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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-03-23 Daily Xml
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Amy Gillett Bikeway

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (15:29): Today I rise to talk about a really important local issue in my electorate of Schubert, and it is one that you would be familiar with as well, Mr Speaker. As many of you would be aware, Amy Gillett was a member of the Australian women's cycling team before dying in a tragic car accident whilst training with the team in Germany in 2005. She was a rower and an academic who was also completing her PhD at the University of South Australia.

After her death, there was a bike path that was built in her honour as part of a nationwide program initiated by family and by her loved ones to really encourage people from right across the nation to enjoy cycling, to get out into the great outdoors and enjoy cycling.

For those of you who are not aware, it runs 17 kilometres through the beautiful Adelaide Hills. It runs north to south from Oakbank to Mount Torrens. It is a sealed bitumen track. Just over the weekend in my electorate of Schubert, in Mount Torrens, there was a community celebration to really celebrate all of the businesses that have benefited from the Amy Gillett Bikeway. It was a fantastic opportunity to get so many local community groups out and raising money for their tennis clubs and for a whole range of other things that they are so focused on.

But there is one glitch, and that is that the bike path is actually not complete. It stops at a dead end in Mount Torrens at Oval Road, and there are at least two other stages that we need to push on and deliver for the people of the northern Adelaide Hills, and indeed right into the Barossa. There are two more stages. One of them is to get from Mount Torrens down Onkaparinga Valley Road and into Birdwood, and the next stage is to Mount Pleasant.

There is $2.6 million worth of funding on the table from the commonwealth to be able to deliver the next stage from Mount Torrens to Birdwood, but unfortunately that $2.6 million is not quite enough to get it complete. As we are leading into the budget period here in South Australia, I really am urging the state Labor government to step up and to work with the Adelaide Hills Council and the commonwealth to see the next stage of this completed because I know how important this is for my local area.

It is not just good for locals though. I speak to so many people, so many of my mates from across South Australia, who love getting to the northern Adelaide Hills and the Adelaide Hills and ride through from Oakbank on the idyllic pathway. It is not just for bikes either. There are families who go for strolls along there. You can take your dog for a walk, all of those fantastic things. Unfortunately, there is a risk that the next stage will not be completed if the government does not step up and provide some level of funding, so I have written to the minister to be able to join that conversation with the Adelaide Hills Council and with the commonwealth.

People in my electorate were so delighted that the next stage of the Amy Gillett bike path was actually part of the former Liberal government's cycling strategy in South Australia, and we just need to give it that final push to get it over the line because I know how important this is. I doorknocked people throughout the election campaign and since. I have held street-corner meetings, speaking with people about their priorities, and I will be heading along to a Birdwood community forum on Friday, where I am really looking forward to speaking with people about this important project. With the budget coming up, I am urging the government to get on board and provide some funding.

Whilst I have a couple of moments left, I would also like to pay tribute to the Barossa Vintage Festival, which is coming up in April. It runs every two years, and this year it is actually its 75th anniversary. It is a remarkable celebration of food, culture and businesses and really looking back on our traditions, and there are so many in the Barossa, particularly, might I add, our rote grutze, which is a fantastic old German recipe.

I am encouraging everyone to get to the Barossa to support our local businesses who put in so much work to be able to ensure that this vintage festival can go ahead. I would like to thank the volunteers, who I know are working overtime as we are heading into the vintage festival, making sure that they are getting the parades ready, the floats and the scarecrows, so thank you to all of the volunteers. I am looking forward to getting out there and enjoying what is on offer.

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