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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-10-18 Daily Xml
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Badcoe Electorate

Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (15:41): I often hear adults lament that young people are disinterested in community affairs, whether that is watching the news, or volunteering, or engaging in politics, or getting active on issues in their own local community. Many grown-ups have a sense that youngsters just are not as interested as in years gone past. Some will even say that this generation is lazy, self-obsessed and more concerned with filtered selfies than self-motivation. Those comments are not dissimilar to the comments made about my own generation when I was a good few decades younger.

However, in Badcoe pleasingly it is simply not true. Many young people are actively seeking opportunities to contribute well beyond Instagram. Their action comes in the form of huge rallies, like the school strikes for climate change, but also young people in my area are acting very locally. In recent weeks, I have been chatting with teenagers who love riding their bikes, especially at hand-crafted jumps trails near the rail line at Edwardstown Railway Station. An Unley High student, 15-year-old Angus Hooper, is the chief architect of the jumps. Far from what you might imagine, they are not a rickety rabble of flotsam and jetsam but a solid rammed-earth construction.

The course has evolved over many years, with hundreds of hours of maintenance and a few tools from the sheds of mums and dads. However, their little paradise was under threat. Word got out that department officials were planning to raze the site, citing concerns about safety and noise. Naturally, Angus and his friends were distressed and pretty outraged, and they took action. Angus and his mates contacted their local MP, and they launched an online petition. I can inform the house that so far that petition has garnered 787 signatures. Angus should be applauded.

The feedback from the big kids has been pretty swift and fairly unanimous too. They said, 'Why can't we just let kids me kids?' How can we possibly complain about kids being glued to devices when we do not support them when they want to get out there and exercise and get dirty? Too right! There has to be a way that young people can be kept safe and also be able to exercise and get some mental stimulation.

There is an element of risk every time we step outside our homes, and we cannot wrap teens in cottonwool if we want them to enjoy life and learn a few lessons along the way as well. I thank the minister for instructing his department to stop the destruction of the jumps and for the department to think again. I hope there will be a final and binding decision to protect the jumps for as long as Angus and his friends want to maintain them.

I would also like to address the issue of the South Road upgrade, which particularly affects my electorate. This government places a high priority on getting this project right. Not only is it expensive infrastructure but the project has the potential to fundamentally change the way we in the inner south-west enjoy our lovely part of the world and how we get around. That impact can be for better or it can be for worse.

What my community has asked, for some years now, is that their concerns and their feedback on the way they will experience the project day to day is taken into account. People in my area are making great sacrifices for the greater good of our state. It is the least we can do to listen and to improve the plan, and that takes time.

I have been listening and relaying what my community has been saying. I have been listening to how people want to be able to turn right onto South Road from the city or Bay, which was not allowed under the Liberals' existing design. I have been listening to locals' safety and aesthetic concerns about the flyovers. I have been listening to their desire for connectivity to their schools and shops and the very streets that we live in, and I have been listening to their concerns about sound and noise and the destruction of trees. Now we have the chance to act on what we have heard.

Those opposite—and, in fact, some of those who do not even sit on that side anymore—took a different tack. They were not interested in listening; they were not interested in genuine engagement. But I, as a local MP, have been taking on that feedback. I have provided it to our minister, just as I did the previous minister, but the difference is this government is taking notice and is acting.

This is not a simple project, and any changes need to be carefully thought out. That takes time and expertise. I truly appreciate the patience and understanding from my community at this time. I understand that people want answers right now. I do understand that. But after four years of inaction and half-baked plans, what local people want much more than a fast answer is the right one.

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