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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-05-18 Daily Xml
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Schubert Electorate

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (15:22): Recently, we celebrated International Nurses Day and International Day of the Midwife, and it is a really fantastic opportunity to thank our hardworking, frontline healthcare workers in South Australia for the compassion and support they provide to all South Australians. It is not just for their compassion and care but also for their professionalism and around-the-clock commitment that they provide to all South Australians.

I would particularly like to thank all the hardworking nurses in my local area in the Barossa Valley and in the northern Adelaide Hills. They do a remarkable job. They provide so much care and support to those in our community, whether that is just being a friendly face when you present to emergency or whether you are calling your local GP to get your results. They do a remarkable job, so thank you not just for today but for every day for all the work that you do.

The intersection of Greenock Road, Samuel Road and Moppa Road South in my local community continues to cause some distress and daily challenges for people in my electorate and not just for those who are familiar with this intersection, whether they are locals or whether they are truckies going about their business, but also for tourists in our region. That is why I am calling on the government to do what they can to fast-track the installation of a roundabout at this really challenging intersection.

We already have $2 million on the table from the former federal Coalition government for the delivery of a roundabout and we already have in place the councils—both the Barossa Council and the Light Regional Council—which I know are working so hard on a design for approval. No stone should be left unturned to fast-track a solution at this intersection. I speak to so many locals who are genuinely fearful that there could be a fatality at this intersection. Thankfully, there has not been one there yet, but so many people have had really close calls and I am among many people in our region who are really concerned about this.

If further additional money is needed to deliver this roundabout, then I have also written to the state government, calling on them to inject additional funds, should that be required, to see this intersection upgrade delivered. I also had the opportunity to host the Minister for Regional Roads, Geoff Brock, in my electorate. I took him to a range of locations highlighting some of the downfalls, and I am really hopeful that I impressed upon him and that he saw firsthand some of those challenges.

Everyone knows that a hospital cannot be built overnight. In fact, no-one expects it to be built overnight. Building a hospital takes really careful and extensive planning, and you have to start somewhere. You have to start somewhere when it comes to building a hospital. In the short four years of the former Liberal government more was done to progress the delivery of a brand-new Barossa hospital than was ever done in the entire 17 years of the former Labor government.

For the first time ever, money for this was put into the state budget by the former Liberal government and this was done in the time when the former Liberal government spent 50 per cent of its four years managing a global pandemic better than anywhere else in the world. That money that was secured in the budget was for the finalisation of plans, the purchase of the land and the start of early works.

After the election, it probably will not surprise you, Mr Speaker, that one of the first letters I wrote was to the Minister for Health. I sought a guarantee that they would continue with all of the really significant progress the former Liberal government had made in getting on with this hospital. On behalf of the local community I fought hard to keep that money in the budget and with the support of the local community, we were able to achieve that.

I also fought hard to ensure that the Labor government continued with the progress made by the former Liberal government on things like having the expert clinical planners in the field, doing the detailed planning work, the consumer reference groups and getting the site location down to two sites. The final plans for the hospital were due in March. We are yet to see them, but I will keep fighting for this Barossa hospital. I will hold the minister and the government to account for the commitment they made to continue with the plans for the Barossa hospital, spearheaded and started by the former Liberal government.

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