Private Members' Statements

Private Members' Statements

Mr BATTY (Bragg) (15:50): I rise to talk about the Australia India Youth Dialogue, which is the premier youth dialogue bringing together young leaders from India and Australia every year at an annual conference. There are 15 Australian delegates and 15 Indian delegates. I had the great honour of being one of the Australian delegates to this year's Australia India Youth Dialogue, which took place last week in Australia across Canberra and Sydney.

I found it an enormously valuable experience to discuss the Australia-India bilateral relationship, to delve a little bit deeper beyond perhaps the superficial—cricket and curry and the commonwealth—and to discuss what the future of the relationship looks like and also to better understand the contribution that Indian Australians have made to all our communities, including the community I represent, which has a large and very fast-growing Indian population.

It was a pleasure to be able to attend the dialogue and learn more about the bilateral relationship. I would like to thank the entire steering committee that put the dialogue together, including in particular this year's co-chairs Bindu Subramaniam and Bodean Hedwards.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:52): The Town of Gawler mourns the loss of George Rau, our esteemed local rail historian. If there was anything George did not know about trains it probably was not worth knowing. George's passion for trains was unmatched, and he was more than happy to share that information with anybody who was prepared to listen. George was particularly knowledgeable about the history of Gawler's rail system and the locomotives manufactured at the James Martin Foundry in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Born and raised in Gawler, George spent 45 years working for the South Australian Railways where he dedicated himself to repairing and maintaining rail carriages. Gawler was once a leading manufacturing town, producing many locomotives and farm machinery. George lamented the day that the commonwealth closed down its sites in South Australia and disposed of historical documents charting the state's rail history. Fortunately, he preserved plans and records of many of these locomotives built in Gawler, leaving our community with a priceless collection of drawings, photos and information.

We will seek to honour George's legacy by making these historical pieces publicly available, celebrating our region's history and George's love for rail. George, an avid Port Power supporter, lived a full 96 years and our hearts go out to his family and friends. Thank you for the opportunity to honour George.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:53): Members of my community in the Morialta area have been coming to my office in increasing numbers in recent times, and it reflects the main complaint that I also receive from people when I am knocking on their doors, and that is that they are suffering under a cost-of-living crisis right now that is unlike any that they can recall.

There is an extraordinary deficit in responsibility being taken by the government for the impact that their decisions are having on the cost of living, whether it is the impact of the way that the government is operating in the market or whether it is the red carpet that the government has rolled out to union leaders like John Setka, whose CFMEU is now actively seeking to push up prices in the construction sector, whether people are buying a house, whether small businesses are facing increasing electricity bills that are completely out of control or whether it is the bracket creep of state government taxes and charges, such as payroll tax, which hoteliers have reported are seeing dramatic increases in their costs and an unreasonable amount in the cost of doing business in South Australia, and the cost of living in South Australia is increasingly out of control.

The opposition raises these issues in a respectful way in this house. The opposition asks questions of the government about these issues in the house. It is critical that this becomes the top priority for government, something it has clearly not been up to now because, while they are very happy to pat themselves on the back about the way that the state is going in this area or that area, South Australia leading the country in inflation is nothing to be proud of and it is having a dramatically bad effect on South Australian households.

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (15:55): I grew up knowing how wonderful Probus clubs were because my grandfather, Lavington Fisher, was part of the Naracoorte Probus, and he spoke fondly of the club and I knew how important it was to him. So it was with great pleasure and privilege that I was invited to attend my local Prospect Probus club last Wednesday to celebrate the club's 500^th meeting. Over those 500 meetings, there have only been six secretaries: Stirling Casson was secretary for 18 years and John Lumsden for 16 years.

The club was originally formed back in October 1982 with the aim of fellowship, friendship and fun. It was the eighth Probus club in South Australia. The first meeting was held at Prospect Town Hall and was convened by the Rotary club, with the assistance of Mayor Ern Sconce. They started with 25 members and by the end of the year they had a total of 52 members.

Currently, the club is now a mixed club with 19 members, and also non-members taking part in its activities. While the club no longer does interstate trips or overnighters, it now has travel insurance, a members' benefit scheme and the Active Retirees magazine. Congratulations to the Prospect Probus on its 500^th meeting, and thank you so much for having me along as guest speaker. I wish them another successful 500 meetings in the future.