Regional South Australia

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (15:09): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Can the minister update the house about how the government is investing in regional South Australia?

The SPEAKER: Minister.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: Let's go, genii.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE (Chaffey—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (15:09): Thank you, sir, and yes, I can.

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee can leave for the remainder of question time. The minister has the call.

The honourable member for Lee having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: What I can say proudly, as part of the Marshall Liberal government, is that we are governing for all South Australia. Regional South Australia has never seen the support that they have seen out of this budget. We remain committed to regional South Australia. The Premier, the cabinet and the entire Liberal Party on this side of the house have shone a light on regional South Australia. One of the burdens of living in regional South Australia, sadly, is the tyranny of distance; the other is having lived for 16 years with the previous Labor administration. What I can say is that we are investing like no other government has invested in regional South Australia. It is history-making.

Not only are we putting a severe amount of money into health, into schools and into our infrastructure, but we are looking at how to grow the economy in regional South Australia. We have not only put a significant amount of investment into regional centres around the processing of the red meat sector but we have also put $7½ million into giving the red meat sector an opportunity to grow, expand and be a larger part of the state's economy. We know that here in South Australia the regional economy—$25 billion—underpins the state's economy. It is one of the largest contributors to our economy.

The $878 million of new funding for regional roads is history-making. It is something that South Australia's regions have never seen before. The amount of feedback that we as a government have had from the regions is significant. I would like to quote from Livestock SA:

…its a very different feeling to previous years, I don't recall a year where we've felt the government has recognised the importance of an industry—

such as that in the regions of South Australia. We look around at other budget measures that are supporting the livestock industry and the primary producers of South Australia. There is a $25 million investment to rebuild a 100-year-old dog fence. It's an outstanding contribution. There are very few votes there, but we understand what that investment means, not only to the livestock industry but to the lives of those pastoralists in outback South Australia.

We continue to build, not only on Black Spot funding—round 5 of the commonwealth Black Spot funding is open—but the state government has put a further $3 million on the table so that we can connect regional South Australia to the rest of the world. We look around at our $15 million Regional Growth Fund. The Regional Growth Fund has been met with absolute applause. We look around at the projects that revolve around community, collaboration and clustering. We are not picking winners as a government, we are giving the industry a leg-up. We are not giving individual businesses the leg-up that they have been accustomed to.

The government also remains committed to Country Health, with $140 million into significant projects within our health system that have long been ignored. I know that in my electorate, up in Chaffey, there were operating theatres that were closed because the government refused to support Country Health. They refused—

Mr Picton: We rebuilt the whole hospital. We rebuilt the whole Berri hospital.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: The member for Kaurna is just delusional.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: What I will say—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Giles, be quiet.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: —is that this government is investing in regional South Australia like no other government in the history of South Australia has. We are proudly investing to drive an economy, to grow our economy and to give those regional communities the sense of belonging to South Australia they have not had in the last 16 years. Labor, you ignored regional South Australia for your 16 years in term. This government will not ignore the regions of South Australia because #RegionsMatter.