (which are both ongoing and long term). Consequently, these robust communities experience a wide variety of benefits including improved safety, reduced crime rates, improved health, lower mortality rates and improved social interaction, overall a greater sense of community.

We would all agree that those are incredibly important outcomes, but I suspect that most members of the house would not have known that those outcomes can be directly related to government investment and infrastructure in the transport sector in regional communities.

Mr Deputy Speaker, you know that I am a very passionate, focused, rural member of parliament, and there are others here who fit that category, but this is evidence-based. This is a quantitative study that proves how important this investment is, and it also proves the benefits in a commercial and economic outcome as well as the benefits in a social and community capital outcome. I will read a quick summary from the report in regard to transport facilities:

Regional South Australian transport facilities, by far, have the greatest impact on a community's social welfare. Investment in transport facilities in rural areas increase the flow of social capital, allowing for a superior spread of information, news opportunities and access to larger, more urbanised townships.

Increasing regional transport facility investment in South Australia significantly increases real median income, population, age spread diversity, full-time employment rates and the cluster of businesses within a community.

The significant economic multiplier outcomes are: increased economic opportunities, increased local expenditure, and increased outside revenue. The significant social welfare multiplier effects include: increased flow of social capital, increased diversity, increased access to opportunities, and increased spread of information. That is compelling and conclusive evidence of what I suspect we all would have assumed, but it is very important to get those sorts of numbers and that sort of research done, and I thank Ms Grigg for the work she had done on that.

In the electorate of Stuart, which I represent, this plays out in many ways, and let me start with Yorkeys Crossing. For those who do not know, Yorkeys Crossing is a dirt road that runs around the northern outskirts of Port Augusta, essentially from the south-eastern side of town, and joins onto the Stuart Highway north-north west of Port Augusta. It is an exceptionally important piece of road that needs upgrading. It needs upgrading because right now the main road through the middle of town across the bridge, with one lane in each direction, is the significant transport route from Sydney to Perth and from Adelaide to Darwin, not to mention its importance regionally in the Upper Spencer Gulf and within the town of Port Augusta.

Yorkeys Crossing is an exceptionally important piece of road infrastructure that deserves an upgrade because right now we have double road trains travelling from Adelaide to Darwin or Sydney to Perth sharing one lane each way with mums taking their kids to or from school. It is not sustainable, it cannot go on any longer, and we need to have a solution to this problem. The long-term solution in one form or another is two lanes each way across the gulf, but the interim solution is the sealing of the road that is already there.

This is incredibly important because not only is it the key transport route but all the emergency services in Port Augusta are on the east side of town and there is a continually growing residential development on the west side of town. This means that if the bridge is out for some reason, as has happened three times in the last 3½ years, because of a breakdown, an acid spill or something like that from heavy transport, the emergency services cannot get across the bridge.

If an older person has a heart attack, a younger person breaks an arm, somebody gets bitten by a snake, or if there is some medical emergency, a fire or some other type of emergency service requirement, and the bridge is shut, they have to go via Yorkeys Crossing. It is a gravel road. It is a slow road. It is the long way around and, if it is raining, the road is closed. In Port Augusta, we only need six millimetres of rain to shut Yorkeys Crossing.

Under those circumstances—heaven forbid it would ever happen—the person on the west side of the gulf would not receive the emergency service they deserve. Of course, the backup is the old bridge that can take up to two tonnes, I think, which is an ambulance but not a fire truck. They have to take padlocks and unlock bollards because right now it only has regular public walking access. It is a very slow, cumbersome and unacceptable path. We need to upgrade Yorkeys Crossing. The evidence that I went to in fairly great detail describes how important investment in this sort of transport infrastructure is.

There are numerous other country roads and outback roads. When I think of outback roads my mind goes immediately to the three main tracks: the Strzelecki Track, the Birdsville Track, which are both in the electorate of Stuart, and the Oodnadatta Track, which forms largely the boundary between the electorates of Giles and Stuart. Those three tracks are very important pieces of infrastructure, but the Strzelecki Track is the one that really generates significant wealth for our state.

The Strzelecki Track is the one that goes up to Moomba and links the bitumen from Adelaide to Lyndhurst with the oil and gas fields in the Cooper Basin. The Strzelecki Track is the one that links us with enormous economic opportunities and wealth growth in the north-east of South Australia and into Queensland. That road needs some upgrading. I understand nobody can lay bitumen across the entire 500 kilometres straightaway. I would not expect that from a Liberal or a Labor government, but a Liberal or a Labor government must be focused on trying to upgrade that piece of road infrastructure. A small amount has been done on some creek crossings and some overtaking lanes, but the work needs to continue.

We have already talked about the Cadell ferry in great detail today, so I will not do that again, but the Cadell ferry is a perfect example of an important piece of transport infrastructure. The government wanted to close it. It cannot be closed and none of the other ferries should be closed either. Ports and rail are absolutely vital and, at the other end of the spectrum, have the opportunity to unlock enormous amounts of wealth generation within our state—whether it be through agriculture, through exports, ideally, of our mineral, gas and oil resources, or through improved tourism in some way through rail.

Let me now turn to speed limits. This government has already reduced country road speed limits in an enormous part of the state from 110 down to 100 km/h. They currently are considering nearly 200 extra stretches of road to do exactly the same thing. As well as the ridiculous impost on the lives of good country people driving responsibly, it makes our country road network so much less efficient. What I am speaking about in this motion is the important contribution of our road and transport infrastructure, but that infrastructure has to be used efficiently.

The government wants to take roads that are perfectly safe—73 of those roads have had no accidents and no serious injuries in the last five years—and pretend this is all about safety when clearly it is not. If the government wants to make people who currently drive at 110 km/h then drive at 100, if the government wants to take trucks that are currently allowed to drive at 100 km/h and tell them that they are allowed to drive at 90, and if the government wants to take trucks that are currently allowed to drive at 90 km/h and tell them that they have to drive at 80 km/h, there is just going to be a gigantic handbrake on our state's economy. It will mean that the road infrastructure we currently have in our state is made far less efficient than it currently is, and that will go straight to the heart of our state's economy and our opportunity to generate wealth.

While I am speaking about trying to increase and improve our state's transport infrastructure to generate extra wealth and extra community capacity and strength, the government is actually making our arterial roads less efficient, so it will actually drag down our wealth generation, drag down our community capacity. It will mean those really important pieces of infrastructure will in future contribute less to our state than they do currently.

The Hon. L.R. BREUER (Giles) (11:52): I rise to support this motion on behalf of the government because I think it is good and fitting that on the last day of this parliament we acknowledge regional communities, the infrastructure that is out there, and our economy. The state government has certainly recognised that transport infrastructure and land use planning are fundamental for supporting economic and population growth in South Australia. Travelling the number of kilometres that I travel throughout the state, I certainly know that we need to have that infrastructure.

The implementation of projects and strategies has been guided by the state government's seven strategic priorities, South Australia's Strategic Plan, the Strategic Infrastructure Plan for South Australia (including the regional overview), and the Planning Strategy for South Australia.

The new draft Integrated Transport and Land Use Plan, which has been released for public consultation, has a strong focus on transport solutions and actions for South Australia over the next 30 years. Of course, with the development of mining this will be particularly important. The plan aims to position the transport system in South Australia to support the mining, primary and tourism industries and our regional communities. Examples of the regional transport infrastructure identified in the plan include:

targeted road widening, which is really important. I spent a day in New Zealand recently and realised how good our roads and highways are compared with their system. Certainly we need more overtaking lanes. When you travel in those country areas you know the need for them;

rest areas so that people can stop and rest—and I will not mention city drivers—and that includes the Augusta Highway to Port Augusta, the Sturt Highway to the Riverland, the Riddoch Highway to the South-East, the Eyre Highway to the west, the Barrier Highway to New South Wales, the Stuart Highway to the Far North (which I know very well), and the Lincoln Highway;

capacity improvements, including duplication of the Augusta and Sturt highways in the long term;

town bypasses at Penola, Port Wakefield and Truro, and a potential bypass at Renmark, and upgrading of Yorkeys Crossing at Port Augusta, which has long been a problem; and

upgrading and sealing the Strzelecki Track, which the member for Stuart was talking about. That is quite an amazing road to go along and, certainly, given the amount of transport on that road now, I am glad that we are looking at it seriously;

duplicating the Dukes Highway to Victoria;

expanded pit to port capacity for the mining sector. This is becoming a real issue and I do not know how many ports are being proposed. We have not seen one yet, but it will happen. This is being investigated as part of the Regional Mining and Infrastructure Planning project, including new deep sea ports and road, rail and pipeline access;

upgrading of the interstate rail line. It was wonderful in my time here to experience the opening of the Darwin-Adelaide railway line. We are certainly looking at a new line to Olympic Dam which will be needed; and

upgrades to regional airports, which it is good to see happening at present, and of course there is still plenty that needs to be done.

These solutions and actions will require both public and private investment and will improve the efficiency of our freight routes, our ports and our end-to-end supply chains. The significant investments in infrastructure that will be driven by these plans and strategies will support jobs and protect important services for South Australians.

I know it is a very common complaint of people in regional areas and I have said it many times myself—in fact, I read my maiden speech and it was one of my main complaints and now I am giving that maiden speech to the member for Stuart because he can use it, I am sure—but in regional areas $1.8 billion has been spent between 2001-02 and 2012-13 on the construction, maintenance and resurfacing of roads.

In relation to that point on resurfacing roads, while I am on my feet I do want to pay tribute to the Williams family of the Far North: Trevor, Tony and Wayne Williams who own Nilpinna, Hamilton and Mount Barry stations. For a long time they have been the bane of government because of the number of times they went on the radio and complained about the state of their roads in their part of the state. It was actually quite incredible. Regularly they were on radio complaining about it, particularly if we had had bad weather, etc.

They have done an incredible job in getting the message through to the government about how important it is to keep those roads maintained. Certainly one of the biggest humiliations in my life was being up there at one stage after heavy rain and having to call in to Mount Barry station, I think it was, and ask Tony where we could go from there to get through to the other side. Having to ask a Williams brother about a road was pretty tough and they gloated at the time.

I also want to pay tribute to Alan Morris at Port Augusta who heads up transport there. He has been working in the job now for probably four years. He does an excellent job. Alan is very approachable. He does understand the conditions out there because he has lived in Port Augusta, Whyalla and Hawker. He has worked from those areas and he does understand the importance of the roads. He has been very good at negotiating and working between the government and the station-owners and the other residents in the outback. He has done an amazing job over the years and I want to express my appreciation to him as well.

I do want to just bring up one point while I am here. I have an issue currently and this goes back to what we are talking about here about upgrading roads, etc., because of the mining industry. I know there is a particular patch of road between Whyalla and Iron Baron, which is a turn-off from the Lincoln Highway to the Iron Baron. Of course, Iron Baron mine has now been opened and there has been an incredible amount of traffic going through there. I know there are real concerns from the workers and the union about the safety of that road, and there has already been a number of incidents.

I am hoping that the state government will look at that and look at surfacing that road in the near future, as they did with the Lincoln Highway to Lucky Bay to put the ferry in. If you have a need there, it needs to be seriously looked at, so I hope they will look at that. It was always a very good road. In fact I used to laugh, because I to travel that road quite regularly. I like to go down there and cut through because it is beautiful country through there to Kimba. We always called it the Barry Wakelin Highway because Barry lived on that road and it always seemed to be in really good condition, but I understand that first patch now is quite degraded—I have not been there for a few months—so I am hoping that that will be looked at seriously.

Transport and infrastructure is really important out there in our regions and I have had arguments here with my colleagues about the state of the roads in city areas, metropolitan areas and the outer metropolitan areas. I have had a lot of complaints about the state of their roads and potholes and whatever, but what we are talking about, when we talk about the outback particularly, is a lifeline between two communities.

If you are living at Oodnadatta and your child has a seizure during the night, and you have to get to the Coober Pedy Hospital, you have to go across 200 kilometres of gravel road. It is extremely dangerous. You have to be very careful. So, what we are talking about are lifelines for people, and that is essential to keep at the forefront all the time. I know that the traffic is much heavier on city roads in metropolitan areas. It is much heavier; we know that. However, the fact of the matter is these are roads that we need to travel on. We need to use them for emergencies and everyday living, so there has to be a lot of input into those areas to make those roads safe for people who live out there.

I support this motion. I am pleased that the member for Stuart has brought this up. It is not very often that I support a motion from the other side, but I am very happy to support this one. I look forward to a great future for us.

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (12:01): It is appropriate that on my last day in the place we have a subject like this. I congratulate the member for Stuart for bringing this up. In my whole time here, 24 years, this issue has been paramount, particularly for me as a country person. Transport infrastructure is a very important issue for all us country members. I appreciate what the member for Giles has just said.

I have always been a strong advocate of trying to maintain the standard of our highways so that we can increase speed limits, not decrease them as we have been doing. Having been to China and other places where they are increasing their speed limits right across the country, travelling in a Chinese train at 330 kilometres an hour is unbelievable. Pouring a glass of wine, there is not a ripple in it. They are amazing technologies. We cannot knock the Chinese for not building quality products.

I feel that we, in this country, are behind the eight ball in relation to infrastructure, particularly in relation to transport infrastructure and people. Not only does Europe have the TGV fast trains, now China has these very fast trains, as do most countries, but what are we doing about it? We are putting a new train on the road this morning and its top speed is 110 kilometres an hour. We are falling behind, and this motion really highlights it.

We have to dual our highways, not just reduce the speed limits. We need to dual our highways north from Port Wakefield to Port Pirie as stage one; the Sturt Highway from Nuriootpa to the state border, the Dukes Highway, Tailem Bend to the state border. I think the only thing I can thank the Bannon-Arnold Labor government for was the dualling of the highway from Adelaide to Port Wakefield. It is the only thing I can think of regarding major public works that they did that I thought was worthwhile. It is well used and it has dropped the road toll considerably, so why don't you continue it? Push it further forward. You see people do some stupid things on country roads.

We want more passing lanes, particularly in our tourism areas, especially on the Clare road between Tarlee and Clare and, even more importantly, Auburn to Clare because the road there is very bad. I regularly drive on it. I see drivers take ridiculous risks because it is difficult to pass slow moving machinery, trucks and everything that uses this local road. Of course, the visibility ahead is very poor; it is a very winding and bendy narrow road. Some passing lanes, at least, need to be put in there urgently between Auburn and Clare because people get frustrated and they just put their foot down and hope nothing is coming around the corner. If there is, there is a mad scatter with dirt and dust flying up. It happens every time I drive on the road.

Anama Lane: this is not in my electorate but at last the road has been sealed and detoured around there, and that has been a 22-year thing that I have been pushing for over many years, but at least it is there and it is now the member for Frome's area. The work was done over a long time but I am pleased to see that is there after 24 years of campaigning.

As to the by-pass roads in Clare, and I think the member for Goyder as a past local government person would sympathise, it annoys me that communities like Clare, and Gawler to a lesser extent, have not allowed the by-pass of these main streets because all the traffic goes right through the middle of Clare, as it does at Gawler. That annoys me because, as a community, you are going from one end of the state to the other. You sit in the main street of Clare while a little old lady is trying to park her Morris on the side of the street. It is all very well, because I am an MP and I wave and smile but, I will tell you what, I get very grumpy when I am running against time.

We should not have semitrailers in the main street of Gawler or Clare because they need to have a bypass road. Many options have been put up. The member for Gawler-Light is here. Why the heck doesn't somebody bite the bullet and make that decision.

Likewise for Truro. In my electorate of Truro they need to bypass the main street. It is not a big deal, nowhere near as big a deal as the other two, but the option is there and it should be taken up because we want these heavy vehicles out of the main street. Likewise in the Barossa; we want the completion of the heavy vehicle bypass to get these trucks out of our towns. There is nothing worse than sitting in Nuriootpa, talking to the local baker lady—a lovely lady; in fact, I had the federal member there the other day—with these trucks crashing past. She said, 'Those trucks don't need to be here,' and I said, 'Exactly right.' They are going through and they should be going around. We do not want these trucks in these towns when they do not need to be there. Give them a convenient option.

The member for Stuart mentioned the three tracks, particularly the Strzelecki. I was in the north not that long ago, and I could not agree with him more. These roads are critical to our state's economy, particularly when you realise the amount of money that is being spent by the mining industry. When you move around you see quite clearly that a lot of the mining business is going over the border to Queensland, and you wonder why.

If you drive out east of Innamincka you will see what we mean. The road to the border is absolutely shocking. It is an unsealed, rough track. You get to the border and what have you got? A sealed highway. Magnificent. You cannot believe the difference. Why don't we at least do our side to marry it up; but, no. I cannot believe that we have not upgraded these roads for the sake of our state's economy, because mining business is our future.

The member for Stuart also mentioned country road speed limits being reduced. I got in trouble the other day for something I said in here. Maybe I should not have said it, but it is true. I think it is ridiculous. I think common sense should come into this whole issue of speed limits. I am happy to get pinged for breaking the speed limit law if I am taking risk or not driving safely or not being responsible. However, placing 100km/h speed limits on some of these country roads is just ridiculous, particularly when you are driving late at night and there are no cars.

I remind the house that I have done 1½ million kilometres since I have been in this place and I have had very few accidents—

The Hon. J.D. Hill: Very few?

Mr VENNING: What did he say?

Mr Whetstone: Kangaroos.

Mr VENNING: Kangaroos. Several kangaroos, that's true, for sure. As you travel around the world, to Germany and these sorts of places, the speed limits are going up. Here in Australia they are going down. Is there a message there for us? Are we doing something wrong? Technology is improving and increasing and we are going the other way. I believe the dual highway to Port Wakefield could at least be trialled at 120km/h as long as we upgrade some of those intersections. That is the problem with high speeds—intersections. All roads should be designed so that we have unders and overs so that no direct intersections are on these highways. I get a bit steamed up about that.

I also wonder why we cannot run a railcar to Port Pirie and/or to the South-East because trains are also a part of transport infrastructure. I cannot understand why the government will not at least trial the return of the Barossa Wine Train. The track is there and it is not very much used. The quarry train now only runs two or three days a week, so there is plenty of timetable on that line to run a passenger train.

I have read what the member for Light had to say in the media this last week. It was in the local rag. I have never heard a bigger load of rubbish in my life. The track is already there. You do not need to encourage anybody. A person has bought the train, wants to run it, and you put every impediment in his way to say why he cannot run it. The track is there. I just feel so sorry. I will mention the man's name: Mr John Geber, who has now gone and bought an American venture because this just has not happened. I am so sad for him because he had the guts to have a crack.

What I want to see to get people off our roads is to get them into trains. I would also like to see—and the member did not mention this the other day—the metro ticket introduced for the people in the Barossa people, so that they can get to Gawler and catch the new electric train that will get there one day down the track. So, that is what we are asking for.

It is a very good motion from the member for Stuart. It is very appropriate that we all agree here, on the last day of this parliament. I am pleased that the government is going to support it. Well done, the member for Stuart. It has been a subject of mine, and I will watch in my retirement with interest to see what you are going to do about it.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (12:10): I too rise to support the member for Stuart's motion regarding transport infrastructure in regional South Australia and just how crucial it is to this state, not only for its economy but its part in the network that is vital for South Australia to be interconnected. I think most of us here today take the use of our roads for granted, and the cost. It is not only about the roads and the cost but also what it generates and what it delivers for the dollar invested.

I want to talk about the roads and the maintenance of the roads, and I want to particularly talk about the safety of our roads, the economy and also the challenges it presents to tourism. I think, first of all, the roads in South Australia, particularly in the electorate of Chaffey but in all of the regional electorates that have their main arterial roads, whether they be federal, state or local government roads, are a vital piece of infrastructure that is part of the network to deliver produce to collection points or central silo points. Whether it is delivering produce to ports or whether it is delivering produce to airports for airfreight that network is vital for this state's economy.

I must say that I live on the Sturt Highway, which is one of the federal highways that runs out of the eastern seaboard into South Australia or connects to the west and carries the majority of freight. I am seeing that the connection to that Sturt Highway is now starting to be utilised more and more because a lot of the state roads are now in such a state of disarray—and the maintenance backlog continues to grow—it is forcing transport operators and all forms of road users to look for the safest road and the road that is potentially in the best condition, so that they can actually get to their destination without wrecking their vehicle or continuing to put more pressure on the road. As we know, one pothole turns into two. A piece of shoulder on a highway degrades very quickly because, obviously, you bounce out of a hole, you bounce off the shoulder and it just increases the impact on that road.

I have had a number of constituents write to me on a regular basis with concerns over safety. I have taken photos and written many letters to our state minister, wanting some maintenance program for certain sections of road, particularly sections on the Goyder Highway, the Stott Highway, the Karoonda Road and the Mallee Highway. I know that the Mallee Highway is a vital piece of road infrastructure between the electorates of Chaffey and Hammond. That is a road that is really going under the radar. Considering the amount of produce that comes out of the Mallee, that heads towards receival depots or heads towards markets or the port, it needs to be reassessed.

I know that some of the big, broadacre, horticulture businesses, particularly in the Mallee, are extremely concerned about the condition of the roads, the impact it is having on their vehicles and the impact it is having on oncoming traffic. I have had operators come to me saying that line of sight has been an issue. At the moment, we are seeing many grain trucks. As I said yesterday, we are right in the middle of grain harvest, and it is forecast that there will be the equivalent of around 10,000 B-double trucks travelling from farm gates to receival depots in the eight to 10-week period of grain harvest in the Mallee.

It is about what this represents: every time trucks pass, the shoulders are becoming narrower and more damaged. Trucks are now having to run right off the road to avoid knocking off one another's mirrors or endangering the safety of oncoming traffic. That is something that I and other people are very concerned about; it is about safety.

In relation to the maintenance backlog, independent assessors have said that there is around a $400-million backlog of road maintenance statewide. That is really concerning for every road user. It is not just about the commercial users; it is also about the day-to-day private vehicle users and the tourists. Every person who comes in contact with a road that is in need of maintenance is travelling on that road at their own risk. Oncoming traffic, dodging around holes and dodging around shoulder degradation are becoming more prevalent, and road safety is becoming more of an issue as time goes by.

This current government's solution to the backlog of road maintenance and road safety is 'Let's reduce speed limits'. As members on this side have said, reducing speed limits is not about making the roads safer, it is about putting a bandaid on the problem. The bandaid solution is not what this state needs; we need a better program for road maintenance. It is about reducing speed limits on roads that are not a risk to the motorist or commercial operator. As an example, each day we have around 10,300 vehicles travelling on the Sturt Highway, which runs through Chaffey. Of those 10,300-odd vehicles, 32 per cent of those vehicles are commercial vehicles.

We talk about our youth—the P-plate regulations have just come in. Those L-platers and P-platers are young and inexperienced drivers, and they have to face lines of B-double trucks head on, and vehicles coming at them at 110 km/h. The underlying issue is the safety around oncoming traffic, and that is primarily around what the backlog of road maintenance presents with the safety issues.

Tourism is vitally important, not only to local economies, but also the state's economy. We hear that, sadly, tourists are actually avoiding a lot of the roads because they are seeing the degradation of roads and they are also having to deal with an increased number of trucks. The member for Schubert talked about the need to duplicate roads, put in more overtaking lanes, and establish better rest areas.

I note the upgrade of some rest areas on the Sturt Highway in recent times; it beggars belief that we can have a rest area that has a skinny lane off the road with barely enough room to drive off the road and park, and then have the shelter right at the very end of that rest area. It really does seem to be a half-hearted attempt at putting a rest area there to deal with fatigued drivers, and I have concerns in relation to the safety of those drivers who pull into that rest area.

The truck and tourism issue is not fitting in well when we are looking to entice tourists. We are trying to bring people into the regions, and that those people travel safely on our roads. Many of them have made contact with their own electorate offices in relation to issues of road safety, potentially in my electorate and other regional electorates, because they are concerned about the safety and standards of roads. It really is something that this government is not addressing.

I do want to pay tribute to Ted Gilbert, who has been a member of the Road Transport Authority for many years and has recently retired. But I refer to his contribution towards keeping all of the commercial operators on notice to make sure that they were abiding by the law, but also the understanding that he had around making sure that transport operators were aware of the rules and regulations and just knowing how it should be treated and not treating them with a sledgehammer when they came in with something minor, and not, in those cases, giving them a referral defect and sending them down to Regency Park. It is about that working relationship that he had with the commercial sector, and I commend him for that. I am sure that Ted is probably travelling around some of the regional roads today on his journey into retirement. I welcome the member for Stuart's motion.

Time expired.

Mr PEGLER (Mount Gambier) (12:20): I rise to support this very important motion, that the house recognises the significant positive contribution that transport infrastructure throughout regional South Australia makes to regional communities and to our whole state's economy. I might point out that, in living in Mount Gambier, we often compare what we have in this state and in the Mount Gambier electorate to what is just across the border. I might say that, when it comes to health and particularly mental health issues, we are way behind Victoria, but when you look at roads and transport infrastructure, we are that far in front it is unreal. You only have to compare the roads in the Mount Gambier electorate to those just across the border. It is an absolute disgrace, the state they are in.

For many years, I was the chairman of the Roads and Transport Working Group for SELGA, which is South-East Local Government Association. In that time, we developed integrated road transport plans for the South-East and also put in place processes for when councils would put in grant applications for road funding. In that process, those roads had to be part of that plan and they also had to reach certain criteria.

We then had those grant applications assessed by an independent engineer, who basically gave them a mark on what their importance was. Through that process, the South-East was able to gain much more grant funding than it had previously. That was then used as a model for councils right throughout the state.

We also in that time developed a Timber Industry Road Evaluation Study, which looked at the transportation of timber right throughout the Green Triangle region. You must bear in mind that there is about 3 million tonne of pine and up to about 3 million tonne of blue gum transported right throughout the region every year, so we developed plans for the future road infrastructure for the timber industry. Whilst Victoria may be behind, I am proud to say that in the South-East nearly all of those future roads were addressed, so that was a great move in the right way.

We also developed a plan for the Penola bypass and it is good to see that that is now being supported. We also developed a plan for a bypass around Mount Gambier along the Fairbanks and Worrolong roads. We managed to get $3 million out of the federal government and a fair bit out of the state government, and that road has now been fully constructed, which means that there are fewer trucks now going through Mount Gambier, and also for the residents along that road it is much safer now than what it was previously.

I would also say that for the citizens of Mount Gambier who have to travel to Adelaide, I believe that we have seen great improvements on the Dukes Highway over the years. There are several more passing lanes now and a lot more shoulder sealing, which makes it a lot safer for people. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of accidents there, but when you have a look at those accidents it is often more through driver fatigue than the quality of the road. Also, the shoulder sealing on the Princes Highway between Kingston and Meningie has made that a much safer road too.

In my time as the representative of Mount Gambier in this parliament, I have been quite successful in lobbying the government to spend money on the roads in my electorate. Just to give you an example, we now have two new overtaking lanes on the Princes Highway between Millicent and Mount Gambier which cost $3.65 million; the Bay Road has had its shoulder sealing and guard fences put up at a cost of $900,000; we now have traffic lights at the corner of Jubilee Highway and Pick Avenue which cost $1.08 million; the Princes Highway shoulders have been sealed right from the edge of Mount Gambier to the Victorian border which cost $646,000; and one of the notorious intersections, Casterton Road and Attiwel Road, has been upgraded at a cost of $700,000 and it has made that intersection much safer.

Also the intersection at Fairbanks and Worrolong Road at a cost of $784,000 have been completed and the Carpenter Rocks Road has had some shoulder sealing and barrier work done which cost a further $240,000; the South Australian government contribution to the Kennedy Avenue upgrade was $280,000; concept plans have been developed for the Wehl Street and Wireless Road intersection at $117,000; and the Nelson Road/Whitehead Road intersection upgrade cost $69,000.

With our fishing industry, the government has contributed $250,000 to the boat ramp at Blackfellows Caves, which will make it much easier for professional fishermen to get in and out to cart their lobster; and another $60,000 for navigation lights at Carpenter Rocks which will make it much safer for the fishermen when they are going in and out. We've also had a commitment from the South Australian government of $1.87 million for the marine and wharf facilities at Port MacDonnell, so that it will be much better for the professional fishermen to get in and out to sea, and they will also have refuelling facilities, etc.

One of the sad things about this project is that the previous federal government had promised $750,000 towards it which, at the moment, seems to be in limbo, because it had not been signed up. I have been imploring the local member for Barker, Mr Pasin, to get on it and try and get that money back to us and, unfortunately, he basically only gave it a bit of lip service and said that the Grant District Council (who are the proponents of this project) could come along to a meeting that he was organising with an assistant to the minister.

There are roads which I think still need doing in Mount Gambier, particularly the Wireless Road/Penola Road intersection. There has been a lot of debate on that one over many years and, unfortunately we have not been able to get that across the line, and I will continue to push for that for a long time. I also believe that we need some guard rails along the Penola Road in between the airport and Tarpeena where there is a big drop-off, which will make it much safer if people inadvertently run off the road.

I also believe the road between Nelson and Mount Gambier needs some attention with shoulder sealing and, perhaps, guard rails in places. With Mount Gambier being probably one of the major transport hubs in South Australia, I think most of our road infrastructure is quite good. We can always improve it, but at this stage I believe that we must concentrate mostly on road safety, and I certainly do not support the proposition that we should be dropping speed limits. I think we should be making our roads safer so that we can travel along them safely at 110 km/h.

There is no point in having the infrastructure and letting it fall to pieces. You should never go and build anything new until you can maintain what you already have, so I implore this government and any future government to make sure that their maintenance is up to date. In the Mount Gambier electorate, I think DPTI spend about $2.5 million each year on road maintenance, so it is kept fairly well up to scratch, but we must make sure that that never falls behind.

Mr GRIFFITHS (Goyder) (12:30): I rise in support of this motion, because I do not see it as being politically motivated. Indeed, it is a challenge for all political parties now and into the future to try to get this right. Government, opposition, minor parties—everybody has to have a policy that ensures that there is recognition for the transport infrastructure requirements for regional South Australia for our state's economy to grow. It is for that reason that I support this motion very strongly.

This links back to a figure that the RAA has been talking about for some time of the backlog on maintenance, and the member for Mount Gambier just talked about maintenance issues, too. There are various figures of between $200 million and $400 million, but it is a great challenge for current and future governments to get it right. I will put on the record that I have been grateful every time there has been an investment in transport infrastructure, over the last 12 years in particular, from the government in the Goyder electorate. I am very grateful for that.

Deputy Speaker, when you were minister for transport there was a shoulder widening program that took place between Ardrossan and Port Wakefield. I thank you for that and I do it publically, too, because it was an important investment to make. I am frustrated that the speed limit was not changed back to 110 km/h afterwards—it still stayed at 100 km/h—but there is a far greater quality of infrastructure there now to support economic opportunities. From that comes what both the local community and visitors require. It is a great challenge to try to have plans in place where there is a capacity to know where the problems are, to determine time frames for fixing it and to find the dollars that are required to undertake it.

We all have roads in our areas that people constantly talk to us about. I am no different to any other member where it would be a daily occurrence that someone talks to me about the quality of a road. Listening to talkback radio yesterday on the ABC, it was defined as Kadina to Yorketown Road and then brought down to between the Minlaton and Maitland Road. Sections of that road are terrible. I do not know how else to describe it. My daughter drives on that road every day going to work and she is in my ear constantly. She is one of probably hundreds of people who are in my ear constantly talking about it. It needs to be fixed. It is an issue of undulations and shoulder width.

The number of concerns that are addressed to me are sometimes linked to sporting travel. When people travel locally they get used to a certain section of road and they do not talk about it that much, but when they go outside their normal area and drive further to a sporting commitment, they are on a road that they might only do once or twice per year, that is when I start to get the calls. I can look at what the footy and cricket programs are and work out when the calls are going to come, because it goes back to that.

I am lucky enough to represent an area that has a large number of visitors, and they are very demanding people, actually. They love the area, they invest in it, they spend a lot of time and money there, and I wish they would spend some more money there, but they expect good-quality infrastructure when they are on the peninsula, and the Adelaide Plains area, so we have to get that right also.

I put on the record that I was sent an email today with a letter that was received at my electorate office. I wrote to the Minister for Transport looking for a commitment towards an intersection upgrade in Port Wakefield. That was to do with the Bowmans intermodal, transport through the town and the challenges that are created when there are a large number of trucks that need to leave Bowmans, get to Port Wakefield and then head north. That creates difficulties getting across that very busy stretch of road.

As I understand it, DPTI has undertaken the planning and will be managing the project, but it is business that is funding the infrastructure upgrade. That is an opportunity that has to be pursued. I know business wanted it to be funded from within departmental resources, but that was not able to be brought forward, so business has seen the challenge, looked at the fact that its repayment is going to be a lot more than what its cost might be, and the collection of developers and businesses that operate at Bowmans have put funds into that—and I think it is in the range of $50,000—to improve that intersection. I commend them on that.

This motion, as I understand it, really does translate to a transfer of a challenge back to state, federal and local government roads. All of us have local roads in our areas that people come to us continuously and want the council to do something about. Having come from local government, I know you are able to do some, and you rely upon state government grants for others, and then partnerships are created for infrastructure to be improved.

Funding programs change from time to time—some things drop off and some things come forward—but people, no matter where they are, are still complaining to governments at all levels about where they want infrastructure. I think this motion is linked not just to permanent residents but also to economic opportunities that come from industries that operate in these areas. Industry can be tourism, it can be mining, it can be wind farms, it can be grain and agriculture, and it can be aquaculture and seafood. All those link to the requirement for a better quality of road network.

I am lucky enough to have ports in my area. They create a lot of traffic movement and they also create particular challenges during the really busy times of the year. Drivers of other vehicles are certainly respectful when there is a large number of trucks on the road, but it does create some challenges with shoulders, where they have had trouble with some slippery roads that have seen some near accidents, and it exacerbates some of the problems with blowout areas on shoulders. I have heard of reports of trailers on trucks that are passing each other, as they try to move very carefully, moving off shoulders, and the trailers are kissing a little bit. It is an area that all governments, no matter where they come from, in future the years will have to deal with.

I would love to see a continuing investment in overtaking lanes, which we have talked about before, and rest areas. Many people are quite comfortable travelling long distances and have their body to a stage where they can do that. For the absolute majority, though, it necessitates a stop every two hours to get out and rest. If we had that investment of infrastructure and rest areas, we would certainly improve things.

I hope that other members in this chamber will support this motion because it comes from a positive sense. It comes from a sense of all persuasions of political parties working together to get the best possible result, and that is what all of us want to see.

Mr BROCK (Frome) (12:37): I thank the member for Stuart for bringing this important issue to the house today. I concur with the comments of the member for Goyder that it is for every member of parliament here—whether they be Liberal, Labor, crossbenchers or from minor parties—to work together to ensure that in the future we really have the best opportunities to repair and improve our infrastructure, and that includes the commonwealth government of Australia.

The transport industry across South Australia, and also the whole of Australia, is the backbone of our future growth and also of our current existence. Transport takes the form of not only road infrastructure but also rail and port facilities. All the above are critically required to supply the regional locations of this great state and to deliver, to and from, produce that is produced and supplied in the regions to the capital cities in South Australia and interstate.

Over many, many years sufficient funds have not been placed back into the regions to maintain and improve the existing transport system. We must remember where the royalties and growth, and all money for the growth, come from. They come from the regions, and they have been neglected over many, many years. The state decided many years ago to remove various rail systems across the whole state, and as a result we are now in a situation of not being able to transport our produce efficiently from the regions to other regions or cities across South Australia.

I believe that Sir Thomas Playford would be very ashamed of the behaviour of both parties in not maintaining the infrastructure he was very instrumental in establishing many years ago. As a state, we should have been maintaining it on a regular basis, instead of saying that it would last another five or 10 years. That did not happen, and we now have situation that is critical. In those days, we had a great manufacturing sector based close to Adelaide and in the regions. I will just mention a couple: the Coca-Cola factory at Port Pirie, the Golden North facilities at Port Pirie, Clare and Laura, and many others in the state. Unfortunately, most of them have gone.

We now have our resource industry being activated, which it was not in the last few years. We need to get this produce to the ports and to the markets. We also have a great primary production industry in this state, and we need to get our grain to the various dispatch locations. That includes not only Adelaide but also the ports, as the member for Goyder has indicated.

We need to have our rail infrastructure improved as well as our roads and make certain they are all correctly classified to allow for GML and HML vehicles or whatever they may be. Commodity routes need to be across the whole of the state, and we need to work very cooperatively with the industry itself on this issue. Whatever needs to be transported needs to go on National Highway One or via rail or ship, as I mentioned earlier.

In my own electorate, until recently there have been many roads that appear to have had not very much attention, even unfortunately by my predecessor during the 15 years he was serving the people of Port Pirie and the electorate of Frome. I work very closely with my councils, and I also work very closely with my development boards. If we have an issue, we make a combined approach to the minister of the day, and we have been very successful in getting lots of work done in the last three to four years.

I will just mention a couple. We had the complete resealing of eight kilometres of road from Tarlee to Kapunda. We have had the Bute main street reconstructed, shoulder sealing of roads across the whole of the electorate of Frome, and a left-hand turning/passing lane at Giles Corner just outside Tarlee. I might mention that it is only half finished, but it is going to be finished off in this financial year.

The Gladstone roundabout at Gladstone, which improved efficiency and safety, is about a $2.5 million project. The Kadina-Wallaroo intersection, just south of Alford, was one of the biggest safety issues there; a 450 metre left-hand merging lane has now been established, and I am sure the member for Goyder would approve of that because it has improved safety there. We have many passing lanes in the Clare Valley area on that road. Anama Lane at Clare started off as a $1.6 million project but, thanks to the local council, the previous minister, minister Conlon, and also the current minister—and I thank her very sincerely for that—that is one of the best roads in regional South Australia.

We have had numerous guard rails put up for safety, and I commend the Minister for Road Safety. We asked for a guard rail because a car went through there and demolished the war memorial at Tarlee. They were not going to do it because they did not want to protect war memorials, but then I explained that it was to protect people who are attending the memorials there. Minister Rankine did that, and I thank her sincerely.

Unfortunately, there have been quite a few fatalities on the highway going past Snowtown, but after working with Mike Stone from the Snowtown Progress Association, and having had direct discussions on site with the department, that issue has been rectified and the visibility is a lot better. I congratulate the department and the minister because I understand that a lighting design has been done for both those intersections coming into Snowtown. They will have to fight the various other projects in the state.

I will also say, as the member for Goyder has indicated, that I am very grateful for the amount of work I have asked of the minister. Some of that work has not been approved and I have not always been successful, but I have been very successful in getting lots of work done to improve road safety in my electorate. Again I am very grateful to both the previous minister, minister Conlon, and also minister Koutsantonis now.

Also, as the member for Mount Gambier has indicated, I am not in favour of the reduction of 110 km/h on certain roads to 100, and I have supported each of my councils in that matter. Julie Holmes from the department has gone out to the councils looking at reviewing that speed limit, but certainly I have written a letter to the minister strongly debating that and asking for more clarification. I think there are a lot of ways to reduce road accidents other than bringing the speed limit back to 100 km/h.

In closing, I believe the state needs to work together with all the parties in this house, including the upper house, and also the federal government, and they need to do it in a cooperative way. The other issue is that I think when the budgets are done they should be done on a strategic, regional basis, including the regional people out there who are the key stakeholders, and not just by people in the metropolitan area. We need to include the regions in the budget discussions and the forward planning. I thank the member for Stuart for bringing this to the attention of the house.

Motion carried.

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