Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Morrison government is all about busting congestion for communities around Australia. In my electorate of Boothby we are busting congestion everywhere we can. Yet another important congestion-busting project commenced on 19 July, when the first sod was turned on the Flinders Link rail project. I was there with my state colleagues, minister for infrastructure Stephan Knoll and member for Davenport Steve Murray, along with Mark Gregory from Flinders University, to mark this important milestone. I am very proud that I was able to secure federal funding for this vital project. The Flinders Link rail project will extend the Tonsley rail line to Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders University, finally connecting the university, the medical centre and the Tonsley innovation precinct with the city.

This $125 million project is jointly funded by the Morrison and Marshall Liberal governments, and it's important in so many ways. It's important because it will reduce congestion on our roads by giving local residents a new public transport option. It's important because it will ease parking pressures at Flinders Medical Centre for patients, families and medical staff, and help them to get there more easily. It will also help staff and students get to Flinders University more safely and easily, and, again, it will ease congestion and parking pressures. It's important because it will finally connect the Flinders precinct with the city, particularly the medical facilities along North Terrace such as the SAHMRI.

Perhaps most importantly, this project will unlock a $1.5 billion investment by Flinders University that will create thousands of construction and then permanent jobs on the site. This has been enabled by our relatively small state and federal government investment of $125 million, which, to my mind, is the very best sort of government investment in infrastructure. It means that Flinders University will be able to create the biggest integrated health and education precinct in South Australia, leveraging other funding. Flinders will build new student accommodation, health accommodation, health research facilities and retail facilities. This will transform the precinct and southern Adelaide. As you can tell, I am very, very excited about this project.

I'm also very, very excited about other vital congestion-busting infrastructure works occurring in my electorate. The Oaklands Crossing road and rail grade separation is almost fully complete, and the train has been operating completely separate to the road for some months now. I still can't quite believe I managed to secure the funding commitment for this project and see the project almost fully delivered in my first term. I'm even more excited about the fact that we are now getting to work fixing the Hove Crossing and busting more congestion for my community right now.