INNER CITY REVITALISATION

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (14:15): My question is to the Minister for Planning. Can the minister inform the house about how the government's Housing in the City policy is boosting optimism in the construction sector, and other benefits of the policy?

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Point of order, sir: standing order 97. I believe the question contains argument—'boosting optimism'.

The SPEAKER: I will hear it again.

Ms BEDFORD: Can the minister inform the house about how the government's Housing in the City policy is progressing—

Members interjecting:

Ms BEDFORD: —or otherwise, yes—and any other information of benefits of this policy in the construction sector?

Mr Pederick: You need a better question writer!

The SPEAKER: Yes; memo to ministerial assistants. Also, I should have warned the member for Morialta for the first time and the member for Stuart for the second and final time, arising out of repeated interjections during the Premier's answer. Deputy Premier.

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:16): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, and I thank the honourable member for her question. Look, the good news, Mr Speaker, is that things are progressing; in fact, they are progressing very, very quickly. Yesterday I was at a very important launch with the Premier in The Hub, which is that very interesting space in Peel Street. We revealed the new zoning rules for the inner metropolitan area, and indeed stamp duty concessions; the creation of a design centre for Adelaide; and the establishment of a new model of the inner city of Adelaide for people to be able to examine and understand what's going on.

The exciting news is that, less than 24 hours after that, I was delighted to discover that I was able to go into the Parklands adjacent to where the Fringe is normally held, near Kent Town, and there is already a decision by one of the adjoining property owners (that is, directly across the road there), that they are going to seek development approval for a substantial building in the order of $50 million worth to be constructed in that spot.

The company that is doing that is Palumbo Building. They are a young, vital sort of building company looking at doing interesting things in the city. The architect who designed the property, Mr Pruszinski, was there, and he was very complimentary of the capacity for unlocking value and opportunity presented by the plans that were revealed yesterday. Indeed, Mr Troughton, who is the Real Estate Institute chief executive, was present, and he was commenting on how there has been a palpable change in the mood in Adelaide about the real estate market, how they are getting greater clearances, how people are achieving better prices for their properties, and how the stamp duty concessions that were announced yesterday would really amplify the opportunities for development.

So, we are really standing at a very exciting point in the change of Adelaide from being a city that simply grows out endlessly to a city that begins to grow up, and it is going to grow up from the centre out. We had the centre of the city rezoned last year; we now have the inner metropolitan area starting to be rezoned, and it is fantastic to see that, within 24 hours, entrepreneurs in the city are responding by embracing the new development zone opportunities and the stamp duty concession opportunities and, importantly, embracing design review for their projects, which they all acknowledge is a process which has worked brilliantly within the city, to get better quality product.

They all acknowledge—even Mr Pruszinski, who is obviously an architect of some note in Adelaide, said he had noticed—that it was making good architects do even better work because of the peer review aspect of the design review process. So, this is a very exciting opportunity for the City of Adelaide. It verifies the confidence that we on this side have had that not only is the investment the government is putting in in dollars in the Riverbank and other places good for our city, but the changes we are making to the investment structure and to the planning regime are helping all of us build a stronger South Australia.

The SPEAKER: I call the member for Florey to order for repeatedly interjecting during the minister's answer.

An honourable member: It was her question.

The SPEAKER: Just because it's one's question doesn't allow one to barrack throughout the answer. The leader.