Grievance Debate

State Liberal Government

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (15:30): We have been in this term of parliament now for approximately three years, and I think it is fair to say that this has been one of the more extraordinary weeks I have witnessed in this parliament. What we have seen is rather exemplary in terms of this government's priorities and how completely detached the government is from the real-world concerns that South Australians are experiencing at the moment.

What we have seen the government put the most effort into this week is the establishment of a parliamentary select committee investigating a flyer that was distributed seven years ago, where the government has focused all its effort to use its majority to investigate the minority—truly unprecedented and something this parliament will note for a very long time to come.

The second thing we have seen a lot of effort put into on behalf of the government is trying to explain how it is possible that Liberal Party links, NationBuilder links, are embedded in government websites so that when an innocent South Australian simply trying to access COVID-19 information clicks on a link to go to a SA Health website they are somehow redirected between these.

The government, of course, asserts that this is somehow an innocent error. That seems somewhat unbelievable, particularly considering the inconsistency we have seen evolve throughout the course of the last three days in the Premier's language, other evidence emerging, contradictions from independent sources like Mimecast, let alone revelations about links now being embedded in other government websites within the education department.

That is what is going on in here: an inquiry from the majority into the minority, breaking precedent, and then, secondly, an inexplicable, unacceptable lack of information about very substantial issues going to the probity of government information, going to the heart of the trust that the people of this state have invested in this Premier and in this government during a time of emergency. That is what is going on here.

But the question is: what is going on out in the South Australian community right now? What are people seeing and what are they generally concerned about? We have seen a growing body of independent statistics emerge speaking to the fact that South Australia is at the back of the pack when it comes to addressing the economic crisis in our midst right now—worst labour market in the country by a long way, worst GDP growth figures and state final demand figures by a very long way. What does the government say? 'No problem.' That is the economic lay of the land as we go into the post-COVID economic recovery phase.

But what we also have on our hands is something far more immediate and even more concerning than we are seeing occur economically—that is, a health crisis, a health crisis that is resulting in people losing their lives. Today, on the steps of parliament we saw hundreds if not thousands of frontline emergency services workers, particularly ambulance officers, explaining in raw detail their firsthand experience of not being able to look after the people their training and their God-given talents have given them the ability to do.

They are not able to look after those people because of decisions this Premier has made: decisions to cut nurses, decisions to cut $11 million from the Ambulance Service over the last two years according to the Report on Government Services, an independent figure—real-world decisions that are having extraordinary consequences, including people losing their lives.

When we hear those calls from real people who want to do nothing more than save the lives of others, what does this Premier do? He dismisses it as an IR dispute and rolls out the Treasurer, Rob Lucas, who said himself that he addresses these problems with ice in his veins. That is this government's response. That is their attitude towards the real-world problems that are going on out in the community right now.

When we ask legitimate questions on behalf of the Premier regarding this health crisis in the very presence of the ambulance officers who are trying to do this work on the front line, what do we get from the Premier? A hyperbolic, hyperpolitical response that is completely at odds with the legitimate concerns that South Australians have right now.

As we go into this Easter break, I desperately hope that we do not see other hundreds of calls going to our Ambulance Service unanswered, other hundreds of calls from desperate people waiting for an ambulance to roll up unanswered, but that instead we start having a government sitting down with ambulance officers and fireys, hearing their concerns and responding accordingly. If they fail to do that, we will fix it at the next election.

Time expired.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the member for Elder, I just remind all members of standing order 81A: I will exercise discretion in relation to the conclusion of remarks by members in the course of the grievance debate.