Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am incredibly proud to inform the House that Head to Health Mount Gambier has officially begun offering services to the people of the Limestone Coast. I have stood in this place many times speaking about the importance of improved mental health support for Australians. As I am a big supporter of the headspace model, the Head to Health rollout under the former coalition government had my full support. With a service model much like headspace's, Head to Health offers a welcoming no-wrong-door approach for adults seeking access to mental health information services and support, and I am incredibly proud that Mount Gambier is home to one of the very first Head to Health facilities in South Australia. A successful grassroots campaign in 2021, which included a petition signed by thousands of locals, has resulted in another important link in the mental health network for the Limestone Coast.

The Mount Gambier based service is being run by Focus One Health, who have an existing footprint in the Limestone Coast and are familiar with the community. The Head to Health team is being led by highly respected mental health advocate Tracey Wanganeen and includes two peer support workers, two mental health clinicians and a dedicated AOD worker. I wish Tracey and her team all the very best in delivering this important service for the Limestone Coast community. On a final note, to all those who signed the to help me advocate for this service here in Canberra: thank you. This is a fantastic example of a grassroots campaign and its outcome.

Running through my electorate of Barker is the Sturt Highway, the major freight route for vehicles between South Australia and New South Wales. I've been advocating for a duplication of the Sturt Highway forever, and I began lobbying for the duplication after funding was committed to the Truro freight route, because upgrading the Sturt Highway at Truro is a key piece of the infrastructure puzzle that must come first. This is because more than 600 B-doubles and road trains currently travel through the main street of Truro each day.

It's why the former Liberal coalition government committed funding to design and construct the Truro freight route to divert heavy vehicle traffic along the Sturt Highway, out of Truro's main street, improving the safety and amenity of the town and, of course, freight efficiency. The project is also a key component of the Greater Adelaide freight bypass that would also see heavy vehicles diverted from Adelaide and the South Eastern Freeway.

The Labor government's 90-day review is yet to be completed, despite it now being 90 days since it was announced, which means that the future of this project is uncertain. I've been spending time in the Riverland, in Barossa, in Truro and in Adelaide, hearing loud and clear what I already know: the people of South Australia want this project to proceed. Whilst the minister is infatuated with a yes for the Voice, what the people of South Australia want is a yes to this freight route.