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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-06-15 Daily Xml
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South Road Upgrade

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (15:24): I rise today to talk about a topic that I know is very close to the member for Hartley's heart, but, unfortunately, we are missing him. It was so close that he actually was going to move a motion at the last sitting and then failed to turn up for his own motion, so I thought instead I would speak about South Road today.

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner: Point of order, sir.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Elder, there is a point of order. Member for Morialta, if you are raising a point of order in relation to 127, that can only be raised by the member who has been referred to.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: I was not, sir.

The SPEAKER: Very well, I will hear you.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Sir, it is disorderly to reflect on the vote of a session. The member, in identifying a—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: There was a vote taken by this parliament to discharge a motion when one member sought the call and was given preference over another member. Secondly, it is also disorderly to refer to a member's participation, presence in the chamber or not. There are two standing orders broken.

The SPEAKER: Very well. I will listen carefully.

Ms CLANCY: I rise today to speak about South Road. Our Malinauskas Labor government is committed to the north-south corridor project. We know how difficult South Road can be—not just in peak hour but at any time and on any day. The member for Badcoe might argue with me on this one, as I know it is tricky in her neck of the woods too, but I would say the worst part of South Road is in front of Castle Plaza and Bunnings. You feel like you are in one of those car parks when you are out the front.

People in our community really want this work done. Whether they are tired of being stuck on South Road or they live on West Street, Edward Street, Winston Avenue, Towers Terrace in the member for Badcoe's electorate, or on any other road used by those who are avoiding South Road, they want this work done and they want it done properly, which is what they will get from this government.

While previous Labor governments have proudly completed sections of this project, the former Liberal government has just left a string of failures. Those opposite feign interest in this project and, instead of actually supporting us to get this work done, choose to cause worry and concern that is unnecessary for people in our community.

This is a mess created by the former government and our government is now working to address it. We know that because of the former Liberal government's failures, the project's completion has to be pushed back to 2031. Their program for the project was unrealistic and did not reflect the actual status of design development, community engagement, the relocation of utility services and technical investigations. Their program also failed to recognise the very well-known skilled labour and supply chain constraints being experienced nationally.

The arrogance of the former minister and government also meant that there was not adequate consideration and development of options and solutions, which could achieve the same traffic benefits but impose less impact on the community; for example, the large overhead structures proposed at the Anzac Highway intersection. The former government also failed to include in the scope of the project:

restoring of the degraded sections of South Road above the tunnels to a fit standard;

upgrading key feeder routes supplying precast tunnel shells and for hauling excavated materials to allow for increased loadings during construction;

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

upgrades to key intersections and road links necessary to cater for changes to traffic flows once the project is complete.

The former Liberal government quite simply did not do the work required for the Torrens to Darlington project to be completed and be completed well under their time frame. Labor knows how important this project is, which is why we are making sure we get it right. We are taking the time to reset this project with the right scope, a realistic construction program and a realistic budget expenditure profile.

While the Liberals' lack of progress means the time frame for spending must be adjusted, the new Labor government is now working to get this project back on track so it can be delivered as quickly as possible. I would like to thank the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport for his incredible work on this project, as well as the member Badcoe for all her advocacy. Labor's ongoing commitment to this project is very clear. Previous Labor governments have done so much of this work, and after four years of failures from those opposite we are getting back to work.

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