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

Mr Speaker, during my election campaign I was proud to be able to join the Prime Minister to announce that the Turnbull coalition government would commit $40 million dollars towards fixing the Oaklands rail crossing in my electorate of Boothby. I worked hard to secure this announcement and I am grateful to my state colleague, Corey Wingard MP, the member for Mitchell, and my federal colleague, the Minister for Urban Infrastructure, for their assistance. We proudly stand as the only government to have ever committed funding to this project.

The Oaklands rail crossing has been an issue for my residents for over forty years. Without fail, the crossing subjects road users to traffic chaos and unacceptable delays every day. 41,000 vehicles pass through the crossing daily and the boom gates can be closed for up to a total of two hours. This causes not one, but two busy road corridors to effectively be shut down, particularly during peak hour.

The Oaklands crossing issue is the result of state Labor government failure and inaction over 40 years. In 1971 the then Dunstan Labor government announced plans to build a rail overpass and the old Highways Department started buying up land for the project. Five years later that same government told the Marion Council that the crossing was not justified. Decades on, it is obvious how wrong they were.

In 2008 the Rann Labor government undertook a $6.8 million upgrade of the Oaklands train station. A few years later they spent a further $2 million on a scoping study, which told them that the new station would have to be demolished in order to fix the crossing. It is no surprise the incompetent Weatherill state Labor government has fought hard to keep that report under wraps.

The Oaklands rail crossing issue is symptomatic of the South Australian Labor government's time in office—14 long years of inaction, incompetence and waste. This is why I prioritised fixing the intersection and campaigned hard for the federal government to kickstart this vital infrastructure project with a significant $40 million funding commitment towards fixing the crossing. We were clear at the time that the project would require contributions from local and state government as well.

Fixing Oaklands crossing will have a significant impact on the lives of residents in Boothby. I have residents who cannot access their driveways during peak hour traffic simply because they live close to the intersection. I have small businesses who say that the lack of access to their premises is hurting them and their customers. Every day is a battle for parents trying to get to work or taking their children to nearby schools, such as Christ the King School, Warradale Primary School and Paringa Park Primary.

Road safety is another reason this crossing must be fixed. The National Rail Safety Regulator lists Oaklands crossing as Adelaide's fifth most dangerous. From 2010 to 2015 there were over 100 collisions at Oaklands crossing, including two that involved pedestrians.

Fixing the crossing will also make it easier to reach Adelaide's biggest suburban shopping centre, Westfield Marion, which attracts an average of 40,000 visitors per day. It will make it easier for elite athletes, swimmers of all abilities and mums, dads and kids to reach the SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre, which hosted our Olympic trials earlier this year. The SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre, managed by Mr Adam Luscombe, who recently hosted me on a tour of this amazing community facility, attracts up to 4,000 patrons a day and around 1.1 million patrons a year. Both Westfield Marion and the SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre are located less than 500 metres from the Oaklands rail crossing.

The time has come for this issue to be fixed. In order to get this project underway there will need to be a co-contribution from other levels of government. The state government, in particular, needs to put a properly costed proposal on the table.

The public expect their representatives to work together to solve problems such as this. If the state government believe they have a way forward, I encourage them to fully disclose all the plans and costings they have and to provide evidence of the funds they intend to contribute to this critical project. The coalition government's contribution to the rail line and road separation is in keeping with our focus on making our cities more accessible and more productive and helping families and businesses. I call upon the state government to approach the Oaklands crossing issue with the same level of community concern, diligence and good faith that we have shown since making our $40 million commitment earlier this year.

House adjourned at 20:00

See this speech in context