South Australian Parliamentary Internship Program

Mr FULBROOK (Playford) (15:13): I rise to pay tribute and express thanks to the South Australian Parliamentary Internship Program, or SAPI for short. This is an invaluable program to parliamentarians that is jointly supported by the Parliament of South Australia and the three largest South Australian universities. The program offers undergraduate students an opportunity to undertake a research project, working closely with a member of parliament, their peers and academic staff to ultimately produce a 6,000-word report.

While I did study public policy at Flinders, having now seen the program through the eyes of an MP, it is with great regret that I did not get involved back in my uni days in the late 1990s. In rewriting my own wrong, last year I was very fortunate to work with two talented students on two separate and diverse projects. The great thing is we worked together on selecting research topics that were both relevant to my work and of personal interest to themselves.

I want to take this moment to pass thanks onto Nicole Bowne and Robert Jamieson for their outstanding work that I will proudly highlight today. It has been a pleasure to have Nicole join me for lunch at parliament. While Robert could not be here, I could not be happier that he is currently progressing his studies in the United Kingdom as an exchange student at the University of Nottingham.

Before I attempt to do justice to their reports, I was impressed how they were deeply proud of their upbringing and how this has shaped their values. It was clear they both wanted to use their research skills to make the world a better place. I am not sure what grades they received from the universities; in my eyes, they both deserved high distinctions.

As I knocked on doors during the election campaign, the number of former Holden workers could not escape me. It seemed that everyone was in a different boat, which made it hard to gauge how this important group was travelling. Nicole stepped in and wrote a detailed report on the state of play. It discusses the policy interventions to alleviate unemployment and other social pressures, and draws upon secondary data to explore the labour market outcomes for the retrenched workforce.

Importantly, her work highlights that many former automotive members continue to experience adverse impacts, with many now in precarious employment. Also of note was the lack of recent research checking on the wellbeing of these constituents. I have supplied a copy to the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, who had conducted the most recent studies. Nicole's work highlights a timely need to once more look closely at how these people and their families are going, five years after the closure.

I was also very fortunate to work with Robert Jamieson, who sought to answer whether public housing serves as a catalyst for improved post-secondary outcomes for households living at or below the average income level in Australia. Knowing that I am only scratching the surface of summarising his research, one of the key points I took from Robert Jamieson's excellent work was a demonstration that proximity to both transport and educational infrastructure is a key determinant in helping to improve the educational and therefore life outcomes of public housing tenants. Wearing my previous hat as a planning adviser, I feel this is something we need to give thought to when working out where we place public housing into the future.

My summaries are brief, and clearly do not do justice in reflecting the amazing work put in by both Nicole and Robert. I also want to pass on my thanks to Cenz Lancione from the University of South Australia, who has been instrumental in ensuring the success of the program. Cenz has overseen the program and been a fantastic mentor to the students for a number of years.

SAPI is unique in so many ways. It helps train the researchers of tomorrow, but to us as MPs it is invaluable on so many different fronts such as helping us to hone in on hunches, testing out theories or putting a local lens over a major issue. I am looking forward to continuing my involvement this year, and encourage all my colleagues to do the same.