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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-05-17 Daily Xml
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Majors Road Upgrade

Mr SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:23): My supplementary is to the Premier. Given the Premier has highlighted changes to the dynamic of the road network in the south-western suburbs, will he agree to commission a new feasibility study which takes into consideration those challenges?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:24): This is a project that we would like to deliver during the life of this term of government. The Leader of the Opposition will well appreciate, as I think every individual in this place would well appreciate, that big infrastructure projects do take time. I am just trying to recall what big infrastructure projects were delivered upon over the last four years.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: They did the Portrush Road intersection.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: There was the Magill Road-Portrush Road intersection. That game changer—

Mr GARDNER: Point of order, sir. The question was very straightforward: it was about whether the government would commission a new feasibility study given that there have been changes to the dynamics in the south-western suburbs in traffic. The Premier's response is going nowhere near it, as has been his practice so far. It is against standing orders, and we seek your support to keep the government to the standing orders provided for all of us.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Is that a reflection of my chairing, member?

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I hope it is not. As far as I could tell, the Premier was indicating the barriers required to deliver a major project which the Leader of the Opposition asked about.

Mr GARDNER: You may have misheard the question.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No.

Mr GARDNER: The question was about whether the government would commission a new feasibility study.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: That's correct, and my understanding would be that the commission of the study would lead to the project, and the Premier was actually explaining why he wanted to deliver the initial project immediately. Premier, did you wish to add to the answer?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: As I was saying, it does take time to get big infrastructure projects off the ground, which the now opposition would be well familiar with, given that we saw more commitment to advertising campaigns on infrastructure than to actually delivering them. We, of course, are getting on with this project. It shouldn't surprise those opposite that the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure is actively in discussions with the CEO of Transport and Infrastructure.

One of the things that has informed my judgement in respect of action around big road projects in South Australia is to get on with the job of key appointments. We have appointed Mr Jon Whelan to the position of chief executive officer of the department because we see in Mr Whelan a person who has a long track record of actually delivering projects. As both the current minister and also the former Minister for Transport and Infrastructure know, Mr Whelan gets it done. We made his appointment expeditiously because we didn't want to find ourselves in a six-month or even potentially a nine-month process that we have seen in times past where it takes forever to make appointments, which actually delay the ability to deliver on commitments that have been made. So we are committed to this project.

Of course, we have stated publicly that our commitment is very much contingent upon having a federal commonwealth partner in this regard. I think the record shows that the federal Coalition don't want to support residents in the southern suburbs getting this project. So if you are travelling down Marion Road tomorrow morning and it's feeling a bit congested, and you are thinking to yourself, 'I would like residents in other parts of our state, such as Hallett Cove, to be on the north-south corridor using the Darlington facility, for instance, rather than being on Marion Road,' and you are thinking about why you are stuck in traffic, then I would encourage you to actively contemplate voting Labor this weekend.

If you vote for the Coalition federally there is no investment in Majors Road, which means the burden on Brighton Road is likely to be far greater than what it can be if we are able to deliver on this project. We are committed to it. We are going to make sure it happens. The time line that we would like to achieve is getting it done in this term should federal Labor be elected on the weekend, which we are working expeditiously to achieve.

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