Morialta Electorate

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (16:41): It is with some disappointment that I report to the house that the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission has decided to shrink the seat of Morialta and take away from the member for Morialta after the 2022 election the opportunity to represent almost all the cherry growers in South Australia.

As we approach Christmas, I can again report to the house, as I do most seasons, that the cherry growers of the Adelaide Hills and Morialta are doing some outstanding work for the people of South Australia in providing a service at the packing shed door. This year, their work has been made much harder than in previous years by a whole range of impacts, whether it be the coronavirus pandemic, whether in some cases it be impacts from the fires late last year, or whether it be the pestilence of the biosecurity challenges our state has confronted.

I say to all our cherry growers: your work is so commendable. Especially this year, when exports are harder than they have been, when the fruit bats and the lorikeets continue to present challenges, and indeed when the quality of the fruit is so exceptionally high, I say to every member of the house and to every member of the South Australian community: do yourself a favour and do the growers of South Australia a favour and get up Norton Summit Road, get up Gorge Road, get up Montacute Road, get up Lower North East Road into our Hills and support our growers. Get up Greenhill Road and head to Wotton's at Summertown or any of the other growers.

The wine regions in the Adelaide Hills are also suffering this week, of course, because so many of them have been impacted by the decisions of the Chinese government and that is deeply disappointing. We stand with those wine growers. They have been impacted by COVID and they have been impacted by bushfires as well. Their product is amazing. Again, to members of the house and to members of the community: pack an empty esky in the back of your car, head up to the Hills and support our wine growers, particularly those in the seat of Morialta.

I started these comments by identifying that the seat of Morialta is to shrink at the next election, but I reiterate to every one of those electors who supported me in March 2018 that I remain their member, and proudly so, until March 2022 when the boundaries change, and after the boundaries change I am still going to be supporting them every chance I get. It is indeed a disappointment to lose those territories, whether it is those fire-affected communities in Lobethal, Cudlee Creek, Gumeracha or the Lenswood area, some of which I have been representing for four years. Norton Summit, Montacute and Cherryville have been part of my electorate since I was first elected in 2010. People in all these areas at successive elections have welcomed me into their homes and into their communities. I am so grateful for that and my life has been enriched by it. It has been an honour to serve them and I look forward to continuing to serve them passionately until March 2022.

The boundaries commission did indeed give some new areas to the Morialta district, some of which were in Morialta previously. It is with a level of joy that I claim back Newton from the member for Hartley and have the opportunity to once again engage with the constituents of Newton as a candidate and I hope again, after March 2022, as their local MP, as I was from 2010 to 2018. Auldana and a section of the Magill area that have come into Morialta were part of Morialta until 2014. It was an honour to serve that community then and I hope to continue to do so after the election.

Areas for which I have not previously been the member include the section of Magill between Moules Road and Magill Road—indeed, the church I am a member of is in that area—between parts of Morialta, and it is certainly a community I am very familiar with. I look forward to getting to know that area more intimately and doing a great deal of doorknocking there and in the suburb of Vista, where of course so many constituents will benefit from the Marshall Liberal government's enhancements to their infrastructure through the CWMS improvements that SA Water has undertaken.

A number of residents in Highbury, which is already part of Morialta, will benefit from that as well, but I am really looking forward to talking a lot to the residents in Vista about the benefits of this project and learning much more about the range of other matters that are of great interest to them.

I look forward to the election coming in March 2022. I am disappointed to lose certain areas of my seat, but I know, sir, that you as the member for Heysen, the member for Kavel and the member for Schubert, whose seats now come into the Adelaide Hills area, will look to serve those members with passion and I certainly look forward to helping you do so.