Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This debate on the Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2015-2016 and a related bill gives me an opportunity to reflect. Often when it comes to government expenditure we are prone to say: 'Thank you very much. What have you got for me today?' But I thought it would be a good exercise for me to go back and look at what we have achieved and what is in the pipeline.

There has been a strong flow of capital works programs across the Grey electorate across a wide range of assets. In fact, in the last round of funding under National Stronger Regions Fund we were able to announce $5 million for the Ceduna fish unloader at Thevenard. Thevenard is the second-busiest port in South Australia; not many people even know about it. It is in the far west of the state. Its main tonnage comes from gypsum—which provides around 85 per cent of the gyprock that is used in the Australian building industry—grain, salt, mineral sands and the fishing industry. Increasingly the port is becoming overcrowded, which has led to the downsizing of the fishing effort in the area. There is also exploration occurring in the Great Australian Bight at the moment, with a number of major investments in the area led by BP, who are planning to dig four exploration wells. Another seven are planned by other companies for a total expenditure of about $1 billion. There is a supply line for these drilling rigs and that also will need space at the Thevenard port. The separate wharf that will now be provided for the fishing industry will allow for extra activity and, we hope, some of the fishing effort that has left the Ceduna area will relocate there, and we are hopeful of picking up some processing activity to go with it. That is a very good investment.

In Whyalla, $150,000 was allocated to the Whyalla Leisure Centre as part of a $1.2 million refurbishment. As I have said on a number of occasions in this House, Whyalla is under great stress at the moment, with issues in the steel industry, but this is an injection of funds into that community. The only public pool in Whyalla is at the leisure centre, which also includes squash courts and a gym. It already had something of a revamp and it is an excellent centre but, like many 30-year-old pieces of infrastructure, it needs some extra maintenance. The refurbishment program will go a long way towards transforming it into a 21st century service.

There is $990,000 to extend the Barunga nursing home facility in Port Broughton. It is a not-for-profit facility and community owned, and the associated Barunga Village received $3 million in 2014 for extra units. Port Broughton, a beautiful little seaside town, has made an industry out of providing services to our ageing population. It has become one of the great economic drivers of that community. This extension of the nursing home facility will be greatly appreciated.

At Kadina there is an investment of $4.8 million in the revitalisation, expansion and rejuvenation of the Kadina sports centre. When the centre was built 40 years ago it was a trendsetter but, like many other things that were built 40 years ago, it has become tired and it needs serious upgrading; then it will be good for another 40 years. Kadina is central to the Copper Coast council. There are three major communities there in Moonta, Kadina and Wallaroo, and all of those will be able to access this centre at some stage.

Very importantly, an investment of $5 million we announced under the Stronger Regions Fund will contribute to a $15 million project in Port Pirie, which the council and the state government will partner on. That will be the building of a new sports centre. A fantastic new centre has been built with Commonwealth support in Port Augusta, and this one will be not the same but certainly of a similar standard and will provide a central point for sports in Port Pirie. In fact, it will enable the council to make some efficiencies around the number of ovals they run—saving water and resources—so it is a good outcome. It will bring a string of new sporting events to Port Pirie, which has a long history of providing a venue for the senior sports activities.

This funding is not only about stronger regions. Grey scored a major win in the last round of the Bridges Renewal Program as well, with $2.2 million invested in replacing the London Street bridge in Port Lincoln—not the London Bridge but the London Street bridge. Some people are a little bit timid about driving in Adelaide and I often say to them, 'If you can drive in Port Lincoln you can drive in Adelaide.' It is a very tight city centre. In fact, around 30 to 40 per cent of the two or three million tonnes of grain produced on the Eyre Peninsula goes through the main street of Port Lincoln on road trains. At the moment they cannot cross the shortest route to get to the silos, because the London Street bridge—which is a piece of ageing infrastructure that goes over the railway line—has a 10-tonne limit on it, which is not very handy for road trains. So this investment will allow for decongestion. It will allow the traffic to move better in Port Lincoln and it is an excellent project.

Last year, the member for Barker and I had the opportunity to pitch for a special road funding allocation on the back of some unspent funds allocated to South Australia that were in danger of returning to the Treasury. There is nothing particularly wrong with that, but we could not see why that money should go out of South Australia. South Australian councils had lost a line of funding called the supplementary road funding package, which was attached to the financial assistance grants, or FAGs. Previous governments had addressed a flaw in the FAGs funding formula for councils in South Australia. We received something like five per cent of the national funding in the road package, and we have eight per cent of the population and 11 per cent of the roads. So there had been this extra road funding, called the supplementary road funding package; unfortunately, the Labor government did not extend that past 2013, so there was no future funding left for it at that stage. So it was retired. That has caused a fair bit of anxiety around local councils in South Australia. The member for Barker, Tony Pasin, and I approached Jamie Briggs, who was the minister at the time, and a little over $20 million was redirected from the funds that were to return to Treasury to go back to roads in the electorates of Grey and Barker. All this requires is a 20 per cent top-up from the state government. They are going to get $20 million and all they have to do is put in $4 million.

Mr Champion interjecting—

It is very important infrastructure, member for Wakefield, stuff that you would be very pleased with because people have to drive down the National Highway to get to Wakefield. Part of it will go on passing lanes south of Port Augusta. There is over $3.3 million to sort out a bridge crossing and provide extra passing lanes. There has been a lot of anxiety in the Whyalla community in particular after a spate of road accidents a little over 12 months ago, and $4 million is designated to go to passing lanes between Port Augusta and Whyalla.

Another $800,000 is allocated to shoulder widening of the Tod Highway. The Tod Highway is on the Eyre Peninsula. It runs from Wudinna down to Cummins and then on to Port Lincoln, and in fact is another of the major grain routes into Port Lincoln. It has become narrower and narrower, which is one of the things that happens to bitumen roads from wide transport. When truck wheels go off the edge—and you can see the little gutter at the edge of the bitumen that gets blown out by the wind from vehicles that go past—pieces of bitumen get chipped off. So these roads which were once much wider get narrower and narrower, and, as the trucks get drawn towards the middle, eventually they get to the point where sometimes they lose a rear vision mirror as they pass each other going down the middle of the road. This is obviously an unsafe situation for these highways to be in. It is a state highway, but $800,000 has been allocated for the shoulder widening. That particular stretch of road has also benefitted from some funding from the national road Black Spot Program. There is also $400,000 allocated for shoulder widening and upgrades on the Copper Coast Highway between Kulpara and Kadina, one of the busiest roads in the electorate.

All this is still waiting for a 20 per cent contribution from the SA government. I have been working very hard with the Minister for Regional Development, Geoff Brock, who has approached the minister on a number of occasions. I keep getting the message, 'The state government is on board, don't worry about this,' as I have been working with the member for Giles, Eddie Hughes. I have recently written to the minister as well. I remain confident they will come on board. My community, particularly in Whyalla, is becoming increasingly agitated over the fact that it has not yet been nailed down in the budget cycle.

In the nicest possible way, I say to the South Australian government: 'There is $20 million on the table. It requires $4 million from you. Don't let that opportunity pass by. These are important projects. They are lifesaving projects. We need your cooperation.' I urge the minister to put this at the top of his pile and get it happening because we are approaching a parliamentary break and the end of the financial year. These things may or may not be retrievable afterwards, so it is important that we get that work done.

The coalition government continue to invest in a range of projects across Grey, include including the $85 million upgrade of the main road into the APY Lands. Talk about rough roads, the cost of living in remote areas, smashing your car or smashing your truck to bits and adding to the cost of food, perishables and everything else that goes to supplying these remote Indigenous communities. This investment will make a significant contribution to the way of life there. There is $50 million to be invested in installing advanced train management systems on the main north-south and east-west lines. This will allow freight trains to run closer to each other, which will improve the productivity of the railway lines and reduce freight rates. These are good investments in productive infrastructure.

There is investment for rest areas on the National Highway. Traffic increases as the national freight task increases, so we need to look after our truckies and the people who share the road with them. There is the doubling of the Roads to Recovery program over two years for local councils. There is $1½ million for the remote aerodrome program and $800,000 for the Elliston walking trail. This will all be provided through $7 million from the road Black Spot Program.

There is also terrific support for a number of veterans' organisations, the most prominent of which would probably be $138,000 for the Crystal Brook RSL. The Crystal Brook RSL was in danger of disappearing a few years ago; it now has over 100 members. There has been a complete renewal of interest in this area that is a result of successive governments—and I mean this in a nonpartisan manner—recognising the importance of our Anzac history and our armed forces. We have focused on contributing to Remembrance and Anzac Day commemorations each year, coming on the back of the 100-year commemorations.

There has been a complete renewal of interest around Australia. The marches get bigger every year. It is so important that we honour that service so future generations know exactly what those who have gone before them did for their country. This is all part of that program; making sure the RSLs and the Vietnam veterans' organisations survive, prosper and provide good services to their members. That investment will continue and in the distant future, if there is a change of government in Australia, I hope it will continue even then.

See this speech in context