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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-04-07 Daily Xml
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RURAL PROPERTY ADDRESSES

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:09): My question is to the Minister for State/Local Government Relations. Will the minister inform the house—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Wortley should start again.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: My question is to the Minister for State/Local Government Relations. Will he inform the house of what is being done to improve the ability of service providers to find addresses in rural areas? Did you hear that?

An honourable member: I did, thank you.

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for Gambling) (15:10): I thank the Hon. Mr Wortley for his question. Mr President, I am sure you are aware of the long-running battle to address rural property addressing in country areas to try to ensure that there is a consistent system and one that is useful and able to be used by Emergency Services and others. I am sure you are well familiar, from your former travels around the country, with how difficult it can be to locate some country properties.

I am certainly familiar, from my own background in the country, with the sort of directions that you are often given about 'turning right at the green shed', or whatever it might be, so you can find a particular property. The farm next door was well known for having a picture of a blue cow painted on the side of their dairy, known as the 'blue moo', so that became quite a common landmark; you just turned left after the 'blue moo'. We believe it will be good to have a slightly more sophisticated system, rather than relying on people identifying and observing landmarks or other things along the way.

I am pleased to inform the house that a new property addressing system is currently being implemented, as a joint initiative of the state government and local councils across South Australia, to make locating rural properties easier. More than 50,000 properties across country South Australia will receive an official rural address. The new addressing system complies with national Australian standards. It will see every rural property identified by a number, based on the distance of its entrance along the road, the name of the road and the locality and postcode of the property.

The official nationally recognised and locatable address will make it easier for service providers to find properties in rural areas. It will provide certainty of location, which will also enhance safety in potential emergency situations. Many properties are located on previously unnamed roads where Emergency Services personnel and other service providers have relied on local knowledge to find them.

The implementation of rural property addressing will help to improve the safety of rural residents and the efficiency of service delivery. The initiative is strongly supported, I understand, by South Australia Police, the Country Fire Service, ambulance services and Australia Post. The Land Services division of the Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure is leading the project and is consulting with local councils and interested parties to generate property addresses.

Council responsibilities include naming roads, communicating with property owners, allocating addresses to residents under provisions of the Local Government Act and encouraging residents to display a standard residential address sign. The state government and councils are officially naming many roads that were previously unnamed or had confused road names. This is being carried out under the Local Government Act and involves public notification and consideration and resolution of any public objections.

The high bushfire risk areas are the priority for road naming and address implementation. Naming state roads for the remainder of the state is well advanced and will be completed and publicly notified in the next few months. The majority of council road-naming issues across the state have been resolved. Councils have recently commenced officially releasing rural addresses. Councils are receiving and resolving feedback from residents to ensure that the official addresses are accurate.

Residents are responsible for address signage. The display of a standard roadside address number at the primary property road entrance is being requested. Residents have been asked to make the sign clearly visible to road traffic. I am advised that some councils have committed to roll out the initial signage for their residents. The LGA has developed a statewide contract through public tender, with several sign producers contracted to provide standard roadside address signs in bulk to councils, at a significantly lower price.

An ongoing rural address recording and maintenance system has been developed. I am advised the program is currently proceeding to schedule and within budget. This initiative will support the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the 2011 census, which will rely on the supply by residents of a nationally recognised residential address to collate regional statistics. It will provide location information for the new computer-aided dispatch system being implemented for the State Emergency Services in 2011 and for the geocoded national address file required by the Public Sector Mapping Authority for national programs and map and street directory providers.

This is an important initiative, and I look forward to updating the house on it. The Hon. Mr Dawkins was interjecting that this has been done before, and indeed there are and have been a number of initiatives around the state and the nation at various levels to address this over time, whether it be at state or local government level. What we are trying to do here is ensure that we have a nationally consistent system that everyone can use and that covers everybody.

Certainly I recall, when I was growing up on the dairy farm at Eight Mile Creek, at some point being given, with some fanfare, a little tag with six numbers on it, and that was our code that we could use to identify ourselves. When we came to use it to try to bring an ambulance when it was required, the ambulance service was pretty nonplussed and said, 'We don't use those,' so we had to go through the old system; indeed, we probably said, 'Turn left at the blue moo.'

It is an important initiative and, while there have been efforts in the past—and I certainly commend those who have been involved in those—here we are trying to achieve an important nationally consistent system that will be available to emergency services and others and will be of great benefit to rural residents.

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