Grievance Debate

Taylor Electorate

Mr GEE (Taylor) (15:09): As this is my first grieve in the new parliament and as the new member for Taylor, I want to get on the record some of the things I believe are important for our community.

I want to see a South Australia that has a world-class health and education system, a place where our community feels safe and cared about with opportunities for all and to live in and enjoy a beautiful, well-balanced, natural environment. It is now for the new government to ensure that these things are maintained and improved. This government needs to ensure that all students receive support, including kids with autism and special needs.

The government's education policy focuses heavily on dyslexia, but there are kids with many other learning and behavioural difficulties who also need assistance. The government must provide ongoing teacher development and support for parents to assist them with children suffering from ADHD, autism, dyslexia, mental illness and other social issues—for example, homelessness and domestic violence—that have a dramatic effect on their educational outcomes.

This government must continue to provide and expand assistance for children from non-English speaking backgrounds to ensure that they have every opportunity to integrate and succeed in our community. This support must be extended to their parents so that they too can engage in their children's education. It is important today that all students have access to be able to learn a second language. Support must be provided at all schools for students in the early years of their education to ensure the best outcomes. This state government needs to get off the mark straight up and fight against the education cuts in last night's federal budget.

We must also maintain a strong higher education sector with TAFE as the key training provider. We do not need a sector where the public institution is marginalised in favour of the private sector. Pioneering policies, like those announced in the recent Victorian state budget with 30 TAFE courses identified as the highest priority skills required will be free. This policy needs to be considered by this government.

When we look at health, I want the new government to ensure that, while it has promised to invest in the Modbury, QEH and Repat, it does not forget about the ever-growing needs of the Lyell McEwin and Gawler hospitals where the number of presentations are increasing every year. The Lyell McEwin emergency department regularly sees more patients than the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, including a high number of patients with mental health needs or patients who have been affected by ice and other drugs. I urge the state government to continue investing in both hospitals.

We need to see real action on community safety, including the expansion of the Community Policing Program, good services at the Elizabeth, Gawler, Salisbury and Two Wells police stations, and real action on drugs, including the implementation of the recommendations from the Ice Task Force.

If the government were serious about transport and infrastructure, it would not be concerned about the tram right turn on North Terrace, but it would be about ensuring that the full electrification of the Gawler line and the acceleration of the north-south corridor upgrade be achieved and meet its 2023 target.

Last night's federal budget shows that the so-called 'great relationship' between the new state government and the federal government is worth nothing. It is a sham. The federal government is not paying its fair share and is once again selling South Australian taxpayers short as the money pours into marginal interstate electorates—$12 billion to Victoria as an example.

I want to see the previous progressive government's social reforms continue, including the removal of the ‘gay panic’ defence without the additional removal of the 20-year minimum sentence for homicide. The Liberal government seems almost silent on the mental health/family violence and discrimination issues still facing the LGBTQI community in South Australia. The government needs to stand up for this community, and I am sure that it would receive wideranging support for doing so.

It is disappointing to see that our booming horticulture industry is not even referred to in the government's Recharging the Regions policy, and that, while Murray irrigators and a water pricing inquiry are mentioned, there is no mention of the irrigators in my electorate who are facing huge price hikes to use the treated Bolivar water or who are locked out of accessing non-potable water. In relation to the environment, I hope that the government will continue to fight for the future of our River Murray and stop the destruction of the Coorong.