Bills

Supply Bill 2024

Second Reading

Debate resumed.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (11:11): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I certainly welcome all guests to the parliament, including those from Temple Christian College today. Thanks for coming in. We are discussing the Supply Bill. This is a bill that every year, a couple of weeks ahead of the budget, is brought to the parliament, which gives the government permission to borrow, to spend, a number of billion dollars for the first period of next year.

The budget is for the whole of the financial year, from 1 July through to 30 June next year. The budget bill, the Appropriation Bill, provides all the money that the government needs but it does not pass in time for 30 June, the end of this financial year. Consequently, this bill enables the government to keep paying the bills until that whole budget passes. It is like an advance on the budget that we are going to receive next sitting week. It gets the support of both sides of parliament, because we actually think it is a good thing as a general rule for all the public servants in South Australia to get paid.

Without this bill, none of the teachers, none of the nurses and none of the police officers would be paid. The government would not have any money to pay them until the Appropriation Bill passes—until the budget bill passes—which will probably happen in July or August, and then that supersedes this bill. That is what we are doing. The requirement for us to comment on this is an opportunity for all members of parliament to provide what I like to think of as useful suggestions for the government about how they should spend some of this money that they are enabled to appropriate for the first few months of next year.

As the member for Morialta and as the shadow minister for education, training, skills and arts, I have what I consider to be some excellent suggestions for how the government should spend this money. I hope that all the ministers in their offices, or those who are not immediately present, are listening assiduously to all the great suggestions we have because I think that my constituents in Morialta will certainly benefit if the government can put into place some of my ideas. I am going to start with the suburb of Highbury. Highbury is just to the north of the River Torrens. There is some land there that is owned by the Department for Environment and Water that used to be part of our water system: the Highbury Aqueduct, which is now a reserve.

I will share the relevant parts of an email that I received last night from a constituent. It is an opportunity for the government to put some work towards what may seem in the scheme of a $16 billion to $17 billion budget a relatively minor thing but, for residents of mine living on Valley View Drive in Highbury, it is a pretty major thing. I have written to the Minister for Environment this morning asking her to take this up, but I reinforce it by repeating some of my constituent's concerns in this house. I quote from him directly:

I live in one of the many houses in Valley View Drive, Highbury that back directly onto the new aqueduct reserve. As you know, this was once 'private' SA Water land but is now a wonderful public access extension of Linear Park.

He goes on to write regarding the maintenance of the wire fence in the reserve that stretches all the way along the back of the Valley View Drive houses:

…the fence is now around 40+ years old and is in a bad way. A couple of people on the Linear Park side of Valley View Drive who have sold their houses have had building inspection reports that mention the fence and its 'non-compliance' and state of wear and age. It really does need to be replaced with a more 'fit for purpose' fence that suits the new reserve and will serve both residents and the public using Linear Park for another 40 years. Ideally, I would love to see that some department or agency had this on their 'works/estate improvements list' for the near future. I would be very grateful for any advice or information that you may be able to offer.

I am writing to my constituent this morning letting him know that I have written to the minister, but I am taking this opportunity to urge the minister, the Deputy Premier, to ensure that her department does some work on this fence. It will not take a lot a money and it will not take a lot of effort, but it will significantly improve the lives of this group of people. The Department for Environment and Water owns this land now. That is a modest ask for the Supply Bill, given we are asking for billions of dollars. This may be an ask that takes only several thousand, but I am sure it is something the minister can help with.

While in that part of the world, the Highbury Aqueduct Reserve, along with the Hope Valley Reservoir and the little park with some bike jumps across Awoonga Road from the Hope Valley Reservoir in Highbury, have been impacted by an infestation of giant pine scale over the last year or so. In April last year, the infestation was discovered. In August, we had large areas of land shut off from the public and destruction of trees, many of which are now woodchips and some of which have now been removed.

I sought a briefing late last year, and eventually received one early this year, from the government in relation to the detail of this, and I have reported some of that to the house before. The key point is that, obviously, the first priority is to ensure that our forestry industries are protected and that the pine scale threat is eradicated. It is important that that has been the first step. Last year, I would have liked to see earlier and better communication with the public, but eventually that happened as well.

I still get questions, of course—one of the reasons why communication is so important—from people stopping me in supermarkets asking, 'What's happening with this land? Is the government seeking to sell it off for housing? Is there some reason the trees have been removed?' All manner of stories are going around in the community. I am able to, obviously, provide the advice that I have been briefed with, but I urge the government to communicate more effectively in that train.

Moving away from the Highbury Aqueduct Reserve land to Tea Tree Gully council land, one of the key opportunities for improvements is where the council has instated some bike jumps on their land, and there is a fairly barren landscape apart from that. There is very limited shade. There is one lonely tree in the middle of the jumps and some others around the outside, obviously having escaped the pine scale infestation. But there is no shade other than that tree which barely provides any shade at all. There is nowhere for people to engage in a community way unless they are specifically there to use those jumps.

Tea Tree Gully council has a desire to work collaboratively with the government and I encourage the government to work collaboratively back, but, ultimately, there is going to be a financial request one way or another. Certainly, people in my community see this as an opportunity for the government to play their part in ensuring that that land, that opportunity for recreation—passive and active—on that piece of land can be restored over the coming years. It is not going to be a quick fix, but it will need decisions this year for us to get any sort of improvements in a timely fashion. So I urge the government to work collaboratively with Tea Tree Gully council there.

On the other side of the road is the major challenge—and opportunity—at the Hope Valley Reservoir. There are still thousands of trees there. There have been 900 trees removed as a result of the pine scale infestation, but there are still large numbers of trees. There is still enormous opportunity for people to engage on the western side of the reservoir on the sweat track and walking opportunities, but the opportunity to open up that reservoir has always been a bit unfulfilled. The former government had money in the budget to extend that work, particularly the opportunity for walking trails to go further around the reservoir, and that is desired. Many people in the community would like more active and passive recreation opportunities in that reservoir.

This is the time for the government to formally consult, because one way or the other there are going to have to be large amounts of replanting of trees. I suspect the department is probably going to be looking at native trees—maybe, hopefully, native pines. We will see. Some people would prefer it to be replanted with pines; I think that is less likely by the environment department.

Nevertheless, there is going to be replanting of trees. The manner in which that is done would surely be best done hand in glove with any consideration of walking trails going through that area. It would reduce the cost of the walking trails massively if it is done in coordination with whatever replanting effort is coming. If there are to be, as I know many people in the community want, further recreational opportunities with the opening up of that reservoir, then now is the time to do the consultation so that the work on it can be done in conjunction with the replanting effort that must happen in the time ahead.

None of this is going to be cheap, but the replanting effort is what is going to drive significant budget investment in the Hope Valley Reservoir in the coming year or so—hopefully sooner rather than later. Frankly, months ago was the time for the government to start consulting, but I will give them a tick if they start it now and if they start formally consulting on what the community wants at Hope Valley Reservoir.

I have no doubt that this is an opportunity for the community to get more access to a beautiful part of our local environment. It is an opportunity—just as has been done at other reservoirs such as Myponga, Happy Valley and some of the others—to really open up a wonderful experience for local residents and make it a destination for people from further afield. Those issues, I think, are important and it is an opportunity for the government to listen to them ahead of the budget.

I have previously reported to the house on the developments at Magill in what is currently the University of South Australia Magill campus. The government has bought land. The land on the eastern side of St Bernards Road has three years, 2½ presumably, until the university has to extricate itself from it. Currently, it is mainly being used for car parking. That is the side of the road that is in Morialta.

When people are thinking of Magill uni, the western side of the road is largely what they will be thinking of, and that is in the electorate of Hartley. The government has given the university a five-year lease on that, with a five-year option for extension there. The university presumably, at some stage, will be putting more meat on the bone of what their exit strategy is from there.

We have good signs in relation to the childcare centre. I understand the Minister for Planning and the Minister for Education have both been out to the childcare centre; usually that would be a sign that the government is planning on extending their lease there and hopefully giving them long-term security so that the community childcare centre can invest in its own future with confidence.

Murray House is heritage-listed and there is going to be no moving that. But ultimately, we have concerns about the oval, we have concerns about the old pool and gym and recreational facilities, and we certainly want to know what the government's plans are in relation to what they would do where there are currently buildings, lecture theatres and car parks on the western side of the road.

The member for Hartley has assiduously been investigating this and urging the government at every turn to listen to the community on this. The surround, the setback from the creek line, is tremendously important. Thousands of people walk along that creek every week, and there are not only walkers and other people pursuing their health and recreation opportunities but there is also immense biodiversity value around that creek line. So that is the western side of the road, and we have a couple more years there.

As the member for Morialta I am really concerned about what the government has planned for the eastern side of the road—three years, apparently. Renewal SA is going out to public consultation. We were told some time ago this would happen in the first half of this year, but there is not much time left in the first half of this year. Local residents are asking me on a regular basis what the update is, and I can only tell them that, yes, there are hundreds and hundreds more people every month signing our petition urging the government to listen to the community. But in terms of what the government is proactively doing, it is very hard to tell.

We are still waiting on Renewal SA to go to public consultation. I thought it was going to happen in April; we are now halfway through May and time is ticking. What I want from the government is a genuine community consultation, not one of these things we see from time to time where the government provides a special email address for people to write in with their thoughts and maybe has a drop-in session or two. We want some really rigorous community consultation where the members of the local community are encouraged to engage effectively with the government and, at the end point, some feedback from the government that their considerations are going to be taken into account.

When we were going through the process of the university review committee of this parliament we had 10 weeks of many witness interactions. Witnesses we heard from from the Treasury department, from Rick Persse the Under Treasurer, from Renewal SA and from others, made it very clear that the government's expectation is that they are going to recoup the $65 million that they have spent to purchase the Magill uni precinct. They said the valuation from that was based on a market valuation. That assumes that the eastern side of the road, the side that is in Morialta, which is currently zoned residential, will presumably be largely sold for residential purposes.

We do need housing, but I make the point that the Campbelltown area—and that includes the Magill area in particular—has been subject to some of the most significant urban infill in this city, in this state, over the last decade. The planning arrangements that John Rau, former planning minister, had in place between 2012 and 2019, when the member for Hartley and I and others were able to successfully lobby the former government to improve the planning arrangements in that area, encouraged dramatic infill: 150 square metre block sizes, minimal setbacks, not enough car parking, not enough infrastructure for the houses built there.

What we see at an area like the Magill Training Centre, the Woodforde development, which was also a ministerial approval by former planning minister John Rau, is dramatic overdevelopment of the site; a site that would have comfortably housed 200 dwellings, instead having 400 dwellings put on it—a five-storey apartment building basically on the Hills Face Zone. It is a really unusual approach and has significantly exacerbated traffic problems in the local area. That would be an utter disaster if that were then imposed on the Magill uni site. I am not saying that it necessarily will be, I am just saying this is the Labor government's track record when it comes to urban infill in that surrounding area.

The Magill area, having been subject to that, I am talking about is right square bang in the middle of the dramatic traffic and infrastructure challenges between Mills Road and Magill Road and between Glen Stuart Road and St Bernards Road. This area is already diminished in terms of open space and access to community amenity there. It is still a lovely place to live, but if you were going to just transplant that land that is currently passive recreation, the old soccer pitches and the car parking for Magill uni, if you are going to transplant that land with Lego brick housing and places such as the five-storey apartment building that has been built in Woodforde, then that is going to be enormously difficult for local infrastructure to cope. It is going to present an increased reduction, a decrease in amenity for people in the local area, so this has to be sensitively done.

There are significant proposals put forward by the council, by the Burnside Hockey Club, by other people for improved sporting community recreation facilities, and there is certainly a demand for that. We are short of soccer pitches in the area. The Burnside Hockey Club has had funding to pursue their improvements but no actual home to deliver them on for a long period of time. There is significant demand for sporting and recreational infrastructure and community infrastructure.

The department and the government's only advice to us so far is they wish to recoup $65 million from the sale of the land somehow and that they are going to go to public and community consultation. I am hoping that the second part of that is going to be more persuasive on the government as to what they do with this land than just focusing on that $65 million figure, because in a budget of 16, 18, 20, it is a growing budget in the years ahead, and we are talking about 10, 15, 20 years for some of these developments to be truly delivered one way or the other. This is a small amount of capital money which has an enormous impact on the local residents and the broader community in my area, so it is important the government pays it due mind.

I spoke about the traffic challenges. On the edge of this area is the new Morialta Secondary College. It is the old middle school from Norwood Morialta High School. Some people say, 'Well, what difference does that make? It was previously a school, and it is going to be a school again.' I highlight that the Magill campus of Norwood International High School, which was previously the senior campus, has gone from 600 students to about 1,700 students. That is a dramatic transformation.

The middle campus, which is now Morialta Secondary College, had about 700 students. It was knocked down and we built the new school. It currently has 400 students. It will have 1,200 students very soon. These two campuses have combined. They have gone from 1,300 students to what will ultimately be when combined about 3,000 students. It highlights the infill in the area. It highlights the confidence with which people are approaching their educational choices in the area. We are not seeing reduced enrolments at local non-government schools, we are seeing larger numbers of students, and also a good proportion of them choosing public schools because they have confidence in these high-quality institutions.

But what it presents is absolutely phenomenal traffic challenges and complications: significant rat-running through the back streets to the point where Burnside Council has listened to local residents and imposed a 40 km/h zone on the southern side of Magill Road within Magill, significant productivity delays and inconvenience to many people.

That area of St Bernards Road was recommended by the former minister many years ago, who put in a road management plan study that had many recommendations that are still to be taken up. The challenges in that area surrounded by those four roads—St Bernards, Moules, Magill and Glen Stuart—are much greater now than they were 10 years ago when that study was done, so I reiterate my calls, backed up by hundreds and hundreds and probably thousands now of signatories to our petition to the Minister for Transport, urging a new road management plan to be undertaken in this area because when that school grows to 1,200 students it is not going to be possible for the government to put it off any further. That is four years away, so now is the time to do this work. I commend the bill to the house.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley) (11:31): I also rise today in support of the Supply Bill 2024 to allow the continued payment of public servants and public services until the Appropriation Bill 2024 is passed by this place later this year. I note that the amount for the appropriation for the Supply Bill 2024 is $7.7 billion or so.

It is also probably a good time to reflect on the performance of this government at the halfway mark. What I would say about this government is that they seem to be very focused when it comes to activity but not so focused when it comes to outcomes. We have a premier who loves getting the free kick but does not necessarily like the hard ball get all that often. We have a government that loves saying 'whatever it takes' before an election to get in but not as good at delivering what they promised they would after the election. One example of that is, of course, when they told South Australians before the election that they would fix the ramping crisis.

What I would like to talk about are a few things in terms of macro-economics and then, of course, a few issues in relation to my own electorate as well. In terms of the business community, we are out there talking to businesses right across the state, especially in my own electorate. They are telling me that, at the moment, whilst they are working hard and fighting hard, it is getting tougher in South Australia to do business with the rising cost of living.

We know that inflation at the moment is a real killer. We know that inflation is eating into ordinary South Australian's ability to pay for things. Business owners cannot necessarily put their prices up as much as what inflationary pressures are causing, so they are having to dig further and further to ensure they continue to run businesses successfully. Also, when it comes to red tape and payroll tax there are a lot of levers this government can still pull without causing too much of an inflationary effect but which can still assist small businesses. So, in this upcoming budget, we want to see some assistance for small businesses to ensure they continue to help employ South Australians who also need assistance more than ever.

Of course, a lot has been said when it comes to labour shortages, whether you are trying to build a house or whether you are trying to build a road or you are trying to employ a police officer or a teacher or a doctor or a nurse. We know that there are significant labour shortages right across this state, and it is a bit rich from this government to say that they are not partially to blame for that. They have been in for something like 18 out of the last 22 years. They are front and centre when it comes to most of the time that the governments have occupied those benches, and so it is a bit rich for them to say that they are not partially to blame, because they are significantly to blame, and they need to right many of the wrongs, especially in recent times.

In terms of the strong economy that is often spoken about, it is important to note that there are a number of issues when it comes to the economy that need to be identified, and also resolved by this government, because the cost-of-living crisis does continue to worsen. Whether you are an age pensioner, whether you are a small business owner, or whether you are part of a young family, there is a real cost-of-living crisis that continues to worsen here in South Australia, and South Australians are being left behind by this government.

Whilst the government pats themselves on the back for overseeing what they call a strong economy, once you look a bit deeper, average wages, in some respects, have actually gone backwards by 7.6 per cent in real terms. It has actually been, in some stages, the worst in the country. That means that people are getting worse off each and every week.

Decaying standards, unfortunately, have been a cornerstone of this government. You only have to look at the ramping standards and what has happened there. Under this government, some of the ramping figures have been the worst in South Australia's history despite, as I mentioned before, them coming into government saying that they would fix that crisis.

We also know housing is no exception; there is a lot of activity. Again, we know the minister loves having the Sunday press conference with the cardboard cut-out with all kinds of charts and the vacant block in the background. Supply of land is one thing, but how about actually shovels in the ground and laying a slab and getting on with it, and actually building these dwellings? Do you know how many dwellings have been built in South Australia in the last two years? Not enough.

It is now said, depending on the reports that you quote, that Adelaide actually has the second worst dwelling affordability amongst capital cities right across the country—Adelaide. Historically, South Australia has actually been better than the national average, but it is actually more affordable now to buy in parts of Melbourne than it is to buy in parts of Adelaide. I will leave you with that to ponder over.

Renters, of course, have been suffering big time. From the report that I am looking at, we know that rents in Adelaide have been rising 5.8 per cent over the year to December 2023, and the cost of new built homes in the city at one stage climbed by 8.3 per cent compared to 12 months ago. How can South Australians simply afford this? How can they afford this? This rise in cost is a bigger escalation than almost every single capital city in Australia and, of course, a place where at one point we had the worst average wage growth as well. Prices are going up, real wages are going backwards, so people are getting worse off. It is not the perception, but it actually is the reality as well, and how are our young people going to afford to enter the property market?

I was walking the dog on the weekend—Howard, my labradoodle, is five years old—and there was an auction going on. I thought I would have a look at this auction, and there were lots of property developers but not that many young people who were going to make it to this auction. Unfortunately, I dare say, it was not a young family who walked into that property with the keys. It looked to be a property developer, not to say that there is anything wrong with property developers, but we have to allow young people an opportunity to also enter into that market. At the moment, we know that it is becoming further and further out of reach to enter that property market.

With a name like Tarzia, I am obviously a big fan of migration. Without migration I would not be here, that is for sure, and Australia as we know has been built on the back of hardworking migrants who have come to this country seeking a better opportunity and working hard in an aspirational set of values, and helping to build the country, and that is great.

What has been lacking from the migration/immigration level discussion is that these people also need an opportunity to get a job, an opportunity to get an education, an opportunity for good health care and also an opportunity to have somewhere to live. We know that there is a lag, a gap, and this housing crisis is going to continue to get worse as housing supply does not keep up with migration levels. That is causing a large strain on the rental market and the property market.

Recently, the RBA Governor, Michele Bullock, said that new migrants add to demand and there has been that element of it. They are certainly adding to pressure on the housing market. Whilst we love migration, the housing supply and affordability discussion also has to factor into that discussion. Simply put, until the government addresses the surrounding housing issue with the migration issue, then this crisis is going to continue.

In the face of all these issues, along with skyrocketing immigration numbers, rising inflation and global tension, what is this government doing? I ask South Australians to ponder: do you think that the government have their priorities right? They are very concerned about the State Voice to Parliament, and very concerned about things such as the Sam Smith influencer concert. Wasn't that a cracking one? I was not at that one, sir, let me tell you.

Overseas trips: my old friend, the member for West Torrens, do you know where he is at the moment? I think he is in Europe.

An honourable member: Italy.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: I think someone said he may even be in Italy. I was not invited to translate or carry the bags on that trip. At the same time, we see here in South Australia a road maintenance backlog. One report had it at $3 billion when you consider local roads and state roads. We know that regional roads continue to run into ruin.

We have the federal budget tonight. We put out a press conference yesterday. There are huge blows to productivity and safety on South Australian roads where, as part of the Albanese government's 90-day infrastructure review, we saw savage cuts to things such as the Hahndorf township improvements and access upgrades, the Main South Road Productivity Package, the Old Belair Road upgrade, the Onkaparinga Valley Road/Tiers Road/Nairne Road intersection upgrade and, of course, the Truro freight route.

Last week, we saw that Western Sydney received $1.9 billion of upgraded infrastructure in the federal budget, including for projects that were slashed as part of this Labor Party review. We saw Labor premiers take on the Prime Minister. They picked up the phone and said, 'Albo mate, this is rubbish. What are you doing cutting billions of dollars from our state?' To their credit, they have been able to get a win in Western Sydney.

What has our Premier done? What has this transport minister done? We are seeing billions of dollars cut right around Australia. We have seen $400 million-worth of savage cuts to five key road initiatives. Unfortunately, it is our friends in the country who are having to pay for Labor's ineptitude when it comes to regional roads.

We are also, of course, concerned about the energy space. We know that South Australians pay some of the highest energy prices in the world. What we want to see is a coherent set of policies from the government when it comes to affordable and reliable base load power so that we do not have the lights going out as we did not that long ago. I have spoken a little bit about things on a macro level. In the time I have left, I will talk about my local electorate.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Jacqui van Ruiten, principal at Norwood International High School. Jacqui has done a fantastic job leading the Norwood International High School. Do not forget, that was a school that in recent times went through much transition. Now you have a new school on The Parade. She has done a wonderful job and after eight years her term comes to an end and I want to thank her. I was at the governing council meeting last night and she will be much missed. We wish her all the very best in her future endeavours and in her very exciting new role.

Much has been said about the Magill University Campus, the UniSA site. We know that in 2023 the state government passed legislation effectively greenlighting the merger of the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia. With any merger, of course, there is always a number of hurdles and obstacles, but most relevant to my seat—and I really just want to hone in on one particular issue—is in relation to the UniSA Magill campus. We know there is an opportunity there to bring the community along with the government, to bring the council along with the government. We certainly want to see the sports field preserved in one way or another.

As the shadow minister for sport and recreation, I get to see a lot of these magnificent clubs and at the moment they are absolutely packed when it comes to facilities. There are not enough facilities right across the state to play not only soccer but other sports as well. There is a great opportunity to actually put a value-adding sporting recreational facility there that we can all be proud of, where young people, older people can go and play and enjoy their recreation space.

Of course, you have Murray House, which also has heritage issues. I want to see that house preserved, but if it is the prerogative of the university and the government to do some sort of development, what I would say is: bring the community along with you, bring the council along with you and bring the local member along with you because, let me tell you, I will not stop until we have the best result possible.

Judge us on our record. The former government once had this idea that 150-square-metre allotments in Campbelltown was a good idea. Well, how did that go? It was not their proudest moment. We have moved it up to 250 square metres. The community spoke, we listened and eventually there was a change of government because people were so upset. Let's say to the government: learn the lessons of the past, bring the community along with you and let's get a good outcome at the UniSA site.

If there is going to be some housing, especially on the eastern side of St Bernards Road, let's make sure that it is sensible. We know that there is significant strain on infrastructure there at the moment, so there is no way that we are going to tolerate high-rise density living on that site—it is just not going to happen. The government needs to be very up-front and transparent about what is going to happen there and make sure they do the due diligence and talk to the local community and bring them along as well because I think there is an opportunity to do something sensible there.

When it comes to Hope Valley Reservoir, we know that that has been an enormous success. It has had over 160,000 visitors since the former Liberal government opened it up in December 2020. We should be making it more inviting for families by opening up more of the reserve, upgrading facilities to also cater for that. We have seen petitioners in my own community. They wanted to see further improvements to recreational activities.

Some have asked: why does the government not look at fishing, kayaking and canoeing? Unfortunately, there has been a number—some say hundreds—of trees that have been removed. We urge the government to act swiftly so that walking paths around the whole of the reservoir, within the reserve, can be planned and created.

I think there is an opportunity to do that in conjunction with restoration of the trees. Obviously, we encourage the government to plant native trees. It looks quite barren in parts at the moment because these trees have had to be ripped out of the ground. If you drive past it, you will see it for yourself. I also urge the government to commence as soon as possible the necessary community consultation to inform the plan for future work so that that work can commence as soon as possible.

In the past, we have called for a road traffic management plan to be updated and upgraded. We have had a great track record when it comes to working with government in the past and updating and upgrading key infrastructure in and around Hartley. You only have to look at roads like Turner Street and OG Road, Gorge Road, Silkes Road, Newton Road—you name it, there has been a real team effort there over some 10 years now.

At the moment, the next key intersections that need to be upgraded are things such as the intersection of St Bernards Road and Arthur Street, which should be well and truly on the top of this agenda. We know that that intersection is dangerous; it is busy. Whilst we welcome the construction of Morialta Secondary College, the infrastructure now has to keep up with that college upgrade as well, with literally hundreds more people visiting that site each and every day. I request that the government and the minister provide the community and myself with a solution to that issue. I have also continued to receive many reports of speeding on Gorge Road. I have raised that issue in this house and I will continue to do so until we get a more permanent solution to combat that increase in speeding.

On the policy front, we are still waiting for the government's position when it comes to e-scooters. We know these are very popular. It makes no sense that I can go out the front here and get an orange or purple scooter, but I cannot go and get my own scooter. What about in regional areas, where you might want to go to the shops to get some milk, bread, AFL football cards or whatever? I cannot take my scooter, but I can if I am in the city. It makes no sense. The government has been saying that it is talking about the legislation; we actually want to see something done about it.

When it comes to the policy front, we have also put out a policy on P-plate drivers. We recently announced that when P-platers are moving on to their full licence, if they have not committed a single road offence, they would have their first year of renewal waived, which at the moment is $71. We know that young drivers are a very vulnerable cohort when it comes to serious injuries and fatalities on our roads, and that is why we would like the government to support that as well.

In the last couple of minutes, I would like to speak a little about recent examples in health care, where unfortunately we have seen the government let down my residents. We all remember the posters with the now Premier at the time smiling below the phrase, 'Labor will fix the ramping crisis'. Not only have they not fixed the ramping crisis but they have made it worse. We saw that in the figures: the latest available delayed transfer of care data for March 2024 shows 4,095 hours were lost on the ramp, which is worse than any month of the Liberal government's four years. Since Labor came to office, we know there have been thousands and thousands of hours of paramedics' and patients' time lost on ramps outside our emergency departments.

In my own electorate we saw Eddie, a resident of Hectorville, who waited for around 10 hours and sadly passed away. Also, in recent times, Rita from Glynde waited 80 minutes for an ambulance, only to be taken and ramped for three hours at the hospital. It is not good enough. They said that they would fix the ramping crisis. The ramping crisis has become worse than ever, and we will continue to hold the government to account on their core policy promise, which was to fix ramping.