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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-09-12 Daily Xml
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Hahndorf Truck Diversion

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley) (14:31): My question is again to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Did the government receive advice from the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator in relation to trucks on River Road and, if so, what advice was provided?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:32): The department is conducting its own assessments.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morialta is already on two warnings. The minister has the call.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: This is a council road that is a general access road. For the entire time members opposite were in government, they allowed trucks weighing over 40 tonnes and that were 19 metres in length to use it, and the member for Heysen didn't complain once.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir: standing order 98. When the minister names another member and points and wags his finger at him, he is going well beyond traditional compare and contrast.

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order. I will listen carefully. There is some force in it. The minister will come to the question.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: This is a council road. The council has deemed this road suitable for general access vehicles. That was the regime while members opposite were in office. The entire time they were in—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Shouting won't change it. Interjecting won't change the facts.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yelling won't change the facts.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey! Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Members opposite allowed vehicles that weighed over 40 tonnes to carry logs and livestock through River Road and never complained once—not once. That's very interesting, isn't it?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: My young friend interjects, 'How many trucks?'

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: In my previous answer, I just said there were 70 to 100 heavy vehicles using that road every day, and that is on the basis of the assessments made while members opposite were in office. In fact, the actual count from Mount Barker Road onto River Road was 130 vehicles in 2019. That assessment was done—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —while members opposite were planning to make River Road—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hartley! The member for Hammond is warned.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —the bypass option for Hahndorf. So while they're out there—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Florey! The member for Hartley is on a final warning, and the member for Hammond joins him on two warnings and is close to final.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I heard an interjection, which I shouldn't respond to, saying, 'That was done during COVID.' But that would mean there would have been fewer traffic movements during COVID, so 130 is actually conservative or it might be more. Either way, the bypass options that members opposite are trying to sell to the people of the Adelaide Hills have always been a furphy. Their final designs were ready to go when they were in office and they never made a decision—never made a decision.

My young friend preferred River Road. Other members preferred the Beerenberg-Paechtown option, which I understand is the member for Heysen's preferred option. I also understand that on the other options that were chosen there was a great deal of debate within the cabinet about this about what options to choose. So they made no decision. What we have done is get trucks off the main street. I have a supporter in getting trucks off the main street. Someone said this in April of this year, and I quote:

The government has just got to listen to locals because at the end of the day there's no point really doing anything unless you take those trucks…[off] the main street of Hahndorf.

Do you know who said that? My young friend. Much like the intersection he was championing in his local community when he couldn't get members opposite to listen to him, I have listened. I have listened. The trucks are coming off the main street of Hahndorf. We are spending money on River Road to make sure that it can maintain the level of traffic it has now. We are not planning a bypass by stealth.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: That is what members opposite are feeding that community, and it is unfair.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! There are continuous interjections from my left and right and it is difficult to hear. I would not wish to willingly exercise 137A, but I do observe that a number of members are on their final warnings. The member for Elder has been waiting patiently the last number of questions.

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