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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-07-24 Daily Xml
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Gorge Road Closures

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (15:48): The township of Cudlee Creek in my electorate is a delightful area. It is not a hugely populated area. A couple of hundred people live there, some of whom work the land and some of whom work in town. It is a half-hour drive down the Gorge Road.

Anyone in metropolitan Adelaide listening to the radio in the morning in recent months would have had as a regular morning alarm that 'Gorge Road is closed again'. The member for Newland would be familiar with this community, as it was formerly in Newland. I think one of his election posters may still be up there. Sorry, it was the Morialta one. The member for Newland successfully took down his posters from Cudlee Creek in good time, even though Cudlee Creek is no longer in Newland. I digress.

The Gorge Road closures in recent times have been regular and of particular concern to this community. It is inconvenient for the residents, but for the most part, they understand that there are safety issues that need to be dealt with. The rockslides down the slopes of the Torrens Hill have been more concerning in recent times, and that has led to more regular closures. In the township of Cudlee Creek, there are three significant businesses. One is the Gorge Wildlife Park, which has been operating for some 50 years. If anybody has not actually been up there, I would encourage them to take a day and go to the Gorge Wildlife Park, which is a delightful—

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon: It is in my electorate.

Mr GARDNER: No, that is in Morialta, sir. I think you need to check a map. You had election posters there, but it is well and truly kilometres from the border. I digress; I have only three minutes left. The Gorge Wildlife Park is a wonderful institution, which I certainly encourage people to visit; the Cudlee Creek tavern and caravan park across the road is also the post office; and down the road is the Cudlee Café, which is a little bit further into the hills.

The tavern and the wildlife park employ nearly 50 people from the surrounding area. They are the major employers for kilometres around. They have suffered significant economic loss as a result of the closures when they happen. Many of the people who are going to the wildlife park are busloads of foreign students and tourists, and people go to the tavern for different reasons. When Gorge Road is closed, it is complicated to get there. People have to go up North East Road and down either Torrens Hill Road or Tippett Road to get there. It is further out of the way and people obviously have been directed to go down Gorge Road. The point is that those businesses have suffered significant economic loss in recent times, and a long-term solution is needed.

I have made contact with the minister and, through him, officers of his department have started to engage with the community, which is appreciated. When they did some work on Gorge Road taking down some trees and netting some of the rock face in the summer, there was no communication with the community. Five officers from DPTI who attended at the Cudlee Café with me and the local business community yesterday acknowledged that there were, in fact, significant mistakes made in March and a lack of communication to the local community that made life more inconvenient than it needed to be.

Yesterday's meeting was quite productive and, for the record, I will thank the officers for coming along and the government for allowing them to do so and beginning this engagement. I hope it is not the end of the engagement. I identify to the minister that our office will be hoping to have further meetings in September and October to discuss the long-term plans. In the short term, we had agreement from the officers that they will follow up and endeavour to get more accurate signals of the closures, so that when parts of the road are closed and parts of the road are open, the radio will be telling people accurately which parts of the road are closed, so that people do not go further out of the way than they need to. That lack of communication will hopefully be addressed, as they have also endeavoured to communicate better with local business owners directly.

Also, permanent signs may be put up on the corner of Tippett Road and Gorge Road, identifying that, even though Gorge Road is closed going back towards town, those businesses remain open, so that people are not deterred from going there. That is very important. In the long term, it has been identified that there may be some further moneys available in the maintenance budget for cutting trees and netting the rock face. I urge the government to make that money available as is necessary, as their officers indicated it could be and, when those works are done, to continue in engagement, so that the community knows well in advance and can make plans and put alternative arrangements in place if need be.

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