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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-06-01 Daily Xml
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Torrens to Darlington Project

Mr TARZIA (Hartley) (15:06): My question again is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the minister ruled out any further property acquisitions that might result from the delay to Torrens to Darlington that the minister outlined yesterday? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr TARZIA: The minister said yesterday in question time:

It is important that we reconnect with these communities and make sure that they are listened to, especially with the work on the reference design, because I have to say I was not very happy with the level of consultation.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (15:07): No, I can't rule that out because, for example, if we move the road, the northern tunnel alignment, east at the northern end, it would mean acquiring some industrial land and not acquiring as many residential properties. Whenever you do something to the north-south corridor or the alignment, it could mean a change, but it is very important to note that those people within the electorates of Elder and Badcoe who have received notifications, those acquisitions are continuing.

Nothing has changed, so we are moving ahead with the acquisitions and demolition. We are moving ahead with the service relocation and the timetables that we have announced that the Treasurer will be tabling in the parliament tomorrow. That work is important to be done. The reason that it is important to be done is so that we can actually meet a time frame. Giving people false hope has led to so many delays on past infrastructure programs that the South Australian public begin to lose confidence in their public sector.

For example, the people of Gawler, who were told by the previous government, 'No, no, this date; no, no, no, this date; no, no, no, this date.'

The SPEAKER: Minister there is a point of order from the member for Morialta. I would hear the point of order.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: This question was entirely in relation to this north-south corridor. The minister is now in the Gawler line in this debate.

The SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order. Minister, I take you to the question.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I think it is very important that when we publicly announce a time frame that we stick to it because the disappointment that the former government have caused people and the concern that they have caused by delaying this project means that a lot of people are getting very anxious about it. Imagine if we had proceeded on the existing time frame that the former government had decided. We would have the elevated roadway coming out of the tunnels which would merge, while elevated, down to one lane—

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Minister, there is a point of order from the member for Morialta.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Hartley, you can depart the chamber under 137A for the remainder of question time, which amounts to five minutes.

The honourable member for Hartley having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta on a point of order. I imagine the member for Morialta is reventilating the point of order he raised with me moments ago.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Same point of order, different argument, different information. He is now talking about 'what if' the former government's project was continued. We are asking about the future and what their plans will do to property acquisitions.

The SPEAKER: Very well, member for Morialta. Minister, I draw your attention to the question. The minister has the call and he has the question and he knows the standing orders.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Just for the reassurance of the Speaker, if we leave the elevated roadway as is, that would mean no further acquisitions. But I am very concerned about having an elevated roadway come down in the middle of a road and having Adelaide traffic merge left rather than the traditional method of merging right, so it may mean an acquisition on Anzac Highway to enable a proper and safe merging of traffic.

I'm also very concerned about having traffic on elevated roadways merging to one lane—coming from three lanes to two lanes to one lane and doing that while on an elevated roadway. The advice I have from the department is that there is not an elevated roadway anywhere in Australia—

The Hon. D.G. Pisoni: He's not a very good driver. Remember that? How many speeding tickets—

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley is called to order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: There is not an elevated roadway in Australia, I am advised, that has traffic merging while on elevated roadways and then coming down in the middle of a highway rather than the edge. That's what members opposite had planned for Anzac Highway.

The Hon. J.K. Szakacs: Sounds like a good plan.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It sounds like something stuck together with sticky tape. The former government were also planning to ban all right-hand turns on Anzac Highway coming to and from the city, which would have meant increased traffic within those suburbs, called 'rat running', to get to and from their location. Members opposite didn't think this through or weren't shown or didn't care. I don't care which one it is, but we are going to fix it. Fixing it means having experts working on it, not the former Minister for Infrastructure and Transport deciding time frames and profiling along with the former Treasurer. This is being done properly.

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