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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-11-12 Daily Xml
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Transport Infrastructure

Ms LUETHEN (King) (14:27): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall government is busting congestion, improving road safety, increasing access to better public transport services and building what matters in the north-east?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Point of order, Mr Speaker.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:27): Thank you very much—

The SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat. The member for Lee on a point of order.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Unfortunately, the question includes argument: 'busting congestion', 'improving', 'building what matters'. These are all argumentative conjectures in the question and should be ruled out of order or asked to be reworded.

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order. Some terms of art have been used. I invite the member for King to reword the question, but I will give the member for King another opportunity.

Ms LUETHEN: Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is planning to bust congestion, improve road safety and increase access to better transport services in the north-east?

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee on a point of order.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am sorry, sir, but the member for King fails on her use of the adjectives, not the verbs—the 'bust' congestion. It is not the 'planning' that means she has escaped her breach of standing orders.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right! The objection is to the use of the term of—

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: 'Bust' congestion. It is argumentative, sir, and it is prohibited by standing order 97.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right! The Minister for Education is called to order.

The Hon. V.A. Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Would you like a grammar lesson, Vickie? Would you like a grammar lesson? I mean, you talk so much, I thought you would be across it.

The SPEAKER: Order! I will give the member for King one more go. Exception has been taken to the use of the word 'bust' or 'busting' for its use that might be regarded as in terms argumentative. The member for King has the call.

Ms LUETHEN: My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is planning to improve road safety, reduce congestion, increase access to better public transport services and build what matters in the north-east?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Can I thank the member for King for her tireless work and her wonderful question. I tell you: we are going to do it by busting congestion. That's how we are going to do it, and we are going to build what matters for the people of South Australia and in particular the people of the north-east. I know that previously the people of that region were very poorly represented before the new member for King came along and the new member for Newland. Haven't they done an outstanding job since being elected—

Ms BEDFORD: Point of order.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —in 2018 for their local community?

The SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat. The member for Florey on a point of order.

Ms BEDFORD: I take offence at saying the people of the north-east—

The SPEAKER: I'm sorry, I couldn't hear the member for Florey. The member for Florey on a point of order.

The Hon. S.S. Marshall: You have not been in the government for quite some time.

Ms BEDFORD: I take offence—

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier will cease interjecting. The member for Florey on a point of order.

Ms BEDFORD: I take offence to the minister saying the people of the north-east have been poorly represented in this place.

The SPEAKER: To the extent that the minister was referring in any way to the member for Florey, the member for Florey having taken offence, I ask that the minister withdraw.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: I withdraw any offence to the member for Florey and say she has done an outstanding job since she left the Labor Party. She has been absolutely wonderful for the people of the north-east, but I was referring to the member for King and the member for Newland and the great job they are doing in the north-east. As you would know, the Marshall Liberal government is building what matters for South Australia. As the Premier has pointed out, there is a $16.7 billion infrastructure spend, an infrastructure spend this state has never seen before.

In doing so, one of the projects we are looking at is the $30 million upgrade to Golden Grove stage 2 after the member for King and also the member for Newland fought very hard for Golden Grove stage 1. The people of the north-east, and I am sure even in the member for Florey's electorate, would appreciate how good that is. It is a wonderful piece of infrastructure, and it is delivering great outcomes for the people in that region. Stage 1 has been delivered. We have been able to roll over straightaway into stage 2, delivering a $30 million project that will create jobs along the way and deliver the infrastructure the people of that region need.

The Marshall government undertook the North East Public Transport Study. That explored options to upgrade the O-Bahn to Golden Grove, and it found a series of intersection upgrades was the preferred option. These intersection upgrades will include Grenfell Road-Golden Grove Road, Milne Road-Golden Grove Road and North East Road/Modbury Avenue/Golden Grove Road. These intersection upgrades will include bus priority jump lanes to reduce the time it takes to access the O-Bahn via public transport by about a minute for the people in that region.

Other options to extend the existing O-Bahn would have seen dozens of homes demolished—and that's not what the local members wanted—and around 300 trees removed at a price tag of $250 million. So $250 million to remove all those trees and all those homes was not a good use of taxpayer money, and that was the finding of the North East Public Transport Study. The Marshall government does not think that bulldozing homes is a good move just to get that minimal investment in timesaving, spending $250 million along the way.

Instead, we are delivering intersection upgrades that will reduce travel times for people catching buses and require no acquisition of homes along the way. When we talk about the O-Bahn service to the north-east, that brings me to the O-Bahn itself. Of course, in the most recent budget, again the member for King is delighted to have delivered for her community and secured the commitment to double the size of the Golden Grove park-and-ride, which is an absolutely outstanding achievement.

Again, she has advocated hard for this for her community and she is delivering. There is $25 million in the budget, again for her community, to go with the money that was already there, so there is $33 million going into that project. The extra cars that will be able to park there will be able to use this facility. It will make it far better for the people in her local community. They will be able to access the O-Bahn far more quickly.

When we talk about people representing the north-east and doing an outstanding job, the member for King is doing a brilliant job, as is the member for Newland. To be delivering projects like this, which are all part of our big infrastructure spend, to build what matters for South Australia, get people moving, get people where they need to go much faster on much smoother roads and delivering jobs at the same time, just goes to show that two members working hard in their communities can get great outcomes for the people of South Australia.

They will continue to do that, and this government will continue to deliver for South Australia as we spend that $16.7 billion over the next four years to build what matters for our state.

The SPEAKER: The member for Hurtle Vale is called to order and the member for Playford is warned. I call the deputy leader.

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