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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

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (14:53): My question is the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Did the minister consult any residents of River Road prior before making his decision in relation to the trucks down Main Street, Hahndorf and, if so, how many residents did he consult? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr TEAGUE: On 24 August, the minister announced the main road, Hahndorf, truck ban. On 10 September local resident, Emma Smith, told The Advertiser, and I quote, 'I can tell with a fair amount of certainty that there will be a fatality on this road.'

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:54): Ms Smith has said that I haven't been responding to her correspondence, or she has not had a response to her correspondence, therefore she attended a press conference the Premier was at. I received Ms Smith's email on Thursday. I have checked with my office. I get about 750 to a thousand pieces of correspondence a month, close to 12,000 pieces of correspondence a year.

An honourable member: Do you answer them? You don't answer ours.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I do answer yours; in fact, I prioritise members of parliament, I do. And if I am late to a member of parliament, I always make the point of apologising for the delay because I prioritise MPs because you are here representing the people of South Australia and I know how important it is when an MP writes to me about an issue.

Ms Smith wrote to me on Thursday. Thursday, one business day on Friday, and on Sunday there were complaints that we hadn't responded on time. With all due respect, that is a short time frame. In terms of the consultation of residents on River Road, I consulted with residents on part of the Hahndorf Main Street organisation but I have not directly consulted with them; the department is consulting with residents along—

Mr Pederick: They don't matter.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: That's not what I said.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I have to say, given the pronouncements by members opposite about what they want to do to Paechtown, did the member for Hammond speak to anyone in Paechtown about his pronouncement that we should just put an interchange right through their homes?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Have you?

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I haven't finished.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hammond, your colleague is seeking to make a point of order. Member for Heysen.

Mr TEAGUE: Point of order: standing order 98. The question was quite specific.

The SPEAKER: I have the question. I will listen carefully.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I haven't personally consulted with residents there, but the department is consulting with residents. I think the question was: did I do it before the decision to ban trucks on Main Street? As I said, I have been called on by local residents, Adelaide Hills—

The SPEAKER: Minister, please be seated.

The Hon. V.A. Tarzia: It wouldn't happen in Mount Barker.

The SPEAKER: Member for Hartley, you are well and truly on three warnings, and you will leave for the remainder of question time—137A.

The honourable member for Hartley having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I am loath to do this now that he has left, but I just again reiterate that on 4 April this is what the opposition was saying publicly about the main street of Hahndorf:

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 that don't need to be there from the main street of Hahndorf. We've all been there on a Sunday afternoon, David, we know what it's like, it's bedlam, it's dangerous at the moment and so we are not going to stop.

And neither will I—

The SPEAKER: Minister, there is a point of order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Heysen.

Mr TEAGUE: Standing order 98: the minister is not only now not answering the question but he is repeating himself. The question was quite specific: what consultation was done with River Road residents prior to the decision?

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order, member for Heysen, and developing or revisiting some subject matter, provided there is an additional novel contribution, is not a contravention of standing order 98, as you well know. I will listen carefully.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Again, this is part of the narrative the opposition are trying to push, that we are deliberately targeting River Road residents. We are not. What we have done—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, we have given them other options: there is Flaxley Road, Junction Road. The local member won't plant his flag on an actual outcome that he wants but has said he is happy to see trucks back into the main street rather than diverted anywhere else. Quite frankly, if he wanted a bypass, he should have built one, but he chose not to. He was part of a cabinet that did not build a bypass. They did commit to Mount Barker, they did commit to Verdun, but would not commit to Hahndorf—and why? He did not want to announce before the election that he was carving up Beerenberg and Paechtown.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: That's why they didn't do it.

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, there is a point of order. Member for Morialta.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Debate, sir.

The SPEAKER: Yes, there is some force in that point of order. Minister, we have the question. We are late in the dusk of the answer and we are going to bring you back to the question.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: We are consulting with residents, but the idea that we are making River Road a bypass is a different form of consultation. We are not making River Road a bypass. Therefore, what we are doing here is consulting with residents who are being impacted on the main street of Hahndorf, which is something that the opposition have called on us to do, and we have done it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

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