Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to update the House on what has been a once-in-a-generation high-water event in the river communities of South Australia. In fact, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority says the volume of water that has flown through the Murray between November and December of last year was the greatest recorded in 127 years.

Whilst this additional flow has had huge environmental benefits for the Lower Lakes and the Coorong ecosystems, the high water levels have had some quite devastating impacts on property and community infrastructure. The South Australian State Emergency Service estimates 1,200 kilometres of roads have been impacted as well as almost 3,300 properties along the river corridor. That includes 360 principal homes. Some river towns are almost unrecognisable. Once small but thriving communities now resemble ghost towns, with residents unable to return to or stay in their properties.

As the member for Barker, I have been keeping a close eye on emergency management of the flood. I took the approach that I would that ensure no-one was left behind in the lead up to it. I met with many people in smaller communities who felt that the state government agencies weren't providing them with the necessary information or support to prepare sufficiently. My office and I acted to support those who were feeling left behind, to ensure they had what they needed to be as prepared as possible.

From a broader community point of view, and in my capacity as the assistant shadow minister for infrastructure and transport, impacted roads continue to be my focus. While I was keeping the Leader of the Opposition updated here in Canberra on the situation in the lead-up to peak flows, I was keen to show him firsthand the impact on the region's infrastructure once the peak had passed. I thank the Leader of the Opposition for accepting my invitation and spending two days with me along the river corridor in January. Approximately 1,200 kilometres of roads have been damaged by the floodwaters, as I said earlier. As the mayor of the Mid Murray Council recently put it, when you are on some of these roads it feels like you are 'playing leapfrog'. You are leaping from one section of bitumen to another section of bitumen as you drive down the road.

My focus is to see flood mitigation on major roads that connect communities, and that is why I was pleased to be able to explain this position to the opposition leader when he visited. I'm talking about roads like Bookpurnong Road, which is a major Riverland thoroughfare, connecting the townships of Berri and Loxton. This road was cut off because of floodwaters for weeks. Approximately 5,000 vehicles a day usually travel along the road, and its closure meant that these vehicles had to take inconvenient detours, increasing travel times by approximately an hour, or 50 kilometres.

So, while the flood peak has passed and communities are getting on with the clean-up, I am advocating for significant infrastructure upgrades to the roads that connect these communities. I want to see Bookpurnong Road raised, to floodproof it for the future. The Kingston Road through Moorook is in the same situation. This request is for a long-term, strategic plan, but it seems to be falling on deaf ears in the offices occupied by the South Australian Department for Infrastructure and Transport. While our Premier is focused on cost blowouts on the North-South Corridor, I am asking that the state government puts the same effort into the long-term infrastructure needs of our regional communities.

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for spending two days out of his busy schedule to focus on South Australia's river communities in their time of need. I thank him for listening, both to the community and to my long-term vision to address the infrastructure needs in this region, including, importantly, the duplication of the Sturt Highway. The Sturt Highway is a major freight route connecting Adelaide to Sydney. The highway is of national economic importance, and ensuring efficient, productive and, above all, safe transport of goods is a priority.

It may have been a once-in-a-generation flood, but let's not just get on with business as usual. Let's learn the lessons of this event. Let's ensure that we're better prepared next time, and there will be a next time. Let's ensure that government agencies are better coordinated and that residents are better supported with more accurate and timely information. Let's ensure that our road network is in the best possible condition it can be in to support communities to keep them connected. I don't think it's that much to ask.