Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I represent a fantastic electorate—the electorate of Hindmarsh. In my opinion, it is one of the best places in the country to live. It's a great community and I am proud to call it home and have always called it home. Like most people in this place, I take my job representing the good people of my electorate very seriously, and I get fairly frustrated when the issues which my constituents raise with me are not taken seriously by this government or by any government.

The government talks a great deal about jobs. We hear the government talking about jobs growth, but I don't see much follow-through. We saw this after the budget, when South Australia missed out on substantial infrastructure projects that were ready to go. The government announced $70 billion for roads, rail, ports and airports across the country, but not a single dollar for South Australia. This has meant that many constituents have taken matters into their own hands to lobby and push for problem areas that require infrastructure to be addressed. For example, the good residents along and around West Beach Road, West Beach, within my electorate, are frustrated by repeatedly missing out on funding for much-needed road upgrades in the area. I have met with the local residents, and I have joined with local residents and councils in the area. I am calling for the problems along West Beach Road to be addressed once and for all.

West Beach Road is shared by the councils of the City of Charles Sturt and the City of West Torrens. Both councils share the responsibility for this road. Together, they have made applications to the federal government for funding, especially Roads to Recovery, for this upgrade to take place. Applications for funding have been repeatedly knocked back and ignored since 2015. This year they have again tried to get this upgrade funded. Once again, I would like to express my support for the residents in this area and for this project. If this project were to be successful and we could get the money to upgrade West Beach Road, it would increase safety for residents along West Beach Road and for visitors using this thoroughfare. We could review parking arrangements on both sides of West Beach Road and improve walking and cycling routes for West Beach Road. With each passing year, this upgrade becomes more needed.

West Beach Road now links some of the area's most important infrastructure facilities in the western suburbs—in fact, in Adelaide. It links the airport. It links Harbour Town, which is a retail and business precinct. It links tourism and sporting facilities at Adelaide Shores and, of course, the West Beach boat harbour, which is one of the only boat harbours in the area. People who go fishing use West Beach Road to go west and then turn left into the beach harbour. And of course it is the main road to one of Adelaide's premiere beaches, West Beach. But it was originally constructed for very low volumes of traffic and to serve local residents. Today it serves local residents but also many, many more people who converge on the weekend for the sporting facilities, the airport, Harbour Town, the retail area, the beach, the boat harbour and all the other activity that takes place down there. Therefore, the road now does not serve its purpose. It was there just for the local residents; now it has taken up lots and lots of volume in motor vehicles, and it becomes a quagmire sometimes on the weekend, when it is bumper to bumper for two days straight—Saturday and Sunday.

Many local residents have contacted me. They've shown me photographs and they've given me their stories, reporting the dangerous experiences that they've had along this particular road. I've had regular meetings with the local residents' representatives, council staff, councillors and the sporting bodies from Adelaide Shores to explore ways that we can improve conditions, and there is only one way of doing it—that is, some funding to upgrade the road to make it safer both for the residents who use it every single day and for the people who use it for the facilities that are down there.

Going back a few months, we decided to conduct a survey along West Beach Road of residents that use it, just to assess the level of frustration. I've got to say that, without fail, the people who responded to the survey that I put out for the local residents told me stories of: very dangerous incidents caused by limited visibility, speeding and poor road conditions; lots of cars parking illegally when there are sporting events, making it very hard for residents to come in and out of their driveways; near misses and, in fact, actual accidents. Specifically, residents reported a high number of accidents, car damage and near accidents.

West Beach Road is very narrow road. As I said, it was established a long time ago to service the needs of local traffic only. The way the road is constructed makes it very difficult for traffic when it converges. In fact, many people think it's a dual carriageway and have used the opposite side of the road. We have had so many near misses. I have heard about residents who have just managed to avoid serious accidents where vehicles were using the wrong side of the road. It's so narrow that you get the impression it is a dual carriageway. People driving on the wrong side of the road have caused so many near accidents.

I have supported this funding and upgrade of the road by submitting a supporting letter to accompany the council's funding applications this year. I am hoping that it will be successful through Roads to Recovery. In my letter, I used the findings from the survey that we put out in the electorate to add weight to the need to improve this road. I'd also like to thank: Leon Williams, who is one of the residents who have been actively campaigning on this now for a number of years, and rightly so; the other residents that have been assisting and helping him; and the residents that ring us and give us all the details of everything that's taking place down there.

So I take this opportunity to once again express my support for the West Beach Road upgrade. Once again, I urge the federal minister for transport to support the West Beach Road upgrade through the applications and supporting letters that I and councils and others have put in for funding under the Roads to Recovery program. I know that an announcement about this round will be made soon, and I am urging the minister to please, please, listen to the voices of those residents and fund this particular project—not only for the residents that have been contacting me but also for the many families with children there. It's a young area. There are lots of children, as well as cyclists, the elderly and all the visitors who use the road, who require a safe road to reach the facilities that they are attending.

Such infrastructure projects are vital for communities. But they are also vital for economic growth because, with the upgrade of the road, there will be jobs created as well. So I plead with the federal government and the transport minister: please, do you really care about jobs and infrastructure? Well, here's a way that you could prove that. It will show in the decision that they make in this next round of Roads to Recovery.

As I said, this road was built many years ago to service local people. In the meantime, we have had Adelaide Shores, which is a wonderful sporting facility, grow as well. There are facilities for soccer, baseball and a whole range of sports that are played there. It draws in big crowds on the weekend. It draws in carnivals for kids and sporting carnivals. These things were not as popular many years ago, because the facilities were not there; they weren't upgraded. Obviously we had a road that serviced the local residents. We now have a road that must service the local residents and the people that visit, and we need it to be safe. We need people to feel safe there.

We must ensure that the government does as much as it can in infrastructure. It affects the infrastructure and the services that people have, but it also creates jobs. Instead of investing in infrastructure projects, the government appears much more interested in cutting welfare benefits, especially to pensioners. I represent a very aged electorate, one of the oldest in the country. Pensioners have been hit hard recently with one cut after another introduced by this government. The government wants to raise the pension age to 70, for example. It's all right if you have a job in a bank or an office, but if you are a bricklayer, an assembly line worker, a cleaner, a nurse or a tradie—people who are on their feet all day—your body starts to break down. So working till 70 is not for those people that perhaps are doing very heavy work. That's fine if people want to work. That's good. But to make it compulsory, as this government is doing, is wrong. That would give Australians, here in our nation— (Time expired)

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