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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-11-14 Daily Xml
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Port Wakefield Overpass

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (14:24): My question is to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government. Can the minister inform the house on upgrades to Port Wakefield Road in my electorate of Narungga?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:25): I certainly can. I would like to thank the member for Narungga for the question and note his continued interest in roads in his electorate. Before the election, he took the opportunity to take me around parts of Yorke Peninsula that are in desperate need of upgrades to their road network.

This government has listened. As part of our Regional Roads and Infrastructure Fund, we have put $5 million in the 2018-19 budget to upgrade Port Wakefield Road, a road that is extremely important. It's the gateway to the member for Narungga's electorate and part of regional South Australia that is in desperate need of greater investment. The $5 million to be able to upgrade that road for all of those tourists, all of those locals, all of those businesses and farmers that use that road, to now have significant funds spent to make sure that it is up to scratch, especially on those sections south of the Port Wakefield township, is really important because it helps to show regional South Australia that they now have a government that is willing to invest in them.

We know that, outside of telecommunications in regional parts of our state, roads are the number one issue because in country South Australia there aren't too many ways to get around unless you've got your own car, and roads are what we use. This government has had a strong focus on making sure that after 16 long years of neglect we are putting money back into regional South Australia and especially for those people who live on Yorke Peninsula.

The member for Narungga and I have been discussing many other priorities that he has for his electorate and that this state government also has for his electorate, not the least of which was the $90 million that has been put towards finally fixing the Port Wakefield township after so many years. Every single long weekend that I can remember, TV crews will go out and sit there and look at the north of the Port Wakefield township and film the long queues of people trying to get home after a long weekend away. Like clockwork, you can set your watch by the fact that that's a story that's going to run on the nightly news on the last day of a long weekend holiday about residents and tourists coming home and being stuck in massive long queues. That is going to be a thing of the past under this government.

A duplicated Port Wakefield Road and overpass over the highway to make sure that those people coming home to Adelaide from Yorke Peninsula can get home quickly and safely is another example of how this government is investing in regional South Australia. These investments are the first of what are going to be many and significant investments that we make in regional roads right across our state, especially for the member for Narungga and for the people of Yorke Peninsula and the Copper Coast. They can know that they have a government here in South Australia that listens, that is willing to invest money and willing to see the value that exists in regional South Australia.

What we have in Yorke Peninsula is a productive farming area like almost no other in the state. Its ability to continue to churn out consistent crops year after year is a phenomenal boon to this state. The biggest issue is about how we get those export products to market. Again, providing the road infrastructure that's going to support the movement of that produce is extremely important.

I thank the member for Narungga for his advocacy and the fact that we now have a state government in South Australia that regional South Australians can rely on. I look forward to updating this house further about the many and varied commitments and investments that we're going to continue to make over the life of the Marshall Liberal government.

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