Regional South Australia

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (15:21): I want to talk today about regional South Australia, and some regions in particular. Since becoming leader of the Liberal Party some 17 months ago, I have set out to ensure that we are the party of regional South Australia, that we provide a strong voice to regional South Australia and for regional South Australia, that we champion their challenges and their issues and that we have their backs whenever they need us.

There is no such place as 'regional South Australia' per se. There is no homogenous place called regional South Australia. Our regions are all different: Ceduna is very different from the Barossa, Eyre Peninsula is very different from the Limestone Coast and Fleurieu Peninsula is very different from the outback. The regions need a nuanced approach, a nuanced policy approach, and they need a tailored approach to advocacy. More than anything else, they need a strong voice in this place to ensure that the inevitability of a city-centric Labor government that invests its resources and its energies within metropolitan Adelaide is countered.

One region that I have visited more than any other since becoming leader of the Liberal Party is the Limestone Coast region. I have visited that region eight times since taking on this role, and I have visited the City of Mount Gambier, South Australia's second largest city, a total of six times. The Limestone Coast region bats above its weight in terms of its economic contribution to South Australia. It is a great part of our state, it has a great natural environment, it is a highly productive part of our state and it deserves strong, consistent voices in this place and voices grounded in Liberal values.

One of the areas of most concern for me when I visit the Limestone Coast region is in terms of regional healthcare services. Time and time again, we are told by people who live across that region, no matter where I visit in that region—whether it is in Mount Gambier or Naracoorte (the town that I have visited more than any other since becoming Leader of the Liberal Party), or towns like Keith, Padthaway, Bordertown, Kingston and Robe, and the list goes on—that regional healthcare services are an absolute priority and they are not where they should be.

One of the reasons I appointed Penny Pratt as the shadow minister for regional health services is so that we have a specific approach to the needs of regional health care. There are a couple of issues of particular concern to the Limestone Coast at the moment. Firstly, on the radiotherapy provision for that region, we know that that region has received a contribution from the federal Liberal government secured by Tony Pasin, the member for Barker, to provide radiotherapy services. We know that money has not been taken up by the local health network. It has been rejected by the health minister with his relentless city-centric approach and instead looks like it will be wasted on toilet upgrades and car park resurfacing, things that absolutely disgust people living in the City of Mount Gambier and the broader region.

We need to fight for that radiotherapy service in that region. We need to make sure that it is delivered and we need to make sure that the hundreds, actually thousands of people, 16,000 people, who have signed that petition across that region have a voice. Let me tell you, that voice is here and it is on this side of the house. It is the voice of Tony Pasin and it is the voice of Ben Hood, who has been appointed as the Liberal voice across that region. We will fight for that service.

The other service that that region really needs continuity on is the hospice in-home project. That is a project which received a grant under the former Liberal government and which is crying out for ongoing support. Just a little over $100,000 a year will provide that special level of volunteer care in people's homes at the end of their lives. People who live in regional South Australia, particularly on the Limestone Coast, should not be expected to travel to Adelaide for critical care. They should not be expected to travel to Adelaide, quite frankly, to spend the last days and hours of their lives. I want to make it abundantly clear, as I head to the Limestone Coast and Mount Gambier tomorrow for my seventh visit to that city, that it is the Liberal Party of South Australia that will have their backs 100 per cent.