The Advertiser Bush Summit

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:31): I rise to speak about an event I attended this morning down at McLaren Vale, The Advertiser Bush Summit. It has been touted as one of the great regional platforms in South Australia over a number of years. I would like to thank Ms Rinehart as a sponsor through Rossi Boots. She does an outstanding job not only sponsoring and supporting Australian sport but also in shining a spotlight on the regions of Australia, none more important than here in South Australia.

The Bush Summit had many attendees this morning, but it also had a number of panels that presented. I want to commend Gemma Jones, the editor of The Advertiser, for her overview on ag, regions, the challenges, living in the bush. It set up the conversation for a really robust morning, just to understand what the challenges are, living in the bush, and exactly what regional South Australia presents to the economy of South Australia.

Cosi was the mediator for the morning, and he is never short of a word. His first cab off the rank was an interview with the Premier, and it was all about the regions. As the Premier has said, the regions are the state's economic powerhouse. What continues to confuse me is that the government continues to neglect our regions. They continue to neglect our roads, they continue to turn away from the need for proper health services, or growing health services, and much more, but no more than people. As the Premier said, people are moving away from the cities into the regions, and this is happening right around the world, and this morning was no exception.

What we are seeing, while people are moving out of the city to the regions, is that the health system continues to be neglected, workplace relations laws and reforms continue to be shifted and not in favour of employers, not in favour of productivity, not in favour of the cost of living, but in favour of the union movement, in favour of Labor governments both federal and state.

It has been brought to the attention of many that while unions were weaponised in the last federal and state elections, they are looking for their pound of flesh, and that is that they are being given a voice now. We are seeing significant strikes and union action looking for better pay and wage deals, but that comes at a price of increasing the cost of production in the regions and increasing the price of food on people's tables. The thing that is really concerning is that it is driving down productivity in the workplace, particularly on farms.

After the Premier had spoken, we looked at ways that he could help support the regions. There was a lot of spin and there was a lot of talk—the Premier is a very good narrator—but it really did fly in the face of what he was saying and what has actually happened. There is some big talk in the city but there is not much action happening in the regions.

The first panel comprised a former neighbour of mine and my father's, Stephanie Schmidt, a farm lifestyle psychologist living at Worlds End; Harry Schuster, a seventh-generation farmer out at Freeling, who is quite renowned for the ploughed Australian map that he put into his front paddock and I think he is a great advocate as a young farmer; Brad Perry, a former staffer of mine and now CEO of Grain Producers SA, who talked about the challenges of growing grain and chemical use on our farms; and Adam Giles, the CEO of Hancock Agriculture and S. Kidman & Co, who talked a lot about red tape and live trade. There really was a lot that resonated and a lot of head-nodding in the room with some of those contributions.

Senator Penny Wong came to the stage and talked about the regions. She really did suck the oxygen out of the room. She jeered the audience. She did not want to talk about live sheep. She did not really want to talk about live lobster. It really was quite lacklustre and I was quite disappointed. I know Penny Wong personally, but it just was not a good fit for her today.

We have seen in recent days that power prices have doubled, particularly to some of the food production regions, but it was a great platform today. The Bush Summit is alive and well, and the platform for regional South Australia is there. I look forward to attending the next one.