In a wide-ranging speech to state Parliament, MP for Finniss David Basham has issued his wish list for the region ahead of the next state budget, due to be handed down by the treasurer tomorrow, Thursday 5 June.

Health; education; road and rail infrastructure; disaster prevention and mitigation; and long-term planning with fiscal responsibility are the local Liberal MP’s main priorities.

“We need to make sure that we get the spending in the right locations, that the right projects are supported and that we as members of parliament—and particularly the government—direct that spending to the right priorities so that the community receives the benefit it needs from investing their tax dollars in the right places,” he says.

“It must also be mentioned that we need to make sure those projects delivered in a timely manner.’

Mr Basham says delays to the upgrade of  Victor Harbor’s South Coast District Hospital Emergency Department is a major issue for the people of Finniss.

“I am told that September 2025 is the completion date for the new ED and I hope that will be the case. There is a long way to go yet.

“Certainly, the roof is not all on yet and there are many external walls missing, let alone any internal fit-out that is required for the ED to have it completed by September.”

Mr Basham says his family’s recent personal experience with the ED showed its overloaded capacity and lack of privacy was unfit for purpose, despite the excellent care provided.

“I am very much looking forward to the delivery of the new ED, but as I said it is, sadly, running well behind the original delivery date of 2023.”

He has reiterated his concern that the almost completed new helipad will not be in operation until the ED is at lock-up stage because of a concern that debris may be blown around from the building site.

“It is a challenge for the hospital staff to continue to manage with an offsite landing site.”

With a growing population, delays to infrastructure development is also top of mind for Mr Basham, saying the upgrade of the Hindmarsh Tiers Road-Victor Harbor Road intersection has taken too long to complete, given its importance for the safety of the community.

“One of the big challenges of the area from Hindmarsh Island through to Encounter Bay

is the traffic movement.

“It is highly congested at times and really challenging to move, particularly during the

summer holidays, across that path.

“We very much need to look at a second road that runs behind Middleton and Port Elliot.”

He says part of that upgrade may actually solve another problem that also faces the township of Middleton, following the major flood there a couple of years ago.

“Another issue that has been around for many years is the duplication of the Victor Harbor Road.

Mr Basham says the parts of the road that have been duplicated have made it so much safer, but there is then the challenge for the rest of the way.

“I see that there are probably three stages that need to be considered with this upgrade going forward over the next period of time, whether it is 10 or 20 years before we see all the work done.

“With proposed growth down in Goolwa and Encounter Bay, but in particular Goolwa, the Mount Compass to Goolwa Road needs some significant investment to make sure that it is a safe road to travel. The first three or four kilometres of that road is an appalling piece of road.”

He says tourism is such an important part of the business community and the life of the region and it also needs infrastructure support.

“SteamRanger are doing a great job, as a mainly volunteer organisation, at making sure that the line is maintained as well as possible.”

He says investment is required to preserve the ageing piece of infrastructure; the line itself and the bridges that are in operation on that line.

Early childhood education also needs more attention from the state government, according to the Finniss MP, with Kindergarten capacity a particular issue with the three-year-old cohort coming in.

He says the Mount Compass kindergarten is in an ageing and poorly located building that is nearly at full capacity now with just four-year-olds.

“Likewise, there are challenges in Victor Harbor and Port Elliot. 

“To me there are many challenges going forward in the area of care and education for young children in my electorate.”