Kym Richardson (Kingston, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to bring to the attention of the House a matter which is very important to my electorate of Kingston—that is, the one-way road which connects Adelaide’s southern suburbs to the CBD, the Southern Expressway. In 1993 the Liberal South Australian government were desperate to provide infrastructure and, more importantly, adequate transport services to the southern suburbs. But, saddled with the former Labor government’s massive State Bank debt, they were unable to provide the funds to support the freeway they envisaged. Determined to provide for the south, the Liberals built a three-lane expressway which travels one way in the morning at peak hour and reverses in the evening. The road was a temporary measure, with land set aside to complete the expressway and to make it go both ways, when the state was not riddled with debt and the money was available. The sad reality is that the Rann government was elected, a government which believes that the southern suburbs end at Glenelg, and it has simply ignored and abandoned the south, those who live in the south and those who trusted it to provide for their ever-growing needs.

Despite the Rann Labor government receiving a massive injection of funds from the GST and stamp duty, despite still receiving massive windfalls from taxes and duties that they were meant to abolish after the GST was implemented and despite the revenue they receive from poker machines and the mining boom, they have failed to complete our road. Instead, they have blown out their budget by keeping their union mates happy and by employing more and more public servants and running up state debt.

As is usually the case, the federal government has stepped in. The Prime Minister recently announced that the federal government would provide $100 million towards the completion of the expressway, making it a duplication. This funding amounts to half the cost estimated by the RAA to complete the road. Predictably, the state Labor government immediately responded by claiming they did not have the money to fund the other half and that the project was not a priority for them—once again, letting down southern suburbs residents. It is estimated that this year the South Australian Labor government will receive $3.9 billion in GST. That is $3.9 billion on top of the other state levies and taxes, poker machine revenue and stamp duty revenue. And they are telling southern suburbs residents that they cannot afford $100 million to fix our one-way road.

The real problem is twofold. The first problem is that they do not want to fix it because it is in the south and they could not care less about us. The second is that they are simply inept at managing their budget. They are, as is the tradition with Labor governments, always borrowing money and spending it to keep their union mates happy. We all know Labor governments cannot manage money, but this is simply not good enough. While I have no doubt that the people of the south will tell the Rann Labor government what they think at the next state election, I am not willing to let this situation continue until 2010. I am standing up right now for the people of Kingston, as I have in the last two to three years, and demanding that the government pay their fair share and live up to their responsibilities. If the Labor senators from South Australia are serious about representing their state then they must stand up, talk to their state mates and demand that they fund our expressway.

Senator Wortley, for example, is quite happy to put out fear-provoking propaganda in my electorate. Perhaps instead she could try standing up for the people of my electorate within her party and demand Mike Rann’s Labor government do something in the south. We need the expressway to go both ways. The increase in small business and company trucks departing the Lonsdale area for the city and interstate has tripled. New homes and dwellings have doubled. The state Labor government must finally do their bit for the south and provide their half of the funding. Pay your way, Mike Rann, and deliver the goods. The federal money is on the table: $100 million. The road will only cost $200 million. Eighty per cent of my electorate utilise that road. The people of the southern suburbs of Kingston, the companies and industry which work there and frequently drive on that road deserve it. (Time expired)