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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-06-18 Daily Xml
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RURAL PROPERTY ADDRESSING STANDARD

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (15:07): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Emergency Services a question about the rural property addressing standard.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: For some years, government agencies and the South Australian Regional Organisation of Councils have been working towards a uniform system for the identification of rural properties. This move was largely driven by concern from emergency services agencies about difficulties in locating rural properties. I understand that a lot of work has been done by local government bodies to name all rural roads and to install suitable road signage.

While designs for uniform individual property signage have apparently been finalised, there has been no indication of any funding assistance from the government for the installation of these signs. In addition, there has been a delay in the implementation of the project due, as I understand it, to the failure of the Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure appropriately to name any of the departmental main roads.

I interpose that this was a project that began following my urging during the time of the previous Liberal government. An example of such a road is where it is known by the department as the Loxton to Murray Bridge Road or the Loxton to Tailem Bend Road, which are very long titles to put on a sign outside a property. My questions are:

1. Will the minister inform the council when it is expected that the rural property addressing standard will be implemented?

2. Given the importance of uniform property identification to emergency services, will she indicate what action will be taken by the government, first, to urge DTEI to expedite the identification by name of many so-called 'destination roads' and, secondly, to assist individual property owners to install the uniform signage designated by the standard?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (15:09): I thank the honourable member for his important questions. The state government has allocated a budget of $1.8 million over four years to this project. This was announced very recently (probably within the past few days), so the honourable member may have missed it.

The chief executives of stakeholder departments and agencies have agreed to support the project through the provision of funds or in-kind service. The successful implementation required the joint support and commitment of state, local government and other address users, such as Australia Post, and that has only recently been achieved.

For the information of honourable members in the chamber, the way that this rural addressing system works is that an address number and road name are allocated to each occupied rural property. The address number is based on property entrance distance from the start of the road. I will give an example: 2,000 metres from the start of the road and on the right-hand side of the road equals 200. So, basically you divide 2,000 by 10, and you round it to even for the right-hand side of the road, and the other way for the left-hand side of the road.

I agree with the honourable member that this is a very important initiative that came out of the bushfire summit that the state government committed to when investigating the issue. So, it is now actually being rolled out. Both state and local government have a very important key role to play. The state government is committed to lead and coordinate the implementation of rural addressing with councils and all the stakeholders; to establish the initial rural address for the 55,000 rural properties currently without a standard address; and to establish the rural address register, the rural road register and maintenance systems.

Local government has agreed to provide road naming and signage, undertake a representative audit of property-addressing information, and undertake some general promotion. The Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure is leading this whole-of-government project with the Justice Department and also SAFECOM which, of course, is responsible for setting priorities from an emergency services perspective. Of course, this matter is within my interest as Minister for Emergency Services.

It is really a very important initiative. As I have said, it does cut across and benefits most government departments in our state. Certainly, from my information, I know that the project is proceeding very well, with almost one-fifth of projected addresses completed by the end of February this year, as I understand it.

Loxton Waikerie has been the lead pilot council and will be among the first of 49 regional councils to implement the system. The trial rollout in Loxton will start from October this year, with a progressive rollout during the next three years, and priority will be given to councils with a higher emergency services risk and, more importantly, councils with a willingness to participate. So, a prerequisite is the naming of all roads by the respective councils, and Loxton is one of the first councils to name its roads.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: They've been waiting for DTEI to catch up to them.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: Well, it looks like they have caught up. That council had 67 unnamed roads which have now been named and gazetted. Initial Kangaroo Island address locations have been completed ahead of schedule for review with council. As an overview, DTEI is working together with other departments and local councils to make this happen, and the funding has been appropriated.

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