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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-12-01 Daily Xml
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South Road

Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (16:55): I rise to speak about South Road. The South Road upgrade is certainly a source of great excitement in the southern suburbs. For many, it is an eagerly awaited project they are looking forward to seeing come to fruition. People want to see the $8.9 billion over, I think, 10 years that will be injected into our economy. Hopefully, a lot of that will go to businesses in the southern suburbs. People are certainly looking forward to seeing the creation of up to 4,000 jobs at the peak of the project.

It is of course disappointing that there has been a delay and that it is now going to be 10 years before we see this come to fruition. There has been a great deal of anticipation for some time, with local people expecting to see a decision in relation to tunnels way back in June this year. Nevertheless, this side of parliament certainly commends the government for finally releasing its decision in terms of constructing the hybrid model—a mix of open-cut tunnels and at-grade roadways.

I would like to take this opportunity to also commend the community and the South Road action group in particular, who drew to our attention the risks the Thebarton Theatre—a place I love—and the Queen of Angels Church were facing were it not for the tunnels being built in that area. It is an example of a community group who banded together as a local neighbourhood and campaigned the government, and more widely using the media, to put forward what was a priority for them: the preservation of those heritage and character locations that make up that inner western suburbs area.

Of course, this project is not exciting for everyone. For some people, it is causing a great deal of consternation, a great deal of worry and a great deal of stress. The section from Richmond Road, at the northern boundary of my electorate, down to Cross Road, which will be the southern boundaries of my electorate with the redraw, is most affected. That is where we expect the majority of the 390 homes forecast to be compulsorily acquired will come from. That is the section where we will not see tunnels; instead, we will see the open-cut or sunken roadways and hopefully the upgrade of the existing at-level roadways.

To say that this has sent a ripple through my community is an understatement. The past few weeks have been quite emotional for some people in my community who are anticipating that they may be affected by this. Certainly the future of our schools is a mystery. Parents and families at Black Forest Primary School, Richmond Primary School, Warriappendi School and St Anthony's are wondering what is going to happen to them. The future of Glandore Oval is also a cause for concern.

Today, I want to raise that the lack of information coming from the government to people in my community is really bordering on dangerous. I have spoken with very upset people, including Leticia of Glandore, who was in tears describing to me that for the first time she has found a Housing Trust property where she feels safe and secure. Now she does not know whether that is going to be in the path of the bulldozers and she is going to lose the comfort and security she has at that location.

Certainly, people in my community are doing what they can to help each other in the absence of any information from the government. Although I commend those people who are reaching out to their friends and neighbours and trying to interpret the limited information that is available, many people have been producing maps with their own diagrams, and those have been distributed via social media.

While that comes from a place of trying to help each other, it has actually caused a great deal of grief for many people in the community. This is happening because these people are trying to do the work that the government should be doing. The government should be communicating with local people, the government should be talking with the local member of parliament—who has repeatedly asked for briefings—and the government should be providing more sessions to be able to describe to people what exactly is happening.

The sessions that have been provided are already fully booked. They are not even in the most affected area, which is the Badcoe area, so I would call on the government, firstly, to engage with me as the local MP. My requests for briefings have gone completely unresponded to, which is quite frankly insulting to people in my area, and I would encourage them to communicate with people in our area about what is one of the biggest and most controversial projects that will happen in our area in a generation.

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