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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-11-12 Daily Xml
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Motor Vehicle Registration

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson) (14:59): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier believe it's a good idea to double the cost of vehicle registration for Kangaroo Island people?

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Transport.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:59): Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I can answer that question for the member for Mawson. This is something that was actually handed down in the budget back in June and a decision that this government has made about the fact that we want to see more investment into regional roads and in doing so actually do what it is that the people of regional South Australia want us to do. There is a clause or a rule that has been in place—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —where there were some very small pockets of far-flung South Australia that did have a differential rate when it came to motor vehicle registration. Can I say that there was a very high degree of irregularity about the way that those concessions were being used—for instance, potentially the difference between where somebody garages their vehicle versus where they live.

The other thing I would say is that what this government wants to do, and the reason for the concession when it was first put in place somewhere decades past, was the fact that there was a recognition that money was not being spent in those areas on roads. Can I say that this government has a fantastic program to turn around and actually deliver improved road funding for South Australia, including for Kangaroo Island. I must admit that when I mention this every other regional MP in this room is going to ask for this same deal. Kangaroo Island actually gets more road funding than other parts of our state get.

There is a $2 million contribution per annum that the state government makes towards local government roads in recognition of the fact that the Kangaroo Island Council has a lot of local roads that it has to maintain. However, as a result of this measure, and also from the last budget, we have an extra $1 million that we are going to be putting back into improving road infrastructure on Kangaroo Island, because at the end of the day what regional people want—and as I hear from the member for Stuart, the member for MacKillop, the members for Kavel and Heysen, the member for Finniss, and every regional MP in this house, and the member for Giles as well—is money spent on fixing their roads.

They are sick and tired of having had a government that would not spend any money fixing their roads, and that is why over the past two budgets we have now put $1.3 billion into fixing roads in regional South Australia. If I look at every member who is going to drive down to the Fleurieu, they are excited by the fact that we, together with the federal government and our great mate ScoMo, are delivering the duplication of Victor Harbor Road down to McLaren Vale, as well as delivering an overtaking lane down to the Fleurieu. There is work going on with respect to the duplication of South Road, which will help all those people who are going down to Cape Jervis to be able to get across to the island.

It actually does not matter what part of the state it is, we are spending money fixing up country roads. In fact, it was only just last week, with the member for MacKillop and the member for Barker, that we talked about $16.5 million that we are putting into fixing up roads in the South-East in the member for MacKillop's electorate, because, again, from the couple of times I have been down there so far they are sick and tired of being forgotten by their city-centric government. Finally, as of 18 March last year, that has ended and the people of regional South Australia now have a government that cares and a government that listens, and that is precisely what we are doing.

The SPEAKER: The member for Mount Gambier.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I will come back to you. The member for Mount Gambier.

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