Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Having turned 41 in August, 40 years does not seem so long ago after all! I would like to speak on the adjournment today on two local issues in my electorate. One is the need to upgrade Gorge Road, Athelstone; the second one is the upgrade of the Margaret Bond oval. Tragically, the issue of pedestrian safety at Gorge Road, Athelstone, was thrown into stark relief in the last two weeks because of the very sad death of Mr John Ficcadenti, of Athelstone, who was killed while running on this stretch of road.

At the moment there are steel guard rails on both sides of Gorge Road where it crosses an embankment just west of King George Avenue, without making any provision for pedestrians. Consequently, constituents who live on King George Avenue are forced to walk around 110 metres across the embankment between two guardrails 6.4 metres apart with no escape should two vehicles meet on the embankment. The embankment is the only pedestrian route to access the nearest bus stop, the River Torrens Linear Park, the local shops and other community facilities at the Athelstone township.

Gorge Road is used extensively as a tourist route into the near Adelaide Hills, particularly on weekends. It is commonly used by motorists who are unfamiliar with the potential hazards of the road. During the week, traffic includes large numbers of trucks hauling quarry materials from two quarries on Gorge Road. Tragically, Mr Ficcadenti was killed just metres away from his home after a wheel came off a semitrailer while travelling along Gorge Road—a freak accident.

I, along with Campbelltown City Council, have been lobbying for some time, seeking support for funding for Gorge Road to make that stretch of road safe for pedestrians. We have together lobbied both the previous government and also the state government in South Australia about trying to do something for the pedestrian access to Gorge Road. I have also been lobbying for a pedestrian crossing near St Ignatius College—across the road from a cemetery and on a very busy stretch of the road. About 800 students use that school on a daily basis, with all their parents, grandparents and others who are part of that school community. We have had petitions, which have been lodged in this House over the last 12 months, to try to do something. We have also lobbied Minister Zollo, the road safety minister. We have had responses from the state government, but not as yet any action. So I call on the state government of South Australia to do something rather than talk about the need to improve pedestrian access for Gorge Road, Athelstone.

In the time remaining, I would like to put on record that I have been lobbying the new Minister for Sport, Kate Ellis, for an upgrade of the Margaret Bond oval, in the southern part of my electorate. It is in a very poor state. I have written to her on two occasions over the last few months, and I am yet to have a satisfactory response. The Margaret Bond oval is used by local soccer clubs, both the Old Ignatians—I was an Old Ignatian—and Metro United, as their home ground. The facilities are in a poor state. The toilets leak and there are no proper change rooms, with many players having to get changed behind a curtain. The soccer pitch on the oval has been described as ‘the worst in the women’s league’. There is no proper irrigation; players from both teams have suffered ankle injuries due to the poor playing surface. At times, Metro United has had to cancel games because the ground was too dangerous to play on.

The Burnside City Council owns the Margaret Bond oval and maintains it, but without a substantial injection of funds from the Commonwealth government the Margaret Bond oval facilities and the playing ground will not be properly upgraded. The estimated cost is about $600,000.

I ask the minister to hear the pleas of the local community to upgrade the sporting facilities of the eastern and northern suburbs. The state government are planning to close down large parts of the Glenside campus of the mental health hospital. In that carve-up, sporting facilities will be lost to the local community. So we are seeing a reduction in the local sporting facilities of the eastern and north-eastern suburbs. The upgrade of the Margaret Bond oval would go some way towards ameliorating that.