Coober Pedy Services

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (15:59): I also rise to speak on the adjournment debate. I spent the weekend in Coober Pedy. One of those things that, especially as a regional member representing remote communities, you are offended by, especially if you have a strong, egalitarian ethos is that the people in our remote communities are seriously disadvantaged when it comes to education attainment and outcome, when it comes to health outcome, when it comes to access to basic services. Coober Pedy in our Far North is the second largest community after Roxby Downs. Provisions and basic services in Roxby Downs are very good, but in Coober Pedy they fall well behind.

The issues that Coober Pedy face are profound, and they lack the resources within the community to fully address the challenges they face. They receive electricity at grid parity pricing, but water continues to be an ongoing issue, a basic essential service. The people of Coober Pedy pay up to three times as much for their water as people do in Adelaide, Whyalla, Port Augusta, Port Pirie or a place like Roxby Downs. Not only do they pay a lot more for water, but there is a whole set of challenges around the treatment, supply and distribution of water in Coober Pedy.

I have called upon the government to release the recently completed SA Water report into the water situation in Coober Pedy. I understand that, in that report, costs in the order of $30 million are being flagged to address the water issue in Coober Pedy. That is clearly not within the capacity of the Coober Pedy community, a remote community, a socio-economically disadvantaged community, a community with a small population of roughly 1,700 people and a community that, through the actions of their council in the past, carries a very significant debt.

When it comes to Coober Pedy addressing some of the issues that it faces, it will require serious government support, serious government intervention. It is not enough to sack a council and appoint an administrator. A lot more needs to be done to get the community back on an even keel. I would be a supporter of significant support for the community. When it comes to water, we should also be looking at what we do elsewhere in the state that is supplied by SA Water: we should be looking at parity pricing.

We did that with electricity. The same set of arguments applies when supplying the people of Coober Pedy with water, that they should not have to pay more than people in other regional centres and the metropolitan area in our state. They are, after all, South Australians and they deserve support. From the state government's perspective, Coober Pedy is an important service centre. State government employees make up a significant number of people in Coober Pedy, not just to service Coober Pedy but also to service that extensive Far North community of Coober Pedy. We should be doing far more to assist that community when it comes to the delivery of essential services such as water.

Clearly, there are also challenges in relation to health outcomes in a community like Coober Pedy. They are challenging, but nowhere near as challenging as in the APY lands. I think we should all hang our heads in shame when we consider life expectancy in the APY lands. Average life expectancy is 48 years. In a First World country that is just an absolute disgrace. Improved health services in Coober Pedy will also assist, to a degree, people from the APY lands.

Educational statistics from Coober Pedy are also deeply concerning. If they are not addressed, it makes it difficult for families to commit to staying in that community. An administrator has been appointed, but it is beyond the capacity of the administrator, beyond the capacity of the Coober Pedy community, to address its problems. It will need outside assistance. It will need state assistance and, possibly, federal assistance. I attended a three-hour roundtable meeting on Friday evening, and the local federal member was also there, so that is a measure of how seriously we are taking some of the issues in Coober Pedy.

Once again, I call upon the government to release the SA Water report so we can have a look at it, analyse it and determine if the costing that has been provided is accurate. Irrespective of that, it is going to require some significant assistance from the state government and that clearly has not been flagged in this budget.