Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to speak on the adjournment of the House tonight about two specific issues in my electorate. One relates to the Black Hill Pony Club, which I will get to in the second half of my short address. The first issue is a very specific one which is dramatically affecting constituents on Greenhill Road, Burnside in my electorate. It is a decision by Australia Post to no longer deliver the mail to people in their own homes, to no longer deliver the mail to letterboxes on Greenhill Road in this part of Burnside. From 1962 to 2005, Australia Post delivered to this part of Greenhill Road in Burnside without any complaint and without any difficulty. In 2005, Australia Post decided that the road was no longer a safe road for their workers to deliver mail, having delivered it from 1962 to 2005 without difficulty.

The road has not been changed at all. The only thing that has changed is the attitude of Australia Post. This has mystified the residents who live in that part of Greenhill Road. Quite rightly, they are extremely disappointed and agitated that they cannot get the same delivery service from Australia Post that almost every other person in metropolitan Adelaide receives. It is a basic universal obligation on the part of Australia Post to deliver people’s personal mail to their houses. It is a mystifying decision by Australia Post to discontinue that.

My constituents have been offered post office boxes at post offices some distance from their residences. They were reasonably happy with that while they worked in the city and could pick up their mail on the way home from work, but now that they have retired it is an enormous hindrance to them in getting the same services that every other Australian takes for granted. I call on Australia Post to reverse this decision and to reschedule their deliveries to all of Greenhill Road in Burnside. If they refuse to do so then I as the local member will demand an explanation on behalf of my constituents. I can assure Australia Post that I will not be resting until either those services are resumed or they can come up with a satisfactory explanation. I have written to Australia Post asking them to meet me at the homes of these constituents, and I am yet to have a response from Australia Post. I find it extremely disappointing, on behalf of my constituents, that they would act in such an arrogant and cavalier way towards the residents of my electorate.

The second issue concerns the state government’s decision to close down the Black Hill Pony Club in my electorate of Sturt. It is on open space at the Magill Youth Training Centre. The state government in South Australia has decided to move the Magill Youth Training Centre to a different part of metropolitan Adelaide. That is not a decision that I oppose; it is a decision that I support. There is a very large tract of land available in that area to build housing and residences for the surrounding communities—for people who wish to live there, for people who wish to buy there—but it will require open space. It is bizarre that the Black Hill Pony Club, which was built from scratch 30 years ago through the hard work of volunteer members of the community—with their own money and their own toil—on what used to be a rubbish dump for car bodies, batteries and bricks from a local kiln, would be closed without even a by your leave. They have been told they have to leave by November.

Our proposal—that is, the proposal of the Black Hill Pony Club; of John Gardner, the Liberal member for Morialta, who was elected at the last state election; and me—is that the open space that will be required as part of this housing development incorporate the Black Hill Pony Club. It is a club that caters for the mums and dads, the single parent families and the young women and men of that area. It is not an elite pony club by any means. Most of the children who go to the pony club use the facilities and do not pay for the horses, the bridles or the saddles because they cannot afford to. They have been cross-subsidised by wealthier families in the area for 30 years. It is heartbreaking for those members of the pony club and for the local residents, and there is a struggle brewing to stop the state government doing it. (Time expired)