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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-08-30 Daily Xml
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Torrens to Darlington Project

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley) (12:20): I move:

That this house—

(a) notes that the completion of the Torrens to Darlington leg of the north-south corridor has now been pushed back by two years until 2032;

(b) condemns the Malinauskas Labor government for its dismal record thus far of cost blowouts and delays on the Torrens to Darlington leg; and

(c) acknowledges the frustration and concern felt by many residents and business owners along South Road due to the uncertainty around home and business acquisitions.

There is no doubt that, under this government, the Labor Party has put this project in the slow lane. It has put it in the slow lane, and what we have seen is delays and cost blowouts. When we were in government, we did the hard yards, we did the work and we did the proper planning. We saw a project that was costed at just over the $9 billion mark.

What did we see? An incoming change in government, and the only thing that changed was the minister. Of course, from there, what was one of the first actions of the government? To actually sack one of the key personnel, a lady of world-renowned experience and expertise in these projects. What do we see? Further delays, further blowouts, a project that now will exceed over $15 billion of taxpayer money.

Let's reflect back to what was a very embarrassing blunder, an embarrassing leak, whereby it was actually exposed by the hardworking and diligent journalists at The Advertiser—Kathryn Bermingham in particular—that homes were being bought around the Anzac Highway and South Road intersection after the draft north-south corridor plans were 'accidentally' published.

What does that article go on to say? It looks like the media at the time, doing their job, asked the transport minister a number of questions: when was the minister made aware that extra properties would need to be acquired for the Torrens to Darlington project? When was the decision made to move the portal of the northern tunnel to the east, taking South Road over the corner of Hindmarsh Cemetery? When was the minister made aware some properties on Jervois Avenue, West Hindmarsh would no longer be required for the project? When was the minister made aware that the start/finish of the project would be further delayed? Given the review has progressed to this level of detail, can the minister provide an updated total cost and, if not, is this because a total cost has not been reached or because the government is not ready to release it?

When we look at the article that quotes the information, what we see is that the start of the construction:

…has been pushed back from 2024 to 2025, while the first tunnel-boring machine will start tunnelling in 2026. The project's completion date has also been delayed another year to 2032.

What an absolute shambles. It is a real shame. It is a real shame that people in and around South Road, whether it be the residents who have been affected or the businesses that have been affected, are having to put up with this absolute amateur hour situation by this government. We know that this is the most significant infrastructure project in South Australia's history. It is. What we saw at that time was clearly disappointing.

As I said, it is a real shame that the Labor Party in this state has put this project in the slow lane. We just want it to be done, and we want it to be done as soon as possible with the best taxpayer value for money as possible. We want it done thoroughly and we want it to be done on time because this state cannot afford for this multibillion-dollar project to continue to spiral out of control. Whether it be from a costing point of view or a time point of view, we want to make sure that this project is done well and done properly.

I hope that when I do return to speak about the Torrens to Darlington leg of the north-south corridor, I come back in happier times when the project has started, is on budget, is on time and is actually delivered. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that we are going to continue to see situations where delays occur, where budget blowouts occur, and we will continue to hold this government to account on this very significant project.

Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (12:25): I move to amend the motion as follows:

That this house—

(a) notes that the completion of the Torrens to Darlington leg of the north-south corridor is expected to be delivered by 2031 as always;

(b) condemns the former Morrison and Marshall Liberal governments for their flawed reference design that would have cost South Australians $15.2 billion; and

(c) condemns the Marshall Liberal government's failed public consultation that has left many residents and business owners frustrated and concerned about their home and business acquisitions.

When I saw this motion on the Notice Paper earlier in the year, I figured that the member opposite at some point in time would figure out his error and withdraw this motion or at least substantially amend it. Maybe someone on his side might alert him to the error in his motion. Clearly, that has not happened. So erroneous is his motion that I actually cannot believe he is sticking with it. Maybe there are points for perseverance in the face of nonsense over on that side, but certainly on this side we are happy to set the record straight.

I will be extending as much charity as I possibly can to the member for Hartley. I assist him by putting forward my amendment to try to correct the erroneous information that he is hoping that the house might believe on this occasion. I am pleased to walk the house through each of the paragraphs of my amended motion. Suffice to say, you can pretty much strike a line through the member for Hartley's motion and I will walk you through what it should say. Paragraph (a) of the member for Hartley's motion reads:

That this House—

(a) notes that the completion of the Torrens to Darlington leg of the north-south corridor has now been pushed back by two years until 2032;

That is the first big and glaring error. It is simply inaccurate. This is a classic example of the member believing his own spin and thinking that if he just says enough, if he just keeps saying it, then maybe it will come true. Unfortunately, that is not the way it works and it is certainly not the way it works on this side of the house, where we are bound to talk about facts, where those opposite can just invent their own spin and run with it. Maybe a little more time ascertaining factual information and a little less time on making it up on the fly might be a good way to go.

On this side, we have no concerns whatsoever that there will be an impact on the scope or timing of the River Torrens to Darlington project with early works, including the resurfacing of South Road, now underway. We are tracking for delivery in 2031, and that is the publicly available information that the shadow minister might want to avail himself of. In fact, if you drive along South Road right now you can see the progress that has been made this year, especially around Tonsley and Glandore where the entry and exit portals are. You will also see the road resurfacing that is going on from Castle Plaza to Cross Road, which is going to make life easier for commuters while the build gets underway.

You will observe the large number of land acquisitions that have now been finalised. This is a very sad point for me and for my community. Of course, land acquisitions are not fun—and we are talking about an incredibly emotional situation for people—but unfortunately they are necessary for the greater good of our community and our transport services. I sincerely thank those people who are essentially giving up their homes for the greater South Australian community and for the improvement of our transport services, but I acknowledge that it is incredibly hard for them. Nonetheless, you can drive along South Road right now and see the progress that has been made.

I have done the member for Hartley a favour. You can cross out his paragraph (a) and replace it with this:

That this house—

(a) notes that the completion of the Torrens to Darlington leg of the north-south corridor is expected to be delivered by 2031 as always;

This government is committed to getting on with this project. My constituents and certainly road commuters want an upgraded north-south corridor as soon as possible, and that is what we are delivering.

In stark contrast, those opposite delivered zilch, absolutely zero, in the time that they were in. In four years, they produced nothing. Even worse than that, they produced something that was fundamentally flawed and could not be delivered whatsoever, which brings me to the next point, which is cost. The second point of the member's motion talks about so-called cost blowouts and delays on the Torrens to Darlington leg. That is just galling and completely stunning that he would make that statement, in full knowledge of the situation his own former government created.

As The Advertiser reported last year, our review found that what was sold before the election by those opposite as a $9.9 billion project would have instead cost $15.2 billion in the flawed form they had put forward. To that end, I am happy to again correct the member for Hartley's motion. You can cross out (b) and replace it with:

(b) condemns the former Morrison and Marshall Liberal governments for their flawed reference design, that would have cost South Australians $15.2 billion;

Do not forget that this was a reference design that was littered with problems, problems that this government has now done the hard yards on and fixed. What limited and flawed consultation was done with the community by the former government clearly was not listened to because the Marshall Liberal government came up with changes that made the plan even worse for local commuters. We awoke in Badcoe one day to see on the front page of the Sunday Mail a spaghetti of new on and off ramps and a new aerial roadway that had not been discussed with the community whatsoever—a complete shock. Suddenly, it was just there in the paper and not even communicated to local people.

That is not the end of it. Locals were absolutely appalled that the then transport minister seemed to be going out of his way to divide our community and make it as difficult as possible for us, not to mention creating a horrible eyesore in our community. Such was his focus on his flawed understanding of local politics and political manoeuvring that he instructed and oversaw a dysfunctional design and it won him no votes. In fact, if you want to correlate election results to the handling of this project, you would find that the former minister failed dismally, and of course he himself is not even with us anymore.

The consequences of that design left a short-term legacy that we then had to fix and we have. We, of course, went to the election promising to listen to people and we have. We have changed that aerial roadway. We got rid of it. It was an absolute eyesore and also created safety risks: a one-lane road that would cause banking up and traffic problems into the future. It was just ridiculous. Stunningly, the former government also snuck in removing right-hand turns in both directions from Anzac Highway onto South Road.

How was this discovered? It was actually a constituent of mine who was zooming in online on an artist's impression to see that there was a tiny little 'no right turn' sign painted into the artist impression. She thought, 'Well, hang on. That's going to make things disastrous for getting around in our community, for getting to the shops, for getting to the school, for getting to the post office.' It turned out, after a bit of perseverance, that we had confirmation from the government: 'Yes, that's right.' They were planning to stop our community from being able to traverse around our area and had not even been frank with people about it, so we fixed that as well.

We have also fixed other problems in the design, including the impacts it had on a historic cemetery. Paragraph (c) of the member for Hartley's motion acknowledges the frustration and concern felt by many residents and business owners along South Road. Of course, while concern and frustration are absolutely real when it comes to a major infrastructure project, the level of unnecessary pain and distress caused by the former government are really the crux of the problem here. Once again, it is stunning that this would even be a motion those opposite would put. Our government has worked hard to alleviate the unnecessary strain that has been imposed on those communities that are affected along the corridor.

The lack of information, the lack of consultation, the lack of compassion, the heartless way in which land acquisition notifications were delivered to people who were affected, the absence of the minister to reply to affected people or front-up to them in any way—these actions were the things that created and exacerbated the pain my community and those in West Torrens and Elder suffered.

When teenagers arrived home from school, they found notices on their doormats telling them that their family home would be destroyed. That had real ramifications for families in my area—incredibly distressing. No-one wants to be confronted with that news themselves, and then to have to explain it to their equally shocked children was a ridiculous burden.

On top of that, in those letters there was a phone number. Gee, if you rang that phone number, guess what happened? The guy whose phone number it was was on long service leave. You could not actually even get hold of anyone after you had received this incredibly distressing news to try to get some information. That was the standard of consultation and communication that those opposite imposed on my community. So I am going to help you out: paragraph (c) should now read:

(c) the house condemns the Marshall Liberal government's failed public consultation that has left many residents and business owners frustrated and concerned about their home and business acquisitions.

I seek the support of the house for the amendment.

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (12:35): I rise to support the proposed amended version of this motion. I want to thank the member for Badcoe very much for kindly providing some accurate information on this project and the current work being done by the government. I am not sure whether those opposite just could not google effectively, or if they chose to ignore the truth, but it is incredibly unhelpful when we are working so hard to fix the mess, quite frankly, they have left us. Labor governments have finished every other section of this project, and it looks like we will be doing all of it because those opposite could not get anything done in their term.

Each time the member for Hartley criticises our government's work on the Torrens to Darlington project, I struggle. Do I roll my eyes, do I just bite my tongue, or do I just feel a little bit embarrassed for him? I am not someone who embarrasses easily, to be frank. How embarrassing to have been the minister responsible for something and to have done nothing. Instead of thinking, 'Shivers, at least these guys are picking it up. I'll just sit back and stay quiet,' he keeps moving motions like this—which he has attended, on this occasion—to criticise us because of what? Because we have not got everything done fast enough? We are going through the mess you have left us and trying to get this project done correctly.

Our government, the minister and the department have worked hard to develop a plan—

The Hon. V.A. Tarzia interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Hartley, I have been very patient with you.

The Hon. V.A. Tarzia interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Hartley! I have been very patient, so cut out the feedback. Member for Elder, you have the floor.

Ms CLANCY: Thank you very much. The motion as it stands criticises the budget. As the member for Badcoe also pointed out, those opposite had a project that would have cost more than $15 billion, but they were telling everyone it was under 10. That project did not include upgrades to key feeder routes, supplying precast tunnel shells and hauling excavated materials to allow for increased loadings during construction. It did not include capacity upgrades to key intersections away from South Road that will experience traffic increases due to traffic choosing to not travel on South Road during construction, and it also did not include upgrades to key intersections and road links necessary to cater for changes to traffic flows once the project is complete.

Ms Stinson: Who's doing that work now?

Ms CLANCY: Our government is doing all those things; that is why we are making sure we do this properly. The plan of those opposite also did not include restoring the degraded sections of South Road above the tunnels to a fit standard. There were sections of South Road in my electorate that were in a shocking condition, and those opposite did not want to do anything about it, whereas we have been getting it done.

Normally, people are not really stoked with roadworks, but this work has been done so efficiently that people can see work happening and they can see the improvements being done—improvements they have been calling out for, and I am sure those opposite heard those calls. We are listening to those calls and getting that resurfacing work done, so right now you can drive down South Road and it is a lot nicer. Also, once the project is done, those who do remain on the surface level are still able to enjoy a decent road.

I have also been really pleased by the community consultation that was run by this government and by the department, and I want to thank everyone who was involved in that work. It has been extensive, and there have been a number of opportunities for members of my community to share their views and have any questions answered, including at a bricks-and-mortar facility on South Road at Clovelly Park. I want to thank them for their work. I also want to acknowledge those who have had their homes or businesses acquired. I appreciate that it has been really challenging, and I will continue to work with them.

I would like to once again thank the member for Badcoe for all her work over a number of years now on this project. She has stayed vigilant and really knows the project back to front. I am really grateful to have been able to work alongside her on this. Fortunately, Labor has a very strong track record of delivering when it comes to the north-south corridor, and it is a track record that we plan on continuing.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley) (12:40): Obviously, the opposition cannot support the government in these amendments. I think it is very telling that what they are seeking to do is to effectively look at an expectation of delivery by 2031. That, in itself, is quite telling. Why would they not today guarantee that at a certain point in time this project could be delivered? Do you know why? Because they know that this project is going to continue to spiral out of control. Whether it be from a timing perspective, whether it be a budget perspective, this project will continue—

Ms Stinson interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Badcoe!

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: —to spiral out of control. They do not like hearing it and they do not like being called out. If they were that confident, why would they not today guarantee that this project will be completed by 2031? That is not what they are doing today. All they are saying is that it is expected to be delivered by 2031.

Do you know what? We all know that the Labor Party in South Australia have left this part of the north-south corridor to the last possible moment. We had the courage in government to take it on. We had the courage to take it on, so let the record show that what we have here is a whole array of what I would call, quite frankly, false promises—false promises by this government. They are not going to get it done on time. They are not going to get it done on budget and, unfortunately, it is the people along South Road and the surrounding areas who are going to have to suffer the unnecessary delays and the unnecessary budget situations as well.

We cannot support the government's amendments to our most diligent motion. It is a very sad day, but all we do sincerely hope for is that this project is started as soon as possible, completed as soon as possible and done on budget as well.

Amendment carried.

The house divided on the motion as amended:

Ayes 24

Noes 13

Majority 11

AYES

Andrews, S.E. Bignell, L.W.K. Boyer, B.I.
Brown, M.E. Champion, N.D. Clancy, N.P.
Close, S.E. Cook, N.F. Fulbrook, J.P.
Hildyard, K.A. Hood, L.P. Hughes, E.J.
Hutchesson, C.L. Koutsantonis, A. Michaels, A.
Mullighan, S.C. Odenwalder, L.K. Pearce, R.K.
Picton, C.J. Savvas, O.M. Stinson, J.M. (teller)
Szakacs, J.K. Thompson, E.L. Wortley, D.J.

NOES

Basham, D.K.B. Batty, J.A. Cowdrey, M.J.
Gardner, J.A.W. Hurn, A.M. Patterson, S.J.R.
Pederick, A.S. Pisoni, D.G. Pratt, P.K.
Tarzia, V.A. (teller) Teague, J.B. Telfer, S.J.
Whetstone, T.J.

PAIRS

Bettison, Z.L. Marshall, S.S.

Motion as amended thus carried.

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