Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Primary Healthcare) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to raise an important issue which residents and commuters in my electorate have complained about for more than two decades—that is, the Oaklands railway crossing. They raise the issue of traffic delays at this major intersection. It is the intersection of two major arterial roads, Diagonal Road and Oaklands Road, combined with the Oaklands Park railway station and crossing. It is an issue that the Rann state Labor government continues to ignore. The Diagonal Road-Morphett Road intersection is regularly raised by constituents when consulting with my electorate, whether that be through my regular surveys, my listening posts or my street corner meetings.

This intersection is already the cause of unbearable delays, but these will only increase with the recent opening of the new South Australian State Aquatic Centre and the proposed expansion of the Westfield shopping centre at Marion. The only real solution to the massive delays and gridlocks during peak hour traffic is a grade separation, either a road underpass or a train overpass. This grade separation would need to take into account a complete redesign to ensure there is a continuous, uninterrupted traffic flow to this area.

This issue has recently come to the fore again because, in only the last two weeks, the state government in their state budget have shelved a $12.6 million upgrade of this intersection. Whilst many measures in the South Australian state budget were re-profiled—which is the word now used by the state Public Service for deferrals of expenditure—this one has been deferred, with no date given as to when it will be reintroduced. All they have done is announce a $2 million traffic study on the intersection. It is just another example of the state Labor government announcing things and then putting the spending on the infrastructure on the never-never. It is a stunt they have a proven track record of using.

In 2006, the South Australian state government were going to fix another area of traffic congestion in my electorate—the intersection of South Road and Sturt Road. Five years later nothing has been done on this intersection, and there is no money set aside to fix it. It means that the residents in my electorate will again miss out because of the Rann state Labor government. I urge the Premier, Mike Rann, Minister Patrick Conlon and the state government to listen to residents of Warradale and Oaklands Park and show this by making the Diagonal Road-Morphett Road intersection a priority on their infrastructure agenda.