Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the last five years, I have seen this Labor government deliver in my electorate of Kingston. We have seen this Labor government deliver many services on the ground in my local area, services that were desperately needed and indeed many infrastructure projects that have also been desperately needed for many years.

Just to name a few, we have seen the new superclinic opened recently. We have seen a whole lot of stormwater harvesting infrastructure that has been designed to conserve stormwater and be re-used, as well as a whole network of new trade training centres at our local high schools. That is to name just a few important investments in my local area.

Over the last couple of weeks, I am pleased to inform the House there have been a number of announcements that will improve and help people in my local electorate. Firstly, I am very pleased that the Southern Early Intervention Service, the Reconnect Services in Onkaparinga, have been funded for a further three years. This service is incredibly important to ensure that young people in southern Adelaide who may have fallen on hard times are provided with an avenue to get their lives back on track. It is not acceptable that in our society today there are still Australians, especially young Australians, who fall below the poverty line and as a result do not have a roof over their head. That is why I have always been a very passionate supporter of organisations that assist those who are less fortunate. I have in my electorate many of these. The Reconnect Services run by Mission Australia do a great job. In 2011 and 2012 alone, they helped more than 57,000 people to work their way back from homelessness. I am very pleased that funding has been granted until 2016 to continue this work. By assisting those in the community who are most vulnerable, the Reconnect Services have really strengthened our community.

Another important recent announcement in my local electorate is the improvement to road safety, in particular the intersection between Happy Valley Drive and Taylors Road. This acts as a major thoroughfare and has a major shopping centre in it. Between 2003 and 2008, 12 serious crashes and many minor incidents have occurred there. I was very pleased that as part of the Nation Building Program the federal government has invested $1.7 million, which will be matched by the state government to make this intersection a lot safer. This has been critically important to ensuring that safety concerns in our local area have addressed. This builds on the most recent opening of the McLaren Vale Main Road and Victor Harbour Road intersection for which the Commonwealth put in $14 million to actually make this safe. I was very pleased that in late January this intersection was opened which now has an elevated bridge. That means you can enter and exit Victor Harbour Road into McLaren Vale in a safe way. We have seen many accidents there, some fatal accidents and many near misses at this intersection. I was very pleased that that infrastructure has now been delivered.

I have also been very pleased that the NBN has just announced that construction has now started in the suburbs of Sellicks Beach and Sellicks Hill to connect them to the NBN. I have said many times in this place just how bad the internet connections are in my local area. In fact, many people are struggling without even ADSL2 because there is not enough copper in the ground. I am very pleased that Sellicks Beach and Sellicks Hill will join Noarlunga, McLaren Vale, Seaford and Aldinga to be connected to the NBN to ensure that they can really participate in a new digital economy. Indeed, I have heard many people in Noarlunga who are now very pleased with the service they are getting. For one business, it has saved them significant time and money just with the new NBN.

This is just a small snapshot of announcements and investments this government has made in my local electorate of Kingston. I look forward to working with this government to continue to deliver the things that matter to the people of Kingston, whether it is the further rollout of the NBN, whether it is the electrification of the Noarlunga rail or the building of the Hallett Cove library, just to name a few. These are important investments that we need to ensure continue— (Time expired)