ASK anyone aged between 25 and 40 to recite a random line from a movie released in the noughties and you’re guaranteed to come across one line more often than not.
“Four for you Glenn Coco! You go Glenn Coco.” That one line in the 2004 cult classic flick Mean Girls will live long in the cultural zeitgeist.
Where’s this going you might ask? Well this year’s regional chunk of the state budget reads almost like a reenactment of that very scene.
“Twenty per cent of regional spend for you Mount Barker! You go Mount Barker.”
No disrespect to our Hills counterparts, they need funding as it struggles to keep up with rapid development.
But what about the rest of the state? Rapid development is everywhere.
And while more land is unlocked for housing, and the processes to get into a home for first time buyers is made easier, the infrastructure still isn’t catching up.
Take Munno Para West for example.
Curtis Rd is still gridlocked most hours of the day, but yet there’s still no money in the budget for a solution.
Concordia is coming, we know that.
We also know that infrastructure is needed to ensure the development is sustainable, not just for that community but Gawler too.
Yes, those things will be investigated once the land is rezoned.
But how many business plans for business plans for infrastructure investment is it going to take before the projects get underway.
There’s no harm in getting a leg up.
So far the consistent messaging has been the mistakes of the past don’t want to be repeated.
Time will tell, but you can’t help but feel this was a missed opportunity to set things in motion.
