South Australian politician Sam Telfer, the Member for Flinders, appeared on Flow FM's Country Viewpoint program this week to discuss a range of issues, including decaying regional jetties in the state which are in dire need of repair.
Telfer - who also holds the portfolio of Shadow Minister for Local Government, Regional Population and Planning, expressed his desire to secure critical maintenance for a number of decaying jetties which are viewed by many as a lifeblood for tourism for many of the state's coastal tourism centers.
"Jetties are, you know, the central focal point of most of our coastal communities and they really are a hark back to the days where each community had their own export capacity to export their primary production out and they really are now an essential social point, a place for recreational fishing, for diving, for really just experiencing a unique marine environment," Telfer said.
"There's some near on 70 jetties and marine structures around the state and around half of them are actually leased in a long-term lease arrangement to local government - I know that the York Peninsula Council in particular has got 11 I think, that they lease and that's for the ongoing maintenance and upkeep for the jetties, in my electorate of Flinders I've got near on 20 jetties spread around the coastline and each one of those communities see it as a real priority.
Telfer outlined that it was his opinion that local councils across the state should not be burdened with the responsibility of providing upkeep for jetties that are in their respective jurisdictions.
"This is why I've been calling for some time, along with some of my parliamentary colleagues for the government to put strategic funding within the budget and ongoing strategic funding, because although there is some key jetties around the state that I can point to that are getting to end of life and need a significant investment, we do know that other jetties all around the state do need ongoing major investment...it's not up to the councils, I believe, to be doing that major capital," said Telfer.
"The state government is the owner of each of these jetties [and] really needs to play a proactive part when there needs to be significant maintenance, significant pile work, significant capital investment back in - they should be the ones that have got their hands on the steering wheel, I was pleased to see some $5 million a year over the next four years, so a total of $20 million into regional jetties in the State Budget and it's a good start.
"It really is only a small drop in the ocean, no pun intended, for what the need is actually when we look at some of these projects, because even just an individual project, whether I point to an Edithburg, an Ardrossan, a Tumby Bay, that would take millions of dollars to get them to a point of a sustainable position in the long term...so what's in the budget is a good start, but there really needs to be something which is more substantial going forward to ensure that we don't lose these vital pieces of coastal infrastructure.
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