Waite Electorate

Mr DULUK (Waite) (16:03): Mr Deputy Speaker, I know that in recent times you have wondered what we do in this place, and many outside these walls do as well, so I thought I would take my time in this grieve to explain what I have been doing in this house around petitions and what it means for the people of our communities.

This year, my community has had many reasons to petition the parliament and, indeed, the government. I have been proud to assist in gaining signatures and tabling some very important local petitions. First of all is one we tabled just this week, the future of Cross Road petition, calling on the state government not to allow Cross Road to become a major freight route and to investigate alternatives to transport and freight throughout our state. Signed by thousands of South Australians, it was tabled this week.

After tabling that petition, I am glad that I received a letter from the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport outlining that the government has no plans to drive more trucks down Cross Road and, indeed, plans to get more trucks off Cross Road and the down track of the South Eastern Freeway. I think that this is a wonderful announcement by the government, and I thank it for working with my community to ensure that this has happened.

Of course, this has seen a lot of change in policy from the government in terms of transport down on what I call ‘the flats’ in the electorate around Saving the Waite Gatehouse, and saving the Mitcham Service SA as well, which is something that we did. I know that the member for Florey played a huge part in saving the Service SA centre in her community. These campaigns have received large community support. At the time when these proposals were on the table, they were seen as very negative for the government, and I am glad to see that the petitions have worked in getting change from government.

I know that the campaign that is gaining more and more attention is about the safety and improvement of Waite Road and Cross Road at Urrbrae. Many hundreds of residents have signed this petition, which I tabled this week, to ask the government to invest in a new solution for this troublesome intersection around passenger and, indeed, commuter safety. With more and more accidents—and there was one there the other week—we need to act now to protect lives on our roads.

We tabled a petition relating to Northcote Street up on Shepherds Hill Road urging the government to take immediate action to install a pedestrian crossing at Northcote Street to allow pedestrians to access the Blackwood Primary School and high school sites. Of course, we have the Eden Hill CFS station at that station, as well as Karinya Reserve, the Sturt Lions Soccer Club and the wonderful Eden Hills Scout Club. I know that the scout club is looking desperately for some funding and new facilities. It is a really important intersection and so important that it is improved.

We are still working on one campaign, and that is supporting Scouts and Girl Guides and having them eligible for the Sports Voucher program. For some reason I cannot understand, the government will not support it, and I am still waiting for the opposition to pin its colours to the mast as well. Currently the scheme allows for primary school age families to claim $100 in return for participating in eligible recreational activities.

Indeed, our community was successful in lobbying the state government to expand that scheme to cover all families from reception to year 9 starting in 2022, but we need to do more to ensure that Scouts SA and Girl Guides SA are covered by this scheme. Recently, the CEO of Girl Guides South Australia, Kerrie Ackerman, wrote to me saying, and I quote:

Girl Guides SA supports our inclusion in this scheme, as over 1,300 family members who would benefit from the vouchers.

She went on to say:

The vouchers will offset some of the annual fee for participation, which for some families is cost prohibitive due to financial hardship.

Why the government, and indeed the opposition, will not commit to supporting the Sports Voucher scheme for families who choose to participate in Girl Guides and scouting activities is beyond me.

Of course, taking a different note is our live music industry. I also presented a petition on behalf of 777 residents of South Australia requesting that live music gigs, events and venues are no longer targeted with singing and dancing bands and venue capacity restrictions and receive the same capacity limits as supporting events.

Our music and our live industries are doing it so tough at the moment. Just this morning on radio the owner of the Grace Emily and Driller Jet Armstrong from Sugar talked about how hard it is to get insurance in the hospitality industry at the moment. Allowing live music and dancing at our venues is so critical not only to their ongoing success but also to those who provide live music—our musicians—to really have an income and to contribute to society.

Another petition I presented this week was from 3,625 residents asking for the government to no longer declare the state of emergency in respect to the outbreak of the COVID-19. Of course, all petitions are so important to driving change in our community and to ensuring we have a debate.

Just in my last minute, I want to thank the member for Florey and her work around petitions and ensuring that any petition that has signatures from more than 10,000 people gets properly reviewed by the Legislative Review Committee. It is so important that parliament continues to listen to the voice of the people.

Time expired.