Private Members' Statements

Private Members' Statements

Ms PRATT (Frome) (15:39): On 29 November last year I tabled my first petition, but sadly it was about the closure of the Freeling Police Station, and the community calling for it to be reinstated. The comments I am making today are really about cause and effect. Many months on from the permanent closure of the much-needed Freeling Police Station, my community are now up in arms because we are seeing an increase in crime.

In the last 24 hours, I have been contacted by members of the Freeling community who are very distressed and upset about the fact that since we have seen the closure of the police station there has been a threefold increase in shoplifting at the local supermarket, the fabulous recreation centre has been broken into four times in the last month and, sadly, the people who volunteer at the recreation centre feel like their time and efforts are all for nought.

We are calling for a review of the Freeling Police Station by the minister, who I have written to and communicated with, but theft, looting, speeding, graffiti, break-ins and general disregard for a very proud community dedicated to volunteering and looking after itself is a great disappointment.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:41): On Friday night, I had the honour of attending the launch dinner for the third annual Hope Cup. The Hope Cup is an annual cricket match between the Gawler police and our local Riverside Salvation Army, which is filled with local residents and celebrities who donate money for a chance to be selected to play in the Riverside team. However, the Hope Cup is more than just a game of cricket; it is a symbol of hope for those grappling with the harsh realities of homelessness in Gawler and surrounding areas. And I talk about homelessness at the hard edge: those who sleep rough.

I would like to acknowledge the efforts of church leader Darren Dwyer and officer in charge of Gawler police, Senior Sergeant Rob Mowday, for putting this initiative together. More than $80,000 has been raised from the past two cricket matches, and this has gone into building lockers for the homeless, a secure place for the homeless to store their belongings during the day, leading to increased confidence and opportunities as they have less anxiety over their items being stolen. The program also offers a breakfast and shower service, and a street survival kit. This initiative has been transformative, with individuals finding homes and employment, and truly changing their lives and our community.

The launch night alone on Friday night saw almost $7,000 raised through the 150 tickets sold to people to attend the event, and during the auction we saw the power of community and a spirit of giving to support a cause that makes a tangible difference in the lives of those who are most vulnerable in our community.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:42): I rise, too, to make a few comments. A few weeks back the South Australian government attempted to pat themselves on the back for establishing Invest SA. In reality, they had re-established a program whose work was already being done by the Department for Trade and Investment. So what has this actually done for South Australia? It has actually taken the investment out of trade and investment, created more red tape and is less streamlined, and it has shifted the goalposts—and this is the alarming part of what the government has done. Previously, DTI targets required facilitating a value of foreign investment into South Australia. The word 'foreign' has now been removed in last year's budget target, which means it's a broken promise.

Labor told us that re-establishing Invest SA would create 4,000 new jobs every year. In actual fact, they only managed to create 800 jobs in the last 12 months, less than a quarter of their goal. In contrast, under the Liberals in 2021-22, DTI was directly responsible for half a billion dollars of foreign investment into South Australia, and the creation of 7,600 new jobs in 12 months. This was all while we were in the middle of a pandemic. Labor are riding on the coat-tails of a former Liberal government's strong trade policy and outlook, and their poor economic management means that having to shift the goalposts makes them a broken promise government.

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (15:44): I rise to congratulate the Brinkworth Primary and Early Childhood Centre on its 50-year anniversary. It was a pleasure to attend there last Tuesday 11 June, to celebrate with the community, and they came out in force to mark that milestone. It is a reasonably bittersweet day for the community, as 50 years ago the area school was resized and became a primary school only and the town lost some of the service that it had enjoyed for a little while. But nonetheless, they celebrated that anniversary and we had a wonderful time there.

One of the by-products of that downsizing was that we now have a primary school with these wonderful, expansive grounds, a swimming pool, multiple courts and those sorts of things, so the kids who are currently enrolled there enjoy those wonderful facilities. They have a wonderful staff, led by Caitlin McDaid, the principal, who does a tremendous job at that school. It was a real pleasure to be there.

Helen and Bruce Weckert gave a talk on behalf of the history group. Most notably, the story that I remember best was about a former bus driver who did a run. Once he had dropped the kids off and taken his bus back to his farm, he was able to take the seats out and use it to transport the pigs from his piggery to slaughter after that. So he was getting double use out of that bus way back when, and was able to put the seats back in in time to pick the kids up in the afternoon run. That was a funny story from Helen and Bruce. We thank them and the history group for their presentation and for the supplies that they had around the place.

I was able to see Fred Groom while I was there as well. Fred has welcomed me into his home previously and showed me his wonderful Eremophila public garden and talked me through the litany of things that he is involved in within the community. It was wonderful to see him recognised as the Wakefield Regional Council Citizen of the Year this year; congratulations to him on that. I thank him for all the service he does across a litany of groups, headlined by 50 years of service to the CFS.