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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-04-09 Daily Xml
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Private Members' Statements

Private Members' Statements

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley) (16:05): For the second time this year I have raised in this place reference to a letter that I wrote to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport about suggestions that came from school communities to improve awareness of two traffic crossings—one on Unley Road in front of Walford school, and one on Goodwood Road in front of Goodwood Primary School.

I was pleased to hear the minister say that he would attend to a response to the letter that I sent on 9 November after I asked him a question today about its progress. In my letter, I passed on the suggestions that were made by those communities—for example, the declaration of designated school zones adjacent to those schools on Goodwood Road and Unley Road.

This is unique to South Australia. I understand that main roads that have schools on them do not have school zones on those main roads. If you go around the corner on Commercial Road in Hyde Park adjacent to Walford school, you are alerted that you are in a school zone, but not on Unley Road. Also suggested was the introduction of prominent road-based alerts—physical road-based alerts and also car audio alerts. In later model vehicles that have GPS, a signal is sent from those school zones to advise drivers that they are in a school zone.

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (16:07): One of the things I loved most about growing up in a country town was that it often took two hours to go and grab a carton of milk or a loaf of bread down the main street, because you literally run into every second person that you know and have a chat about your day or what was happening in the town. Even though I am now the member of the capital city seat, I still want to create that same sense of connection and community that you would find in any country town.

One of the key ways of doing that is investing in our main streets. I am really excited to update the house on two of my election commitments to do just that—that is, an investment in Hutt Street and also in Melbourne Street. In Hutt Street, I have a $3 million commitment to improve the entry statement to this main street. We are going to have new paths, new planted trees and public artwork leading into the heart of Hutt Street. It is really about creating a gateway and a better entry statement to this beloved main street.

I am also investing $1 million in Melbourne Street, with works to get underway this month. We will be planting new planter boxes to add colour and vibrancy to the street. We will be relocating, organising, decluttering and installing new street furniture. We will also be installing signage to Dunn Street car park to better direct people to parking that is available. This is all part of creating stronger and more connected communities, and so I am very pleased to see these works get underway.

Mr TELFER: This government is seemingly bulldozing on with works to change key intersections along Liverpool Street in Port Lincoln, the main thoroughfare through town. The government is removing the left-turn slipways on these intersections despite continued opposition from the community, including during the formal consultation process. This will have a massive impact on daily movements of freight, school drop-offs, business access and peak-hour traffic through Port Lincoln.

I wrote to the minister months ago. I know many community members have as well through the proper consultation process and subsequent to it. Minister Brock was in Port Lincoln just last week. Surely, he would have seen the traffic chaos. Surely, he would have seen that it is only going to make the traffic worse, not better, not safer.

Seemingly, my community's concerns have been ignored by both the minister and the department. They need to listen to my community and put a halt to these works. There is an opportunity to make things better in order to make these intersections work for our modern daily traffic movement in Port Lincoln but, unfortunately, what the department have put forward in their blind push for pedestrian safety has ended up making it worse. They are not making it better, they are making it worse. I am calling on the minister to put a halt on these works so we can actually get a design that works for the future of Port Lincoln.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (16:10): In times of conflict often people get polarised in their views, and the current Israel-Palestine conflict is no different. Often it is very challenging to have a diversity of views expressed by a particular conflict. It takes very brave people to actually talk about a conflict and not toe the party line.

Today I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate a group of people in Australia who have formed the new Jewish Council of Australia, which is a diverse coalition of Jewish academics, lawyers, writers and teachers. They are experts on antisemitism and racism and were formed in response to the rise in racism and antisemitism in Australia. They, like the rest of us, are particularly concerned about the rise in Neo-Nazi activities, fascism and far right extremism. They are all proud Jewish people made up of graduates of Jewish high schools, lifelong members of synagogues, etc.

This group, though, provides an alternative view about the current Israel-Palestine conflict. Louise Adler, who is well known to South Australians, said:

The Jewish Council is an important initiative. The next generation of Australian Jews is resisting the pressure applied by the Jewish establishment to defend Israel and the Occupation. Refusing to toe the line comes at a real personal cost so I commend the individuals involved for their moral courage and commitment to peace and justice.

I fully endorse those comments and I congratulate these people.

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