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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-10-29 Daily Xml
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Rosewater Loop

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (14:45): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question on the topic of the Rosewater Loop to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: Residents along the length of the Rosewater Loop have been actively engaged on the issue of that Rosewater Loop since the early 2000s. At the last state election they were successful in securing candidate support and ultimately funding to enable work on the area to begin, with the first vital tranche of that work including a site contamination report.

Given the industrial nature of the area, the report is, of course, of significant interest to the group and the local residents. I understand that work has been completed, but the report not released. Since then, the group has removed countless bags of rubbish from the site and planted more than 1,500 native tube stock plants. The Rosewater Loop Stakeholder Reference Group meets with DIT on a regular basis and values the good working relationship they have with them, and in good faith they have asked for a copy of the contamination report, but it has not been forthcoming, nor seemingly is DIT prepared to make it available under FOI, because my office has been waiting somewhere close to a year for that to be complied with.

The Stakeholder Reference Group has been unable to secure even a summary of the report; they have not been able to find out whether the contamination study examined the area in its entirety or only the area where the path is to be sited. But they have been told that the report is 400 pages long and that there is 'nothing to worry about'. That is hardly reassuring. They believe that if there really is nothing to worry about then it should not be problematic to release the report.

My question to the minister therefore is: when will the minister ensure that this report is released so that community members can be confident that, as they and their children clean up rubbish on this site and continue to plant it out with native plants, they are not unwittingly risking their health?

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Autism) (14:47): I thank the member for her question and appreciate her interest in this particular matter. As she has highlighted, the Malinauskas Labor government did commit $1.5 million towards converting the Rosewater railway and previously discussed converting a space between Rosewater and Ottoway into a vibrant community space. I am advised the project aims to better connect Rosewater, Ottoway and Gillman with the Outer Harbour Greenway and Port Adelaide Centre.

I understand this includes planting quite a number—about 1,200—of native species, and this project has been a popular one, with lots of volunteers wanting to participate, as the honourable member highlighted. In addition to planting, I am advised the community is very involved in this project and has had opportunity to learn more about it along the way. I understand a newsletter was sent out to the community on Friday to provide them an update in regard to where it is progressing and where it is at at this very point in time.

I am also aware that DIT will be undertaking a meeting with the group on site tomorrow. I am happy to send the details to the member so that she can also attend or, if it is during parliament, maybe send someone along to that meeting to seek further advice. I am happy to try to organise further opportunities for the member to get updates.