Giles Electorate

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (15:13): I rise today to talk about a number of positive developments in the electorate of Giles. I would have to say that the people of Giles are particularly blessed at the moment with a whole range of positive announcements in terms of economic development, economic diversification and, of course, the recent and very welcome announcements about investment in public education in Giles.

The $692 million commitment to 91 schools in the state was very welcome news, and it was good to see the electorate of Giles receive some of the benefit of that commitment. The Roxby Downs Area School was one of the beneficiaries, with a $7 million commitment to improve the school. That of course comes on top of the previous commitment to the STEM facility at the Roxby Downs Area School to the tune of $3.5 million on top of the $4 million commitment to early childhood services in Roxby Downs. That commitment is in partnership with BHP, with a $2 million contribution from the state matched by BHP.

It was also very pleasing to see Fregon in the APY lands get a significant amount of money, and that money is well deserved. Fregon will receive in excess of $15 million. Of course, the big announcement was the commitment to build a brand-new high school in Whyalla. This has been needed for some time. Whyalla is in the unusual position, given the model of education at the high school level that has operated for many years. In my opinion, this model leaves a lot to be desired: it is two junior high schools feeding a senior high school.

So you effectively put in a transition point, and that does not lead to a good educational outcome, especially for some of the most vulnerable students. It is excellent to see that commitment to a new school. The other thing to bear in mind is that the free public high school sites in Whyalla have a combined student population of just over a thousand children. The new high school will be a fairly regular high school; it is not a super school. The other really good elements about this is that it will be one of the few places in Australia where there will be a total educational precinct. The high school will be built next to the UniSA campus in Whyalla, and next to the TAFE campus. So, we will see a dream that some of us have had for many years come to fruition.

This proposal has the strong backing of the educational leadership in Whyalla. The three principals of the current high schools in Whyalla are all committed to going in this particular direction and, as I understand it, so are the school councils. So they have put the long-term interests of Whyalla students ahead of any parochial or narrow interests, and they are to be congratulated on this. This will be an excellent outcome for our community at a time of growing vibrancy.

I just want to touch on the announcement this week from GFG Alliance: the commitment, or at least partial commitment, to a $700 million investment in improving energy assets by GFG and SIMEC, which is part of the GFG group, which recently took over ZEN. The commitment to a very significant investment in renewables in this state, and possibly some interstate as well, is warmly welcomed. They are talking about 1 gigawatt of renewable energy generation, which is incredibly significant. When it comes to Whyalla, they are talking about 200 megawatts of solar. They are talking about a 100-megawatt battery in Port Augusta, 100 megawatts of demand response at the steelworks and other sites, and 120 megawatts of pumped hydro at the Middleback Ranges. This is a fantastic potential development. I hope they are in a position to commit to that and roll it out in the coming years because it is transformational.

Time expired.