Grievance Debate

Marshall, The Hon. Steven

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (15:23): I take the opportunity today to pay tribute and use this speech to give thanks to the Hon. Steven Marshall, the 46^th Premier of the state of South Australia and the 42^nd Leader of the Opposition.

I think when anyone serves in a leadership position and role like Steven Marshall has for an extended period of time it is appropriate that the parliament takes the opportunity to pay tribute to his achievements, to the sacrifices that he made to do that role, particularly in relation to time spent with his family and friends, and obviously to also highlight the legacy that Steven Marshall contributed to his local community, both as a local member of parliament and more broadly across the state as Premier and minister for four years between 2018 and 2022. Steven has a significant legacy and I have said multiple times that I believe that history will be kind to the government of Steven Marshall and, in particular, the leadership provided to this state by Steven Marshall.

Steven is a personal friend and he is a mentor. He has consistently supported me from the time I was a candidate to when I was a backbench MP, to when he put faith in me and promoted me to be a shadow minister. He then consistently gave me support during my time as a minister. I think I speak on behalf of all my colleagues on this side of the house, and in the other place as well, when I say wholeheartedly that Steven provided us all with a level of support, encouragement and mentorship to help us gain confidence in our portfolios and to help us connect with and reach into the communities that we represent. There was not an occasion when he was not there for me, and I am sure for many of my colleagues, to support us and to help us do our jobs well.

I remember when I was the shadow environment minister I was laid up for a couple of months with glandular fever. I missed several weeks of parliament; I could not attend key events. Steven said that he would cover them. He would go to the many waste management breakfasts, he would attend the various meetings with stakeholders and he did that as Leader of the Opposition. He said, 'Don't worry about it, David, you get better. I will do it.' I thought as leader of the party that was a pretty significant sacrifice to make. It could have been passed on to another shadow minister, but he said that he would do it.

Steven's legacy, in terms of his contribution to our state, will rightly in some ways be seen through the lens of national and international leadership success around the COVID-19 pandemic. But it must be much greater than that. It must be about repositioning our state's economic foundations, honing in on embryonic industries associated with and supporting the existing defence industries, particularly around space—the achievements around bringing a range of space startups to our state.

Of course, the National Space Agency being located in Adelaide must be attributed to Steven Marshall. His focus—his obsession—sometimes irritating, was on cybersecurity. He went on and on about the need for us to be obsessed about cyber, and he was right. That is an area that we need resilience in and the opportunity for this state is immense in this area of cybersecurity. The jobs that will create, the IP and intelligence that will create in our state will be transformative. Steven's legacy sits a few hundred metres from here in Lot Fourteen, the former Royal Adelaide Hospital site, which could have been apartments but with Steven's relentless focus has become a place of startups, a place of entrepreneurialism, a place of intellectual property to take our state forward.

When a former leader of our state departs the parliament, it ought to be recognised. His contribution and his support for so many people across this state ought to be kindly reflected upon. His relationships across the country and across the world that were used to build up this state ought to be celebrated, and so today I want to put on the record my thanks and, on behalf of the Liberal Party of South Australia and many South Australians, our thanks to Steven Marshall for the leadership that he brought to South Australia.