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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-07-24 Daily Xml
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Giles Electorate

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (15:21): I rise today to talk about Sanjeev Gupta, his latest very positive announcements about the Upper Spencer Gulf and the high opinion he has of that part of the world, especially Whyalla. Before touching on that, there is a serious safety issue that I would like to raise. In raising this issue about the road between Port Augusta and Whyalla, I have been through the normal processes—phone calls and emails to the minister's office—in order to get a quick resolution to this important safety issue.

I sent the first email on 3 July, when I was told by a number of constituents about a serious safety issue on the new overtaking lane. There are two overtaking lanes between Port Augusta and Whyalla. In that email, I said:

I have received a number of calls about serious safety issues with the newly completed overtaking lanes between Whyalla and Port Augusta. There have also been complaints about the build quality with pot holes already appearing. Experienced drivers have said that someone is going to be seriously hurt or killed if the issues are not addressed. They were very concerned about motor bike users and especially motor bike users travelling at night. Could you please arrange an urgent inspection in order to address any safety issues and to determine whether the overall build quality meets contract specifications?

Thanks very much and I look forward to your reply.

A series of emails and phone calls was exchanged after that. As of late last week, the serious issue on that overtaking lane had still not been addressed. There were no bollards or anything else to provide the necessary protection or warning for people. I am fortunate enough to know quite a few bike riders, and a number of very experienced bike riders have come to me expressing their serious concerns about this. I hope the minister will get onto it as a matter of urgency, and that is what I expect to be done. I know that sometimes between departments and ministers' offices things can go awry, but this needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency, as I have expressed in the emails I have sent to the minister's office.

On a more positive note, I noticed the recent comments by Sanjeev Gupta, the owner of GFG Alliance, about the Upper Spencer Gulf and what a great part of the world the Upper Spencer Gulf is. In fact, he had a number of interesting things to say about energy, which would not be received all that well by some on the opposite side—not all but some on the opposite side—and certainly would not be received that well by some of their federal colleagues who are in there still fighting the battle to have coal as the energy source of the future.

When it came to the Upper Spencer Gulf, Sanjeev Gupta said that it was an ideal place to invest as it had access to a number of very important minerals for this state and nation, it had one of the best solar load factors in the world, it had existing electricity transmission infrastructure and it had a port that could potentially be expanded at Whyalla. He went on to say something about the airport that I do not particularly agree with, but you do not have to agree with Sanjeev Gupta on everything.

He did indicate that the regional cities of Whyalla, Port Augusta and Port Pirie certainly have the potential for significant growth if a number of factors fall into play. I have to say that, in my community of Whyalla, we are all willing Sanjeev Gupta to succeed, to really turn around the steel industry and to play his part in transforming the energy make-up of this state. When it comes to the Upper Spencer Gulf, I am sure this newly appointed government will claim credit for the 13 clean energy projects that are about to be on the way.

Time expired.

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