Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

People in this place on both sides of the chamber would be sick of me banging on about the need to complete the Penola bypass. The Penola bypass is known as 'the half-built road to nowhere'. It is an absolute embarrassment to the state Labor government in South Australia, which refuse to accept federal government funding to complete this vital piece of infrastructure. The federal government has put $9 million on the table to complete this state road, but the state government won't touch it. Why? It's because they say there are GST implications. I have news for them. Those same GST implications operate across many infrastructure projects—in fact, all state road projects. One example would be the $95 million that the state government will accept from the federal government to complete the Oaklands crossing in Adelaide. They are happy to accept that money but not happy to accept the money to complete the Penola bypass. What does that tell you? It tells you—and this is clear—that the state Labor government only care about marginal seats in the city. They don't care about the Penola bypass because they know they won't win any votes out there.

Shame on the state Labor government. I commend the state Liberal Party for their interest on this project. Not only did opposition leader Steven Marshall come and visit the bypass to see for himself a half-built road to nowhere; he committed to completing the project. Well done to the local candidate Nick McBride, who is a passionate community advocate who knows that we can't afford a road to nowhere— (Time expired)

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