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

Contents

Wright Electorate

The Hon. B.I. BOYER (Wright—Minister for Education, Training and Skills) (15:49): I am pleased to have an opportunity to update the house on how election commitments in the seat of Wright are progressing. There have been some exciting developments in the last few weeks and I thought it gave me a—

The Hon. V.A. Tarzia: Sandbagging.

The Hon. B.I. BOYER: No, we are not sandbagging in Wright, but thank you, member for Hartley. There are some very important election commitments on which progress has been made recently, and I thought the moment was opportune to provide an update not just to the house, of course, but to the fine residents of the seat of Wright about how those election commitments are progressing.

The first I would like to speak about, because it is most fresh in my mind, is the new ambulance station at Golden Grove. Just last week I joined the members for King and Newland, as well as the health minister, at the site of where the new ambulance station will be. It is a fantastic location, I have to say. It is really exciting that the government and SAAS were able to find a location right in the heart of the Golden Grove development, in what is one of the very few remaining pieces of undeveloped land there.

It is coming in addition to the ambulance station that already exists at Redwood Park and, of course, in addition to the one at Parafield Airport. This is good because it is about adding additional paramedics and additional ambulances, which will improve response times in the area. I think it is safe to say that in the north-eastern suburbs and around the Golden Grove development we probably have more than our fair share of retirement villages. We have an ageing population, so making sure that we can have the health care they need and fast response times from ambulances is a wonderful thing. It was exciting to see the sod being turned on that site last week.

There will be a technical college at The Heights School. Obviously, the state government is delivering or building five of these, and the first at Findon is now open. There will be four more that will open before the state election in 2026 and one of them will be at The Heights School.

I have been quite open and honest in accepting and acknowledging that part of the inspiration for the government building these technical colleges was the incredible success of St Patrick's Technical College in Edinburgh and Cardijn College in the south as well. It is a model that was gratefully, I think, adopted and supported by local families, including in the north and north-eastern suburbs, but I think there was a gap, particularly in the north-east suburbs, where we could have something closer to home. I am pleased to see that we have now selected a site there on a parcel of land co-located with The Heights School, owned by the education department, where we are going to build one of those five technical colleges.

On the subject of health care and providing more services closer to home, we have the very substantial upgrade of Modbury Hospital which is due to be completed in December 2025. I have had a number of visits there with the Premier, the health minister, the member for Newland, the member for King and the member for Torrens, as well as the federal member, Tony Zappia. We are all very aware that what is raised with us whenever we are out and about in our communities, whenever we are on the doors or at shopping centres, is quite often around how we can provide more healthcare services closer to home.

Indeed, I think it is safe to say that, particularly in the north-eastern suburbs, many people moved there when those suburbs were first created because we had Modbury Hospital being built. People saw it as a great location that was close to the city and close to work but was also going to have its own hospital.

I am really pleased to see that amongst a number of things that will be built at Modbury Hospital and offered is a new cancer centre. I think that is something that we can be proud of. The number of times I have spoken to residents, in particular to elderly residents, who might have a partner who is receiving cancer treatment or chemotherapy, they find it very hard to travel back and forward from the city to be there. They just want them closer to home, and we are going to make sure that that can now be done.

Wynn Vale Dam: for those who have been out—and there are some members of this place who have been out—to do the parkrun at Wynn Vale Dam on a Saturday morning, it is the way my wife and I normally start our weekends. It routinely draws a crowd close to 300. I am very much at the back end of that 300 when I cross the finish line, but it is something that I have got into the habit of doing. I know the member for Adelaide does it as well, and many other members of this place. It is not just a great thing for your fitness and for your wellbeing but is a fantastic social and community thing to do as well. There are people who you have conversations with there and you get to meet.

We are going to provide an update of Wynn Vale Dam, better pathways, better lighting and a better play space as well. Of particular importance is the lighting, because it is such a popular course. It is used in the early morning and late at night. Now we are heading into the winter months, we need to make sure it is safe as well. On top of that is Wynn Vale Drive, one of the worst intersections there with Bridge Road. We promised traffic lights. Early works have started there and I am looking forward to updating this place on how all those election commitments are progressing as soon as I have some more information.