Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I'm a strong supporter of the federal Black Spot Program for regional roads. At more than 9,000 square kilometres, Mayo has a large road network and, sadly, a disproportionate number of South Australia's fatalities and serious accidents. A program that successfully identifies where often limited amounts of federal funding can save many lives and prevent serious injuries is, without a doubt, an excellent use of funds. However, for my electorate of Mayo, analysis has found that most of the federal government's chosen funding commitments have not necessarily matched where we have the greatest number of crashes and casualties. Now I recognise that a good black spot program will also seek to identify where crashes are likely to occur and prevent them before they happen, but the mismatch between the data and the funding commitments is sometimes challenging. As the federal member, I would greatly appreciate more transparency around that.

Although it is a little dated, the casualty crash data for Mayo for the five years between 2011 and 2015 identified three particularly bad intersections. The corner of Pfeiffer Road and the Woodside-Nairne Road, the corner of Nine Mile Road and Willyaroo Road between Strathalbyn and Willyaroo, and the corner of Main South Road and Norman Avenue in Normanville. The worst four stretches of road are the section of Mt Barker Road between Aldgate and Bridgewater, Birdwood Road between Gumeracha and Birdwood, Onkaparinga Road west of Mt Torrens, and Willunga Hill Road. Sadly, there are further dishonourable mentions. I've spoken about the perils of the Victor Harbor Road extensively in this place, as well as those of Main South Road between Myponga and Yankalilla. Sadly, Long Valley Road has seen many tragic, and quite recent, accidents in my community. The state government continues to promise it's going to act, with a review. We're yet to see the findings from that review, and I hope that their inaction will not cost any more lives.

We need to make sure that our country roads are funded and fixed. It's not too often I agree with the member for Barker, but I certainly think a widening program would be particularly valuable, particularly because we have so many cyclists on our roads now. We have cyclists and trucks together, and the two combined are often a tragedy.

I would like to mention the intersection between Old Princes Highway and the Woodside-Nairne Road, which, while less likely to cause death and serious injuries, is still a dangerous spot, because vehicles bank up over the railway line and there are morning commuters. It's an issue that's happening for years in Nairne and one that many of us avoid, but sometimes, if you live right near there, you cannot avoid that. In the last South Australian election, the state government promised to upgrade the intersection and, while survey work has been done, there are no plans on the table for the promised community consultation. I really urge the state government to work on that. I know the local member, the member for Kavel, has been particularly vocal on this matter, and that's what's important: state and local members talking about what's needed in our community.

I will mention the on and off ramps that need to be extended on the South Eastern Freeway. Sadly, they too can be deadly, with slip lanes being particularly short with the uphill merges. I continue in this place to advocate very strongly for federal government funding for the Verdun interchange to be a properly upgraded bidirectional interchange as well as ensuring we can have a timely start to the Deputy Prime Minister's commitment to Mayo for an additional lane on the freeway between Crafers and Stirling.

Lastly, I want to reassure my electorate that I will continue to push for ongoing supplementary road funding for South Australia. This remains a deeply critical source of funding for our state's local roads. Centre Alliance's advocacy has already returned $80 million in supplementary road funding to South Australia. This is for our regional roads, and approximately $9.2 million of that goes directly to Mayo. Anyone who lives rurally sadly knows people that we have lost in our community. In Mayo we have black markers and we have red markers, and all of those people are loved and deeply missed by their family. They're often young people. In our community we have huge gum trees that, while they look beautiful on our big roads, are, sadly, very unforgiving. I encourage, in particular, young people and P-platers to drive carefully on our rural roads. Your mum and dad will miss you too much. I commend this program. I'm so grateful the federal government puts funding into our rural roads.

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