James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Waste Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Adelaide is the only capital city that has Highway 1 running through its suburbs, and regrettably those suburbs are in my electorate of Sturt. There's an excellent plan to bypass Portrush Road, which carries that heavy freight, around the back of the Adelaide Hills, going from around Monarto up to Truro and then connecting through so that heavy freight that might be going via Adelaide can be carried not through the suburbs but on a sensible heavy carriageway.

The next piece in the puzzle of that is building that Truro Bypass so that we can connect the carriageway that would go from Monarto up to Truro and onto the Sturt Highway and then the Northern Expressway. Under the previous state and federal Liberal governments, that was indeed funded, and it was a project that we all anticipated going ahead. Regrettably, it fell victim to the recent review of infrastructure spending from this government, and funding for the Truro Bypass has been scrapped. That's a really devastating outcome for my community, because putting all that heavy freight through the suburbs of my electorate is dangerous. It also obviously causes congestion. There are schools, residences and a whole range of activities in suburban eastern Adelaide that are affected by that heavy freight, and we want to see that heavy freight out of the suburbs of Adelaide and instead going round the back of the Adelaide Hills.

I've recently been part of forming an important campaign on this with my friend and colleague the member for Barker, who has the town of Truro in his electorate. He is as passionate as I am to see the Truro Bypass built, because it's good for the town of Truro as much as it's good for the future freight carriageway. We have an excellent community alliance formed, and recently we've launched a petition. I've just ticked over more than 1,000 constituents of mine who have signed this petition because they want to see that carriageway, the Greater Adelaide Freight Bypass, built and they want that heavy freight out of the suburbs of Adelaide. I was born in a hospital not far from Portrush Road. I've lived most of my life—certainly my entire adult life—within a couple of hundred metres of Portrush Road. Indeed, my home today is within 100 metres or less of Portrush Road. I can speak from experience when I say that we have long dreamt of getting that heavy freight out of the eastern suburbs of Adelaide.

To be fair, at times the state Labor government in South Australia have equally expressed support for this vision, and it wasn't the state Labor government that initiated the removal of this funding. We need a partnership with the state government, and I urge the state Liberal Party and Labor Party to both support an important investment decision in that Truro Bypass. But the Commonwealth must be a partner. We need to change the mind of the minister when it comes to this decision, have that decision reversed and have that money put back in.

The CEO of the department recently attended a public rally in Mount Osmond, at the top of the Portrush Road at the toll gate in my electorate. The member for Boothby was at that meeting as well, and I acknowledge that. The department indicated that they are undertaking a deeper planning study on the Truro Bypass and the overall carriageway which will be the Greater Adelaide Freight Bypass. They will do that detailed work to show what the route would be and what needs to be done for it to be built.

It is very disappointing that the Truro bypass has been put in abeyance and the funding has been removed. We want that funding to be reinstated, we want the Truro Bypass to be built and we want to work together with the state government in South Australia, whoever that might be into the future, to build the entirety of that corridor. That will achieve a very important outcome for the city of Adelaide. My electorate is particularly impacted, having Portrush Road as effectively a spine through the middle of my seat. It's got a big impact on other seats like Mayo, Adelaide and Boothby, and that heavy freight would be much better off being on a proper freight corridor going around the back of the Adelaide Hills.

I thank those in my community that have joined this campaign so far—more than 1,000 constituents. This campaign will keep growing, and we will keep fighting and working together until we get that funding restored for Truro and get those heavy freight trucks off Portrush Road.