Supply Bill 2025

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading (resumed on motion).

Ms THOMPSON (Davenport) (15:44): I rise to continue my remarks on the Supply Bill. I want to talk about some of the ways that supply funding impacts real people, real projects and real lives, particularly in my electorate of Davenport. A big priority for me is to keep critical infrastructure projects on track. One of the most critical projects currently underway in the south—in fact, for myself and the new member for Black, it is our number one priority—is the construction of the Majors Road interchange onto the Southern Expressway.

This $120 million project—a joint investment between state government and federal government—is not just about building ramps and road connections; it is about making the south more accessible, reducing congestion and improving safety for tens of thousands of drivers every single day.

Majors Road currently carries around 13,200 vehicles daily: that is people travelling between Lonsdale Road, Main South Road and critical destinations like Flinders Medical Centre, local businesses, sporting facilities and homes. Yet, until now, there has been no direct access to the Southern Expressway from Majors Road, which has meant frustrating detours, wasted time and increased traffic pressure on Brighton Road and surrounding suburban streets. The new Majors Road interchange will change that. Once completed, it will provide seamless northbound and southbound access to and from the Southern Expressway, cutting travel times and creating safer, more efficient journeys.

This project has been carefully designed to respect the surrounding environment, particularly Glenthorne National Park and recreational hubs like the Sam Willoughby International BMX Facility and the Southern Soccer Facility. It is not just an infrastructure investment; it is an investment in our local economy and in the liveability of our southern suburbs.

Construction is well underway, with major earthworks and bridge works progressing rapidly. Hundreds of jobs have been supported through this project, injecting skills, training opportunities and economic activity into our region. The Friends of Glenthorne have also benefited from this project, negotiating with the department for funding towards a new nursery that will be located on the Riding for the Disabled site on Majors Road and will help the Friends to continue to be able to do the fantastic work that they do planting out our national park.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my community for their patience during construction, particularly those directly impacted, like Riding for the Disabled, whose location has temporarily become the site office for the duration of the works, and the O'Halloran Hill Early Learning Centre and the families who have navigated road closures and nearby construction for an extended period.

However, projects of this magnitude do not build themselves. They rely on a steady flow of funding and certainty. Passing the Supply Bill ensures that progress does not stall, workers on site can continue their work, machinery keeps operating, local contractors receive timely payments and our vision for a more connected south becomes a reality.

Another compelling example of why supply is essential is the ongoing upgrades at Flinders Medical Centre. Flinders Medical Centre is the beating heart of health care for the south, and its expansion and redevelopment is one of the most significant health infrastructure investments in South Australian history: almost $5 million in state and federal funding combined.

Central to this expansion is a new seven-storey acute services building, which will deliver 98 new clinical spaces, including two 32-bed adult inpatient units; 16 new intensive care beds, substantially boosting our ICU capacity; four new operating theatres; an expanded day medical unit; a new CT scanner within the ICU for critically ill patients; and a new space for the Flinders eye surgery clinic, freeing up space elsewhere on the campus. At the same time, the Margaret Tobin Centre for mental health is being expanded, with an increase from 38 to 48 beds—critical capacity that is so urgently needed to meet rising mental health demands.

Work on this transformative expansion is moving rapidly. The first new beds were opened earlier this year and construction on the acute services building continues. But again, progress needs certainty. Hospitals do not build themselves: they need a workforce, they need contractors, they need supplies and they need scheduled funding. The passage of the Supply Bill ensures that construction will continue, that new beds will come online without delay and that we honour our commitment to deliver a hospital capable of meeting the south's future health needs.

Beyond the big projects, the Supply Bill also keeps the lifeblood of our local communities flowing. It keeps our schools running. It means that vital investment in school-based therapy services like the hiring of additional speech pathologists, psychologists and occupational therapists can continue to roll out across our state.

The Supply Bill allows community sporting hubs like the Happy Valley Sports Park to continue with their upgrades—another local election commitment of mine—enhancing opportunities for footballers, cricketers, netballers and bowlers. It means the delivery of another one of my key local commitments: the upgrade and expansion of the Paul Murray Recreation Centre at O'Halloran Hill, the home of Hub Gymnastics, creating spaces where hundreds of young athletes can pursue their dreams. I look forward to officially opening that new centre next month alongside the Premier.

Still on local projects, while the Minkarra link trail—delivered with $1 million of state funding—is already being enjoyed by our community, I continue to collaborate with local council and SA Water to ensure optimal access to these new trails. Just last week, we celebrated the completion of a new trail link connecting residents on Taminga Way, Flagstaff Hill, with Glenhuntly Reserve and the Minkarra link trails. This network also connects to another of my local projects, the delivery of the Minkarra Dog Park, providing safe, more welcoming spaces for small dogs and their owners.

The safety and efficiency of our roads is so important for my community and several projects are underway to enhance them. One project I am particularly eager to see completed is the upgrade of the intersections along Happy Valley Drive, specifically at Windebanks Road and Chandlers Hill Road. At the last election, I committed to conducting a traffic study at these intersections to determine the necessity for infrastructure upgrades and to propose solutions. That study revealed significant issues, including queueing delays—particularly during peak times—and difficulties with turning movements, especially right turns from Chandlers Hill Road onto Happy Valley Drive.

Many parents in my community would be familiar with the frustrations of these intersections; most mornings at around school drop-off time you will find queues and significant delays right up through Chandlers Hill Road. The proposed solution involves constructing a new roundabout at the intersection of Happy Valley Drive and Windebanks Road, and a larger two-lane roundabout at the current intersection connecting Chandlers Hill Road and Happy Valley Drive. These upgrades aim to mitigate traffic congestion, enhance safety for all road users, improve overall efficiency and reduce the amount of parents tearing their hair out in their cars on their way to work as they are late each day and their kids are late being dropped off to school.

The refined design for the Windebanks Road junction includes separate left and right-turn lanes on the Windebanks Road approach; a pedestrian refuge on Windebanks Road for the Happy Valley trail shared-use path; new kerbing and guttering; line marking, pavement construction and resurfacing; and new and upgraded lighting. Importantly, the design has been adjusted to avoid removing a significant river red gum tree on the western side of the junction, preserving our local environment. In my electorate of Davenport, protecting tree canopy is extremely important to our residents, so we will go over and above to amend designs to accommodate that.

For the Chandlers Hill Road intersection, the proposed two-lane roundabout will increase capacity and traffic flow. This change will alleviate queueing from the Chandlers Hill Road intersection on Happy Valley Drive, allowing the left turn from Windebanks Road to exit more freely. These proposed upgrades are crucial for improving safety and reducing wait times along Happy Valley Drive. It is important that work on this project continues to progress and that it receives appropriate funding in the next possible budget to ensure its delivery.

Another road upgrade that is proceeding thanks to the Supply Bill is the intersection of Main South Road and Chandlers Hill Road, a project that has been affectionately referred to by local residents as the 'undies' intersection because the DIT plans look exactly like a pair of Y-fronts. This upgrade will make crossing points safer for pedestrians and cyclists, which is particularly important for local kids needing to cross the six lanes of traffic to get to the bus stop in the mornings and afternoons after school, and there are many families in the O'Halloran Hill area who are relieved that this upgrade is going ahead.

South Australians sent a clear message at the last election. They want a government that gets on with the job, delivers results and honours its commitments. Delivering on these expectations requires discipline and careful management of the economy, it requires the passage of supply to ensure the public sector can continue operating, public servants can be paid, and programs can continue until the full budget is debated and passed.

We are delivering record investment in health, record investment in education, record investment in clean energy and climate resilience, record investment in local infrastructure, but we are doing so in a way that respects the economic pressures facing households, businesses and the broader economy. Passing this Supply Bill is a responsible step to provide the stability that our economy needs.

Passing the Supply Bill is not just about good governance, it is about keeping South Australia moving forward. It is about completing the Majors Road interchange, transforming the Flinders Medical Centre and fulfilling every promise made to local families—from enhancing schools, roads to strengthening health care. Today, I stand in unwavering support of the Supply Bill, and I commend the bill to the house.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley) (15:55): The Supply Bill is an opportunity, of course, for members to discuss a wide range of issues, and one of the biggest issues for parents of my age with adult children and many other South Australians is the cost of housing—the housing crisis—that we have seen here exacerbate in South Australia over the last three years in particular, and of course it is all about supply.

Labor have been running this state for close on 20 of the last 24 years and, of course, a stable property market, the housing market, is all about long-term planning—something you cannot do in four years, and you certainly cannot do it in four years when no work has been done in the previous 16 years. We have a situation in South Australia where the current Labor government is trying to make people believe that they are a new government that had nothing to do with the previous Labor government.

Of course, we all remember that the current Premier tapped Mike Rann on the shoulder. Someone who had nothing to do with the previous Labor government tapped Mike Rann on the shoulder and said, 'It's time to go, mate. Make way for Mr Weatherill.' We all remember when that happened in 2012. So it is a ridiculous claim that this government claims it had nothing to do with the previous 16 years of Labor when we saw, up until 2018, the selling off of 7,500 public houses to the tune of $1.5 billion in revenue coming to the Treasury, which was then blown on budgets that were in deficit, including estates established by Sir Thomas Playford. In their view, there were no votes in public housing.

It was Labor's intention to reduce public housing stock to about 30,000. Then Labor Treasurer Jack Snelling outed Labor's plan on talkback radio with radio stalwart Leon Byner—a veteran of FIVEaa. He said:

The problem that we've got is we have a very high public housing stock compared to interstate and that's just an historical thing.

So the Labor government, with this Premier being one of the men deciding who was to lead this Labor Party, was saying it was a problem having more public housing proportionally to other states. Of course, we know they went on to sell thousands of public homes. Byner said:

Isn't that a good thing?

The Labor Treasurer said:

No, it isn't.

Because tenants in public housing don't get commonwealth rental assistance and tenants in private rental or, indeed, community housing do so. So it means that South Australia misses out substantially because we have large numbers of tenants in our public housing.

The previous Labor government saw them as a burden to the tax system. Thomas Playford saw public housing as an asset. The Labor government, which members of this government were very much a part of, saw public housing as a burden to the public. 'What we need to do,' the Labor Treasurer went on to say, 'is work with the community housing sector.' Byner said, 'But we've got about 45,000 in round terms, what would you have that down to?' The Treasurer said:

I think if we were at national average and I'm not saying that's where we'd go…it would bring us down to probably around 30,000.

In six months, Snelling was back on radio reiterating Labor's plans. Byner said:

Hang on, you told me you were going to reduce the amount of public housing from 45,000 to 30,000. You're still sticking to that?

'Yeah, indeed,' the Labor Treasurer said. It was also Labor that baked in the forward sales of public homes to prop up their budget, which was at 400 per annum when the Liberal Party took office in 2018.

That is an important point to remember because the baking in of those sales or that income that would be coming in to the government is what is presented to those who rate the credit ratings in this state. That is why it was important that the previous Labor government, the parents of this Labor government, said that these are baked in: 'You can trust our figures because these are baked in; you can't change them.'

The Liberal Party managed to reduce that to 150 and, by the end of 2022, zero houses were sold. Labor need to make amends for their past sins through a commitment to build an additional 400 houses this term. However, now that Labor are back in office, Labor mark 2, the destruction of public housing continues. Management of public housing has deteriorated once again since Labor came to power in 2022.

Housing Trust maintenance jobs are taking longer to be seen to, while antisocial behaviour has risen by 25 per cent. It is disappointing that, since antisocial behaviour dropped under the Marshall government, it has now increased so dramatically that security staff are needed to provide a safer environment for Housing SA staff. It is incredible, really, that staff at Housing SA cannot do their job without protection.

When in government, the Liberal policy reduced Labor's seven warnings down to three for bad behaviour and eviction. It saw Housing Trust tenants who were engaged in illegal activity taken to the tribunal for immediate eviction. It kept strikes active for 12 months rather than Labor's six months. This led to 146 evictions in the first 12 months of operation and it led to a reduction in antisocial behaviour as better tenants understood the rules. Of course, that is a benefit for all public housing tenants, and not just public housing tenants but their neighbours as well.

In my electorate of Unley, we have a lot of higher density public housing that shares the streets with private housing, everything from workers' cottages to small villas and attached homes that were built a century and a half ago. When the tenant mix is managed, that works well and it is a lovely community, but there have been some shocking examples of midnight raids, domestic violence and drug activity in these homes. There is one particular flat in a block in Parkside where I have been working with the owners of a private accommodation, who live in their own private accommodation across the road, for four years to try to get it rectified, and the department always has a reason as to why nothing is happening.

Of course, this government signed up to a maintenance contract that has left critical repairs undone for months on end. FOI data obtained by the Liberal Party shows that the percentage of priority one repairs, that is, those that are immediately dangerous, such as an exposed live electrical wire not being commenced within the required four hours has doubled. It doubled to eight hours, which of course means that it is more likely that the cost of that repair would also double or even triple because it needs to be done at penalty rates.

If something happens at 8, 9 or 10 o'clock in the morning, by the time somebody arrives they are outside of ordinary business hours and the hourly rate has doubled or tripled in order to fix that. So, despite the fact that there is a fixed contract for an amount of money to be spent, less work is being done because of the inefficient way in which it is being done.

It is the same with priority two repairs, which cause serious inconvenience, such as a blocked toilet, for example, which should be started within 24 hours. That has blown out by 50 per cent. Overdue vacancy maintenance work orders peaked in September 2022 and the number of vacant properties continued to rise and peaked in June 2024.

The Liberal Party continues to receive complaints from Housing Trust tenants about delays in maintenance work. The number of vacant properties has increased by 20 per cent since the commencement of these contracts. Data showed the most recent number of empty public housing properties was 1,927 as at November last year.

As the state's largest landlord, with public funding of close to $1 billion, the maintenance contract needs to be independently examined by the Auditor-General. You just simply cannot continually be throwing more money at it without understanding the outcome or what you are getting for that. We know that there have been increased costs in building right across the board, but we also know that the management of that contract with the Housing Trust has made that situation even worse for that particular government enterprise.

In July 2022, the Liberal Party released a 10-point policy plan to assist people in the rental market and those at risk of homelessness. While it was a slow start for the Labor government, we are pleased that they have adopted approximately two-thirds of that policy, finally accepting the calls, not just from the Liberal Party but also from those experiencing homelessness, that public housing maintenance can be done after someone has moved into the home.

If a house is safe to live in, jobs such as painting and landscaping, etc., can wait rather than keep people waiting, living in their cars or sleeping on friends' couches. So that is an improvement helping people to move into those empty homes. Labor's commitments to Housing Trust tenants pale into insignificance in comparison to the Liberal Party's record spend of $168 million in one year alone. If Labor could match our record in government on housing policy they would reduce the number of homeless people, which has gone up under their watch from 6,000 to 7,000 per annum.

I do not think that anyone in this place could deny that they are seeing more people not just sleeping on the streets but actually setting up homes on the streets. I can remember how horrified I was when I visited Vancouver nearly 10 years ago and saw streets of tents and people living on the streets in their housing crisis. We are seeing that now not just in Adelaide but actually in the suburbs. If you go to Glenelg on any weekend you will see people sleeping in front of closed shopfronts on Jetty Road, and that is a recent phenomenon under this government. It is not enough to promise to do things, it is not enough to put out a press release; what needs to happen is that work needs to be done.

This leads me to talk about a specific case that I dealt with just recently with a constituent in the City of West Torrens. It was not one of my constituents, it was a constituent of the member for West Torrens who was desperate to be heard. Mr Dennis Brown, a retired teacher, a public housing tenant and a long-term Labor Party member sent an email last month to his local member, the member for West Torrens, and to other Labor members of parliament. Those other Labor members of parliament who were sent that email were the member for Dunstan, the member for Adelaide and Minister Champion.

Apparently, I was the only one who contacted Mr Brown to hear what he had to say and what his concerns were. He has lived at that address for nearly four years. He describes ongoing extreme harassment and violence from the next-door neighbour, separated by only a wall. Mr Brown goes on to describe that the neighbour initially displayed a red light on her porch, signalling sex work, which of course led to all sorts of traffic at different times of the day. Over three years, the neighbour smashed doors, windows and walls in her Housing Trust home.

She set Mr Brown's porch furniture on fire, repeatedly assaulted Mr Brown—at one time throwing crockery at him, which cut his arm and required 17 stitches—and frequently stole belongings, including his expensive computer, which was reportedly sold later by the neighbour. There were multiple incidents of the neighbour setting fires, including a major fire witnessed by others and requiring the MFS and police to attend, and filling Mr Brown's letterbox and door handles with dog and human faeces, sometimes mixed with food like mashed potatoes. Used syringes were thrown over the fence and onto Mr Brown's property. The shared water meter taps were left fully running in an attempt to cause Mr Brown to pay higher water charges.

Despite numerous complaints to Housing SA and reports to police, Mr Brown says his concerns were dismissed and categorised as not antisocial behaviour. After Mr Brown made a frustrated call containing colourful language, the Housing Trust threatened an eviction notice on Mr Brown, citing his inappropriate language as the reason he will be booted out of his Housing Trust home. In an email, Mr Brown reports no assistance from his local MP or the housing minister, and he has even been denied help despite escalating violence and unsafe living conditions.

As a result of ongoing trauma, Mr Brown says he is seeking psychiatric admission for respite. Of course, this is putting unnecessary stress on our already poorly managed hospital system. This could be fixed by that tenant being removed and instead having a tenant who appreciates the opportunity to live in a lovely suburb such as Mile End in a beautiful Federation home. As the only non-Labor member copied into Mr Brown's email, I did call in to see Mr Brown, and I inspected the house. It is a beautiful Federation villa. It has been divided into two flats, which is common practice. We see that often in the inner suburbs, not just in public housing but in private housing as well.

I learned more about his situation. The offending neighbour's flat was charred from the fire, and every door and window was boarded up. Here was a house that was empty and unliveable due to the actions of the tenant in that place. Dennis advised me of his menacing neighbour's behaviour. I understand he was told that the neighbour who caused all this damage has now been accommodated at taxpayers' expense in a hotel room while her arson and vandalism of public property is repaired at taxpayers' expense. He has received no information as to whether she will return once the work is done.

While I was in the street, I was made aware by other residents that, just a couple of doors down the road, a perfectly good home has been sitting unoccupied—during a housing crisis, mind you—for more than two years, since the previous tenant passed away. You just cannot make this stuff up. It is extraordinary that we have press release after press release and Dorothy Dixer questions about what this government is doing to solve the housing crisis. We hear stories about Labor's record when they were in office prior to the Labor mark 2 that has taken over from Labor mark 1.

For 20 of the last 24 years, Labor has been running the housing system in South Australia, and it is poorly run. We are in a housing crisis. South Australia used to be one of the cheapest places in Australia to live; it is now second only to Sydney when it comes to purchasing and renting a property. That is all because of the lack of planning over decades: two decades of Labor government focusing on the wrong priorities rather than on what state government should focus on and that is ensuring that there is housing for the public.

Mrs PEARCE (King) (16:14): An important component of my role as a member of state parliament is to advocate for the needs of my local community. I take great joy and pride in being able to work with my local community to get results. As a member of this government, I am pleased to share that we have done what we can to assist my community, both in terms of immediate needs and in ways that would help it go from strength to strength no matter who you are, where you live in my community or what stage of life you are in.

Firstly, let's focus on cost of living, which is certainly in the forefront of most people's minds at this point in time, which is why we as a government have been working hard on providing cost-of-living relief. We have achieved this through helping those on low and fixed incomes, renters, families with school children and those trying to buy their very first home, which is exactly what governments should be doing when times are tough.

I am particularly pleased with the work that we have done around sports vouchers. Last year, we announced that we would be doubling the sports vouchers, and also amending it in a way that would provide greater flexibility to families in our state. It gave them the choice of being able to spend two $100 vouchers across different activities in one season, all in one go, or across seasons to help stretch out throughout the year.

Another important component of what we did last year around sports vouchers was to also include music lessons, because at the end of the day, we want to support kids getting off their screens and active in their local communities and each and every one of these ways is a productive way for them to spend their time. I am really pleased to share with the house that as of this week, there have been 82,193 vouchers taken up by families all across our state, which equates to an $8 million investment with over 880 providers providing that support.

The top activities include football, soccer, swimming, Aussie Rules, gymnastics and netball. I note to the house that Guides are just outside the top 10, but I am really pleased that they are a popular rising star when it comes to uptake of sports vouchers in local communities across our state.

Sport is important for a range of reasons. We know the mental health and the physical benefits that it brings, but sport is also a home away from home. It is a place to play, to come and socialise and form friendships and connections within the local community that you live in, which is why I am absolutely pleased with the work that we have done in my local community to help support further growth in this space.

The Tilley Recreation Park upgrade, which is underway as we speak, was a commitment to upgrade the space so that it remains a gem for generations to come. There will be a new dog park facility installed at this location, there will be upgrades to the local Little Athletics Club field and facilities, there will be new lighting and pathway upgrades, and, of course, there are new clubrooms for the Tea Tree Gully City Soccer Club, which opened earlier this year.

This has been a really great upgrade. The soccer club did not have clubrooms of their own before this point in time, sharing a building with others leased from the local council. They also now have a brand-new canteen. They have new changeroom facilities that allow them to reintroduce women's and girls' teams to the club, helping to support all people to get involved in this great sport and active in the community. There are wonderful clubrooms upstairs and I am very much looking forward to getting over to the Gully Cook House for one of their schnitties very soon.

The brand-new clubrooms came on show to the community for the very first time at their local CFS Shield, because this, of course, is a community club that does a lot of work supporting other services within our community. They work quite closely with the One Tree Hill Soccer Club in running the annual CFS Shield, raising all-important funds for our local CFS stations in One Tree Hill and Tea Tree Gully as well. I am really pleased to be able to share that they raised over $8,000, and over the past six years they have been able to raise over $40,000 to support these amazing CFS volunteers in our local communities. I would really like to thank Damo, Shane and the team for all the incredible work that they put behind this to make such amazing results for our local community.

Speaking about the One Tree Hill Soccer Club, they are also receiving and have works underway, and we anticipate it to be open very soon. McGilp Recreation Park, of course, is home to the One Tree Hill Cricket Club, One Tree Hill Soccer Club, One Tree Hill Tennis Club and the Scouts as well. The works include an extension to the oval, new change room facilities, resurfacing of the tennis courts and formalised parking for easy access, which I note also benefits One Tree Hill Primary School, as this is where the overflow car parking is for the local community. It also includes the addition of a bike track to the informal recreation space, along with improved spectator amenities such as seating.

This is really important because this upgrade again has allowed the introduction of women to have teams and play at this local sporting hub. I had the great pleasure of meeting the very first women's team for One Tree Hill Soccer Club, just a couple of months ago now. They very kindly invited me out to one of their training sessions and then coincidentally tried to talk me into joining the team despite not being a very good player at all. But it is certainly a testament to how warm, generous and welcoming they are because they were extremely patient and want anybody who can to get involved. I wish them absolutely every luck for the season ahead and look forward to supporting them as much as I can over that time. I know they are going to be able to do great things in that club.

We opened and completed the build for the Golden Grove Football Club, or Harpers Field, home to the Golden Grove Football Club and home to the Golden Grove Cricket Club, also fondly known as the Brumbies. Both clubs have received high accolades already for the amazing work that they are doing to create a club atmosphere and environment not only in our local community but for visiting communities as well. I would really like to thank them for all of the work that they put in to achieve that status.

There is also, as I mentioned, the wellbeing centre at Harpers Field, which has been able to open up so many opportunities to help improve the wellbeing of residents across our community, no matter what stage of life they are in. If you pop over to Harpers, you do not go just for sports; you also go to see markets, forums, information sessions, Pilates classes, tai chi and networking opportunities. There is the ability to hot-desk for local small businesses in the area and to bond with your little one and other families with mums and bubs classes. There are nutrition lessons and mindfulness and meditation available as well as training for adults, coffee catch-ups and gardening sessions.

That is just the tip of the iceberg. I love seeing how many ideas and initiatives are being implemented in that space to help enrich our local community. That is not all that is happening. There are a couple of other things that we can get really excited about. One of those is that the Elizabeth Grove Soccer Club recently received $750,000 through the Power of Her grants to go towards new clubrooms, a synthetic soccer pitch and a multipurpose oval at Munno Para Regional Sportsground in Davoren Park.

We know that women and girls are disproportionately affected when we look at the statistics, which is why we are empowering development in this space through programs such as the Power of Her. It is really great to see all of the different initiatives coming up from grassroots clubs that want to support this as much as they possibly can in their community. Of course, the brand new Hawks nest is well underway for the Modbury Hawks. I am very much looking forward to seeing their new space completed as soon as possible, as well as the Tea Tree Gully Gymsports, which will help ensure that gymnastics remains a gem in the north-east for generations to come.

On to other matters, we have been working hard to ensure that we have better and safer local roads in our community. I am particularly proud that we recently completed the upgrade of the Grove Way, Aeolian and Atlantis intersection. This has been quite a notorious intersection for many years. There have been a lot of accidents and, unfortunately, in recent years a death as well. It was identified as a black spot, and a commitment that I made in the lead up to the election was to do something about this intersection.

What we have done is upgrade the intersection, and we warmly welcome the addition of the right-hand turning lights, which was a very important missing piece to this intersection in recent years. With that, we of course upgraded the Golden Way and Grove Way intersection as well, adding an additional right-hand turn for those heading westbound or to the city because, again, it will help to improve flow, congestion and safety in the local community.

Over to One Tree Hill, the Yorktown Road and Blacktop Road intersection also received black spot funding, which was really important because what we were seeing, particularly in the cooler months when the fog is heavy, was that there was really low visibility. We worked very closely with the local community to ensure there were lighting improvements, signage improvements and other improvements at that intersection to ensure that safety is improved in that space.

Onto Yorktown Road, we of course had the Yorktown and Adams Road roundabout, and I would also like to thank the member for Elizabeth very much in terms of his advocacy for improvements at this intersection. We also have the Wynn Vale and Bridge Road intersection underway as we speak for the installation of traffic lights and, again, I would like to thank the member for Wright for the work he has done in this space. I know that making this intersection better is going to help so many families in my local community, particularly those who head up to church and the school that is on Wynn Vale Road.

We have had resurfacing works as well occur on Bridge Road to help make things safer, and I am also very pleased with what has been happening in Salisbury Heights. We have had the interim works commence on Canterbury Drive and the Grove Way intersection as well as Green Valley Drive and the Grove Way intersection, and major works are very shortly about to commence for the Target Hill Road and the Main North Road intersection.

These were three key intersections that I committed to my local community, and I was not just going to look into the matter but was going to ensure that works were done. They have started, and I am really looking forward to the positive impact they all have to improve safety and traffic flow, easing congestion in that local community as well.

Of course, we have also had traffic flow improvements around Salisbury East High School, making that safer in Salisbury East, and we have delivered 20 bus shelters across my local community and returned one to the Craigmore shops. Again, I would also like to thank the member for Elizabeth for the work he did in advocating for this matter as well.

We have also returned trains back into public hands. Now, anyone who knows King knows very well that there are no trains in my local electorate, but my community certainly feels very strongly about privatisation. We made a promise to do something about this, and we have absolutely delivered on that.

It no surprise to hear that we have had one of the driest years for quite some time, and I am very well aware of the impact that can have on local residents in my community, particularly those who are not connected to mains water. That is why I worked very closely with the Deputy Premier to ensure we had a solution moving forward for those in my community who might find themselves in an emergency without any water. Not only were we able to ensure that more water carters were put into the system but we were also able to ensure that a new emergency water collection point was established at Elizabeth Park to provide relief to residents in the northern suburbs who might find themselves out of water.

Over to health, I am very pleased to share that this year we opened the Golden Grove Ambulance Station. It was one of my key commitments in terms of what we were doing in the health space to make health services better and more accessible in my local community. Golden Grove was certainly a location that was highlighted as needing more services, which is why we employed and put on the road 32 extra paramedics before the station was opened.

I very much thank the Parafield crew for hosting the Golden Grove crew over that time, but I am very happy that they now are in their home in Golden Grove. I would like to share that the community is also very excited about this, and it was such a pleasure to see so many from the local community come out on the opening day. I understand we had over 1,000 people come to see the facility, engage with our local paramedics and celebrate this milestone for our local community.

We of course appreciate that to ensure our health system is better and more accessible we have to have a multifaceted approach to it, which is why I am really happy with the results we are seeing in terms of the support we have provided to ensure that the Saints 24/7 chemist is a success. Since opening its doors in March, it has had over 123,000 visitors, over 48,000 scripts filled, and over 3,300 calls received. That is really important for a couple of different reasons.

Firstly, people were getting the attention and support they needed as they needed it and were not ignoring the symptoms until they exacerbated and became an emergency. Secondly, it certainly ensured that these people were not presenting to an emergency department because they did not have anywhere else to go. I am really proud to see how much the community has taken this on board and the results that we are seeing as a result of that.

On the matter of hospitals, we have opened 48 new beds, with more on the way. This means that once it is all complete the Lyell McEwin's bed capacity will increase by nearly 20 per cent: 442 to 522 beds. That is actually more than triple the commitment that we made in the lead-up to the election. We have done this because we recognised how significant the need was and we were not afraid to face that and tackle that head-on. Of course, we have recruited healthcare workers to ensure that these beds are operational, including medical workers, nurses, allied health and pharmacy staff as well as administration workers.

Over to the north-east, the Modbury Hospital is also progressing well. One only needs to drive past to see the giant crane and the structure that is coming up, which will certainly be home to the new Modbury cancer treatment clinic, the mental health unit and also our brand-new car park, which is something that the community has been asking for for quite some time and I am very proud that we are delivering on.

Onto education, I am so incredibly proud that we will have a technical college in the north-eastern suburbs, with students expected to commence and visit next year. This is important because it is going to give students in our local community a head start to a career in industry specialisation such as advanced manufacturing and engineering, aeroskills, building and construction, and early childhood education. What is important about this is it will provide students with both a SACE accreditation and a VET qualification and an opportunity to step straight into a well-paid secure job that they will have for years to come.

We did not stop there, though. We are trialling out-of-hours care at one of my local preschools in Salisbury Heights. This is an amazing opportunity, because the reality is that the 9am to 3pm hours do not work for most working families, and not all families have the supports available to help them with that pickup and drop-off. I know I certainly had a lot of trouble with that, and I was working part-time at the time. It was incredibly hard to do the pickup and the drop-off within those hours and still meet all my other needs. I know for some families it is a really hard decision to make between giving your child the best start possible and being able to put food on the table.

Fee-free TAFE: I am really proud of this initiative and I am really excited that there have been over 500 enrolments in my local community alone. I am very excited that we have the free laptop program for Golden Grove High School and Salisbury East High School and the mental health specialists for those high schools as well. There is a brand-new multipurpose facility for Golden Grove Primary School and, of course, the agreement that we have recently signed with the federal government that will put all public schools in South Australia on a path to full and fair funding.

Why is this important, you ask? It is important because it will mean more individualised support for students, mandating evidence-based teaching practices and more mental health support in our schools. That is important because we want to ensure that every student has the opportunity to thrive.

Working on keeping our community safe, I am really excited about the plethora of legislation that we have seen introduced as well as our active recruitment campaign for more police officers. We are seeing the results. Recent crime statistics show that the total number of offences in South Australia has dropped by 5 per cent in the rolling year to February, and it is the sixth consecutive decrease in the rate of crime, with year-on-year falls of 3 per cent in both January statistics and the December 2024 period.

There is more that I could say, but I would like to finish by noting that I absolutely adore my local community. It is a great place to live, work and play. I am proud to be raising my kids in this community and I am so honoured to be the voice for my local community in state parliament. I am pleased with what we have achieved to date and I certainly look forward to what is next. With that, I commend the bill to the house.

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (16:34): I, too, rise to speak on the Supply Bill. The Supply Bill is very much about making sure the mechanisms of government keep working as the budget processes go through and making sure that we actually have the finances within government structures to keep functioning prior to the budget itself being approved.

The spending of taxpayers' money is an important process of government. We need to make sure that we get the spending in the right locations, that the right projects are supported and that we as members of parliament—and particularly the government—direct that spending to the right priorities so that the community receives the benefit it needs from investing their tax dollars in the right places.

It must also be mentioned that we need to make sure those dollars are spent and projects delivered in a timely manner. One particular project comes to mind that is so important for the people of Finniss, and that is the upgrade of the emergency department at the South Coast District Hospital in Victor Harbor. That project was put in the budget under the Marshall Liberal government. Initially, its delivery was meant to be by 2023, but we are still waiting for the building to be completed. I am told that September this year is the completion date for the new ED and I hope that will be the case. There is a long way to go yet. Certainly, the roof is not all on yet and there are many external walls missing, let alone any internal fit-out that is required for the ED to have it completed by September.

The need for this is so important. I was, unfortunately, there a bit over 12 months ago supporting my daughter who happens to be anaphylactic to seafood and had an anaphylactic episode, and we ended up in the ED. They did a fantastic job looking after my daughter and did everything that was needed to make sure that they stabilised her and got her through that anaphylactic reaction, but the challenge was that post receiving the adrenaline and getting everything back in order, there was the need for us to sit there for many hours while they observed to make sure that she did not have any secondary reactions.

Luckily, she did not, but the experience of sitting in an ED that was well overloaded and having to experience other people's trauma was also a challenge. Being there with a teenager and listening to a poor gentleman who had been brought in and told that his body was in shutdown and he probably only had hours to live, and the family having to deal with that in such a public way, was a horrible thing to have to sit through. Thankfully, with the new ED there will be facilities where that sort of thing can happen in a much more private way. So I am very much looking forward to the delivery of the new ED, but as I said it is, sadly, running well behind the original delivery date of 2023. We are now going to be seeing it in late 2025.

Another important piece of infrastructure—again, committed to by the Marshall government—was the upgrade of the helipad at the South Coast District Hospital. A fantastic amount of work has gone on there. The new helipad has been completed this week, I would think. There was only one little bit of concreting to go that would allow the helipad to be completed, and I imagine that has been done in the last few days—so the work there has been completed.

Unfortunately, I have been told that the helipad will not be in operation until the ED is at lock-up stage because of a concern that debris may be blown around from the building site. So it is a challenge for the hospital staff to continue to manage with an offsite landing site. They are currently landing on the hockey oval, and that is a challenge, unless it happens to be a Saturday—then they land on one of the school ovals because people could be playing hockey on a Saturday. So it is a challenging time, as I said, for those staff to manage that.

Another piece of infrastructure that is currently again running significantly later than initially planned is the upgrade of the Hindmarsh Tiers Road-Victor Harbor Road intersection. Initially, that was meant to be concluded by 2022. Work did not start until this year, so it has certainly taken a long time for that work to proceed. Certainly, a lot of work has been done in the last six months and it will probably be a month or two before the work will be completed. Hopefully, the outcome will make that a much safer intersection. It is certainly changing the outlook of that, and it is going to be interesting to see how that lands.

These are really important bits of infrastructure for the safety of the community. Victor Harbor Road is a very busy road, and that intersection has certainly seen some significant accidents and sadly some deaths over time. I very much thank the local members of the community who lobbied me. I then lobbied then Minister Corey Wingard and he was able to get the commitment for that intersection to be upgraded.

Going forward, I have also been very much consulting with the community about different things that may not be things that need to happen immediately. There do not necessarily need to be immediate commitments from government, but they certainly need to be long-term planned to make sure that we have a community that operates well. One of the big challenges of the area from Hindmarsh Island through to Encounter Bay is the traffic movement.

There is one main road that takes the traffic movement right across from Hindmarsh Island-Goolwa right through to Victor Harbor-Encounter Bay. It gets to a second road near Port Elliot where there are two roads that split the traffic a bit, but between Port Elliot and Goolwa in particular there really is only the one traffic point. It is highly congested at times and really challenging to move, particularly during the summer, across that path. We very much need to look at a second road that runs behind Middleton and Port Elliot in particular, connecting Flagstaff Hill Road-Airport Road across to Waterport Road to get that traffic to go around.

Part of that upgrade may actually solve another problem that also faces the township of Middleton. We might remember from a couple of years ago that the township of Middleton was affected by a sudden downpour event that occurred in November, I think, and that led to rapid flooding of the main street and surrounding areas. There were several homes that were badly affected, as well as several shops. There were residents in the caravan park who had to be rescued. There were some fantastic locals: Nick Vincent swam in to where he knew some people were stuck in one of the cabins and rescued them on a mattress and got them to safety.

It is really quite important that we have a look at flood mitigation, and there may be the ability to use the construction of a road to put a levee above the town to effectively hold the water back to make sure that we do not get those flash floods occurring in the township of Middleton. When you actually see Middleton, it is hard to believe that you could have a metre of water through the main street and the damage it could do.

Another issue that has been around for many years is the duplication of the Victor Harbor Road. We have seen parts of the road duplicated. Again, under the Marshall Liberal government, we saw the duplication of the road from Old Noarlunga through to McLaren Vale. Certainly, it has made that section so much safer than it was. It has done a great job of getting that traffic flow moving beautifully through there, but there is then the challenge for the rest of the way.

I see that there are probably three stages that need to be considered with this upgrade going forward over the next period of time, whether it is 10 or 20 years before we see all the work done. I think something we certainly need to consider is making sure that this work is done. The traffic volumes on the Victor Harbor Road range from as high as 26,000 at one end and it gradually dwindles down to 5,000 or 6,000 at the other end. There are certainly large daily traffic movements on that road, and we need to make sure that we keep that road up to a standard.

The first stage would take it from the current work that has ended at McLaren Vale. You might like to see it duplicated through to the top of Willunga Hill. Certainly, that piece of road at the moment is in an appalling state. The soil that that road has been built on is Bay of Biscay soil and there are sections of it that are really challenging to travel on. It is certainly a very rough road to ride. A few months ago, I took the bus from Victor to Adelaide and that piece of road was horrible in a bus, so it certainly needs some work. It would be nice to see that duplicated.

Probably the next stage you would look at duplicating would be from the top of Willunga Hill through to just south of Mount Compass at the Goolwa Road—that is where the traffic volume splits in bits—then you would see the final stage of duplicating it all the way from Goolwa Road into Victor Harbor.

With proposed growth down in Goolwa and Encounter Bay, but in particular Goolwa, the Mount Compass to Goolwa Road needs some significant investment to make sure that it is a safe road to travel. Certainly, the first three or four kilometres of that road is an appalling piece of road. My farm used to be four kilometres from the Mount Compass end of that road, so I have travelled that piece of road many, many times.

I spoke to department staff who were working on that road at different times and they explained to me that the first four kilometres of that road in particular, when it was built, was not built with a proper foundation. It is actually built on the swamp, and as the swamp dries out and swells back up again each winter, the road moves around and wanders. Again, it is a piece of road that needs significant investment, but it also needs overtaking lanes to carry the future investment that will be required in that area.

There are also many other projects that we need to consider, and tourism is such an important part of the business community and the life of my electorate. There are a couple of pieces of infrastructure where I certainly think we need to make sure we get the investment right. The SteamRanger Cockle Train and all their trains that they operate are a fantastic piece of infrastructure that are enjoyed by many.

We saw during the school holidays them running two trains, travelling in each direction along the Cockle Train line. One was a steam train, one was a diesel Redhen and they had five or six carriages on each and, from what I understand, they were often quite full. We have got people going backwards and forwards along that line and it is such a wonderful piece of infrastructure that needs to be preserved, as it is such an ageing piece of infrastructure as well, particularly the line itself.

SteamRanger are doing a great job as a mainly volunteer organisation at making sure that the line is maintained as well as possible. At the moment along that piece of line they are replacing every fourth sleeper with a concrete sleeper to actually stabilise that line, but really long term all of the sleepers need to be upgraded to give that train line the long life it needs.

Likewise, we need to make sure that there is suitable investment into the bridges that operate on that line. I am aware that there was some money last budget towards those bridges, but my understanding is that more is needed to make sure that the work can get done. It is a real challenge to restore old infrastructure and this is infrastructure that is state government infrastructure that was previously a part of the train network but has since been managed under the heritage in DEW, and so I think it is important that we make sure we get the investment right to make sure those things are able to operate.

The other thing that I am really quite concerned about in my electorate is the kindergarten capacity and the ability to deal with the three-year-old cohort coming into kindergartens. I thank the Minister for Education who is planning to come down and meet with me in Mount Compass on Friday, tomorrow, to have a look at the Mount Compass circumstance.

The Mount Compass kindy was something that was built when I was at primary school. It was not a great build at the time and it is certainly showing its age, particularly in a wet environment like Mount Compass. The story that went around at the time was that the intent was to build the kindergarten on education department land but they missed and they actually built it on the adjoining community land and some land that was owned by the council, half on each. So the building itself is actually built on the property boundary of both the council and the community, so it is not ideally located in relation to the tenure of where it should be. It is important that we have a look at that, but they certainly do not have the capacity there. They are nearly at full capacity now with just four year olds, so I am not sure that there is any way that we can deliver, in that current building, the needs of three year olds as well.

Likewise, there are challenges in Victor Harbor and Port Elliot. Both have wonderful kindies. My three girls have been through the Victor Harbor kindergarten and my youngest only went through last year. It is also the same kindy I went to 50-odd years ago. So, again, it is very much at its capacity and we need to make sure that we keep continuing to invest in what is required.

Port Elliot, likewise, is a wonderful kindergarten and the staff there are fabulous. We see a real interest in having kids at the Port Elliot kindy and also the Port Elliot Primary School. Again, both are significantly challenged by the number of students there. Taking the year 7s out of the Port Elliot Primary School did give them a little bit of breathing space, but they are certainly very much at capacity.

To me there are many challenges going forward. As I said, this does not necessarily mean that things need to be in the next budget per se for all of these items that I have mentioned, but these are things that we need to put on the list of items that need to be looked at going forward. Sadly, governments work in budget cycles and we are not very good at actually planning longer term than that. I think we need to get better at that and make sure that we continue to invest in the communities that want us to invest in the right priorities. With that, I will look forward to hearing the budget.

The Hon. N.F. COOK (Hurtle Vale—Minister for Human Services, Minister for Seniors and Ageing Well) (16:54): I am rising to speak on the Supply Bill and, of course, commend the bill to the house. Passing supply means that we can keep delivering for South Australia, and as we look abroad, it has never been more important than now. In one part of the world, a particular person and his government are enforcing so-called government efficiencies, aka cutting programs and services that support marginalised and vulnerable cohorts.

One program addressing food insecurity were told that their grant was being terminated because it no longer effectuates agency priorities regarding diversity, equity and inclusion programs and activities. It is shameful. These kinds of cuts will not be too far off if a particular party wins the federal election, having already appointed a shadow minister for government efficiency and created a plan for an efficient and effective Public Service.

They have already teamed up with the Greens to stall an important investment over the last few years and then, in an act of hypocrisy, come out and criticised the slowness of the implementation and delivery of built form. The Housing Australia Future Fund stalling has prevented thousands of homes from being built, all while pointing blame at our marginalised communities for the housing crisis. But our Malinauskas Labor government knows that when we invest in our communities, our regions and our state, we are all the better for it.

Investing in communities is the bread and butter of my department, the Department of Human Services, incorporating the Office for Ageing Well, from the ongoing contribution to the NDIS so those with disability can access the supports they need, to the investment into systems for those ineligible for an existing service—like the Community Connections Program and the Community Passenger Network—to the reform of concessions to ensure more people in need can access financial support and that our system is more equitable. We have improved the grants program that is delivered through Grants SA by providing targeted rounds that are aimed at or address specific social issues and community need, like accessible communities, youth and food security.

Recently, with the building of our Youth Action Plan, we heard from nearly 1,000 young people, community members and groups about what the priorities would be in their view currently and for the next five years. We listened and we acted swiftly to deliver grant rounds, with the first priority being identified and acted on even before we completed and launched our Youth Action Plan only weeks ago. Knowing that the first priority for young people currently regards mental health and the delivery of services in place, we put out a grant round through Grants SA to deliver grassroots mental health programs, and they are now underway.

We also listened when young people told us that they had trouble navigating services and making decisions around services they might need to improve their capability and their connection in the community—government services in the main, but also housing and life skills that are so important for young people. So we now have released a grant round addressing just that and providing the opportunity for organisations to seek funding to deliver life skills programs. These are investments that our government makes in people, programs and systems so that our whole community can benefit.

If I reflect a little on concessions, I have talked a lot in this place, but it was a really excellent decision and announcement by our Premier, pre the last election as opposition leader, when he listened again to the community who said that the concession system did not always address need. It was not always available when you needed it, and there were gaps and challenges in accessing it. We delivered on our commitment, made by the Premier, the then opposition leader, to review our concession system. In this financial year, we are delivering $210 million for household and transport concessions and this supports over 228,000 South Australians. We work hand in hand with the federal government to ensure that we are meeting needs that are not being met and we are doing that in a timely way.

We have doubled the value of the Cost of Living Concession for tenants and for Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders to match that of home owners, which was a nuance that we had pointed out to us by many people. We have broadened the eligibility for public transport concessions and provided more subsidised glasses for people, so that their vision is supported. We have increased the capacity in the funerals program and we have also changed some of the parameters around the emergency electricity payment. All of these are great.

For the Cost of Living Concession, just over 77,000 South Australians have actually benefited from the change. As of 17 March 2025, we have also delivered $174 million in energy bill relief in partnership with the federal government. That is $161 million for households and $13 million for businesses. When you add this up with our standard concessions, we are hitting nearly half a billion dollars in supports for South Australians who have identified that they are doing it tough.

But numbers only tell you so much. During the course of our government, we have talked to many people and we have had people really wanting to stand up and talk publicly about some of our programs. For north-east local and aged-care pensioner Alison, the calculator no longer has to come out for a trip to the grocery store. She has that bit of extra money in her pocket. And Gail, who disagrees with the Premier about the ideal storage of Tim Tams, says that this payment will go a long way in helping her meet the cost of her energy bills and groceries.

None of this support would be possible without the incredible team in the Department of Human Services. This concessions team, which helped to deliver the review and now deliver this help to thousands and thousands of South Aussies, goes above and beyond to support our community. If you call them with a query, to update details or check eligibility on your concessions, you know that they will be there to answer you. If they take some time to answer, it is because there are many other people who are seeking that support, but they will answer you, get back to you, respond to you.

They will not just tell you about the one concession that you have rung up to ask about, they will check and make sure that you are receiving every single concession that you are eligible for. This is not a system where you need to ask questions to find out what you can get. This is a team that wants to help you. It is almost like they are in two places at once because they recently worked with the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) to assist in delivering drought relief payments also.

Collaboration and engagement is not just a core value for the team and the broader public sector, it is a mark of good government. Our community centres are hubs for collaboration and engagement. This financial year, our government is providing over $5.6 million, supporting 70 community centres across the state. I have talked about this before, but it is very important to say.

When we came into government and I was provided with my briefs, I saw terrible cuts happening to community centre funding, dreadful cuts while the community was emerging from COVID, while we heard from people about how absolutely crushing loneliness was. One of the only ways that people can connect with others is through their local community centres and their community groups. People in our community can rest assured that we acted on that immediately and now community centres are getting nearly double what they would have received had a Liberal government been elected in 2022.

I had the pleasure of attending the opening of the new community centre space in Tailem Bend earlier this year. The community has truly come together. It is a welcoming space. It has a tree monument that talks out the front that tells the story about the Aboriginal people of that area. It really has come to life. The community garden, the space and a massive schedule full of programs up there is providing so much additional capacity. This has been made possible because of the local member advocating and multiple departments being able to react and respond to find a solution. This will provide the ability for so many people in that area, extra people, to build connections. It will be a source of guidance and support for those in need.

The same atmosphere can be felt in a community centre closer to my neighbourhood, in my heart, close to my electorate, in my old electorate space, the Aberfoyle Community Centre, who have, with the advocacy of many people but none more than the member for Davenport, received $1.5 million to support the new building and outdoor space. This place can truly grow as the heart and soul of the community.

Our grants program is also supporting community centres in need, with both the Aberfoyle and Seaford community centres being provided with $30,000 to expand social programs for vulnerable men in the south, building on successful initiatives like the Aldinga Men's Shed and growing local support networks. If people have a men's shed, or are looking to grow a space with men's shed capability, there are current community grants for sheds now open on the DHS website. Community sheds are a great place. They are used in various ways. Some are attended by both men and women. Some have days that are allocated for men one day and women the next. They are great. They are fantastic, so hit up the DHS website to have a look for those grants.

There was $23,719 provided to the Pathway Community Centre in the north-east to set up a wellbeing centre. I visited Pathway a few times with the local member, the member for Newland. It also serves other communities in the north-east. They provide volunteer training, financial counselling, family support and mental health workshops. They are really doing a great job. When government and communities come together, people thrive.

I know the Premier was really impacted by many conversations during his time in the community, as are all local members, but I know it had significant impact on him, hearing stories from families of children living with autism and some of the barriers to engagement and success. I know our state Autism Strategy that was launched last year by this Malinauskas government is really a driver for change in autism inclusion and awareness, ensuring that the autistic and autism communities can thrive. We are not just taking strides; we are taking giant leaps in this space, from providing $37,729 and $9,692 respectively for sensory spaces at both the Adelaide Oval and the Clare Showgrounds—both of which I visited, and they are fantastic—to the Autism Assessment and Diagnosis Advisory Group and the Autism Works Employment Summit, held only yesterday.

The summit was attended by hundreds and hundreds of potential employers who are absolutely hungry to understand and hear more about what education and awareness and knowledge can do to ensure inclusion and improvement in employment outcomes for people with disability, particularly people with autism, when you look at yesterday's forum. It is so important that we try to work much harder to be a fully inclusive and supportive employment state.

We joke that she was the galaxy's first assistant minister and now the galaxy's first Minister for Autism, but the Minister for Autism does a great job listening to people and helping to share that knowledge. I thank the Hon. Emily Bourke in the other place for all the work she is doing here. The DHS Disability Policy and Reform team have been instrumental in this, providing support and expertise to the Office for Autism and other agencies to ensure actions are meaningful and that the broader disability ecosystem is absolutely considered.

We know there is a lot of reform happening in the disability space, from the ticketing and inclusion work undertaken last year, the launch of the National Autism Strategy and the Australian Disability Strategy, alongside the development of the next State Disability Inclusion Plan, the state plan, currently open on YourSAy for people to consider and provide some feedback on. That follows the legislation we passed here last year.

Making our communities more accessible and inclusive is an absolute priority. Our government is partnering with the federal government in the Changing Places program and now the Accessible Australia initiative, which involves all three levels of government working together towards a vision. Through the Changing Places initiative, our state government has contributed nearly half a million dollars for five changing places across South Australia, money being matched by other levels of government and, under the Accessible Australia initiative, we all have the opportunity to invest in more facilities, including accessible beaches, inclusive beaches, national parks and play spaces.

Inclusion has to be informed. It needs to be informed by lived experience, by people with knowledge and by people who are prepared to assist each other to thrive and reach their maximum potential. To do that you need policies and procedures in place that reflect the needs and wants of people in our community.

As leaders, those of us here in this place listen to our local communities but, specifically, bringing together people who can provide all their knowledge and their lived experience to directly inform ministerial teams is absolutely vital. I know Minister Hildyard has her council advising her as well in the area of child protection, and I have three ministerial advisory councils. The first iteration of those finished their terms at the end of last year, and I thank every one of them for their incredible input.

I know that some of the lived experience and the deep feeling and intent that were shared with us made a difference. They helped us to work with other ministerial teams to ensure that we were able to deliver in a way that meant everything not just to the members of those councils but to the community.

One such aspect of legislative change that I know was deeply involved was the banning of conversion practice. The LGBTIQA+ ministerial council did a fantastic job to help inform us about the consequences and the impact of those experiences, and we were able to provide them with access to others to share that—and I really appreciate the people who listened.

We have three new councils. They have a mixture of old and new, young and old. They are very diverse, and there are certainly crossovers of lived experience amongst all our groups. There are 43 new members, 43 members of the councils, the LGBTIQA+ council, the disability advisory council and the youth advisory council. There is a bunch of people from the regions, and we have multicultural communities represented, Aboriginal communities represented, and we have gender diverse people represented. There is a voice for almost everyone on that range of councils, and we look forward to working with them.

Last night I was able to invite all members to parliament to meet each other, to start networking and engaging, and to have some dinner together. Nearly all of them were able to come, and it was a fantastic night where we were able to recommit our resolve to listen and to build a better, more inclusive, fairer society. Congratulations to Varo, who is the chair of the LGBTIQA+ council; to Anu Francis, a champion athlete, who is the chair of the disability council; and Zane Leblond, the chair of the youth council. Congratulations to all of you, and I look forward to working with you over the next year or so.

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (17:14): I also take the opportunity in parliament today to speak about the Supply Bill 2025. The Supply Bill comes to parliament each year and is introduced to parliament before the Appropriation Bill, which introduces the state budget. It is an important part of that state budgetary process.

It is interesting that the Supply Bill comes in at the time of the federal election that is occurring, because no doubt the federal election will have a huge influence and impact on South Australia, and certainly on the areas of focus in terms of spending that is to occur in South Australia. Morphett sits within the federal electorate of Boothby. The Liberal candidate for Boothby, Nicolle Flint, has been working very hard and I will have more to say about that in my contribution.

As I said, the Supply Bill comes in. As has been said by the shadow treasurer, the opposition is supporting that bill as is convention but also because it is important to the smooth running of essential government services here in South Australia, including the police and other essential services to make sure that they can continue to operate and provide service to the community.

I commend and reinforce the high need for a strong police presence in and around Jetty Road, Glenelg, and in and around Novar Gardens with some of the issues that are being experienced at the precinct around the IGA and some of the public housing. Very closely adjacent is the MFS station at Camden Park, which is a vital emergency service that helps keep us safe in our community, and often times we see the fire engine from Camden Park performing important work throughout the community.

The Supply Bill will ensure that hospitals continue to run, that doctors and nurses are still able to provide life-saving treatment, that schools can continue to run and that teachers can perform their important role both at primary level and secondary level. At the primary level, Glenelg Primary School does terrific work, based on the corner of Brighton Road and Diagonal Road. There is also St Leonards Primary School, which does important work at Glenelg North. On the border of the electorate of Morphett we have Brighton Secondary School, which is a fantastic school that has so many students, and Plympton International College as well.

So of course, supporting the Supply Bill does help provide funding to continue because the Appropriation Bill sets down the state budget until June of each financial year. But the way the process works with the Appropriation Bill going through parliament, often times while it is introduced before the end of the financial year it then takes potentially months to get through the whole process. Obviously, we have the estimates process and then it goes off to the Legislative Council as well, meaning that by the time the Appropriation Bill has passed it could be well past that 30 June date.

When you look at the Supply Bill, it talks here of providing this sum of $7,681 million. That is a significant amount of money, very approximately $7.7 billion. That is a similar amount to what was provided by the Supply Bill last year, but it certainly should be noted it is a massive increase from the Supply Bill 2023—in fact, it is an amount $1.2 billion more than what was provided for in the Supply Bill 2023.

Considering that this Supply Bill is really just to see the state's finances through until the Appropriation Bill is passed, it talks to the surge in spending that is going on here in terms of expenditure by all state government departments. It is a massive increase. As has been spoken about by the shadow treasurer as well, a lot of these government departments are not only budgeted to spend a certain amount but a significant number of them are, in fact, overspending their budget, and this is symptomatic of that need to provide additional money. It sets a lead and a trend that there could well be, when we are presented with the budget, more overspending.

I think in the last budget there were only four departments that were actually on budget or below budget, with the vast majority overspending. Leading that charge was Health, with over $625 million worth of overspending. While that is all going on and these departments are spending South Australian taxpayers' money, those same South Australian taxpayers, those same households, are experiencing a cost-of-living crisis under this Malinauskas Labor government.

South Australian households have experienced a collapse in their standard of living. Going through the price of essentials and what has occurred under Labor since the last election, eggs are up 36 per cent, bread is up 25 per cent, insurance is up 46 per cent, rents are up 17 per cent, and electricity is up 44 per cent and is at the highest on record.

This is really impacting consumers. In fact, what we are finding is that consumers have reduced their spending because they are also being hit by the fact that interest rates are up and mortgages have gone up. Last month's consumer spending was again shown to have fallen here in South Australia. So while government departments are overspending and ministers are in charge of trying to hold their departments to account and make sure they are running smoothly, households are having to tighten their belts.

The Reserve Bank is raising interest rates, and that is having an impact. The reason for that, of course, is to try to eliminate rampant inflation from the system. South Australia has suffered from high inflation rates; in fact, more than the national average in most cases. The RBA has been trying to bring that down, but government departments are working at cross-purposes. They are spending and continuing to put money into the economy and push it along while we have households, as we can see by consumer spending patterns, having to tighten their belts and move in a way that the RBA is wanting to eliminate inflation.

So households are doing the heavy lifting while government is not; in fact, the Reserve Bank said that inflation is being driven by federal and state government spending. The thing is that from a state government perspective, when you look at the revenues that are occurring, inflation is perversely good for state government revenue.

You will notice that of the items I mentioned that have increased—eggs up 36 per cent, insurance up 46 per cent—a lot of them have GST associated with them, so the surges in pricing come with increased GST, and that makes its way back through to state government coffers. Housing prices have gone up and stamp duty has increased in unison with that. All these things that are hurting households and hurting businesses are having a different impact on the state. They are not showing any cognition—any understanding of that—and maybe they should be trying to pull back their spending as well to try to bring inflation back under control.

I talked about businesses and how they are hurting as well. We have just had CommSec release their State of the States report. That has been used to promote what is going on in South Australia's economy by the Premier oftentimes. What this latest State of the States report, the April report, shows is that South Australia's economic performance has dropped. We are now fourth in the nation. Of major concern is the fact that South Australia has had zero economic growth in the last quarter to December. In fact, South Australia's growth is now sixth amongst the states, so that is certainly alarming as well.

We are also seeing from NAB and their business survey is that business confidence in South Australia has once again been marked with South Australia being the nation's weakest performer according to the NAB business survey. This is a troubling trend that has persisted since 2023. It is not surprising that those conditions and confidence is low because business insolvencies have doubled under the Malinauskas Labor government. These are really concerning issues.

With inflation, of course, it means it appears there is more money and that the gross state product has gone up, so from a macro level it looks like things are growing and the economy is running well. Really, what is happening is that the micro issues that are being faced by business are really concerning. Their costs are going up—the cost of doing business is causing a huge concern—their profitability is an issue, and also labour availability. These are issues at the macro level. Statistically, it looks like things can have a positive light shone on them but, if you ask these businesses or households how they are going, they are struggling.

Another issue that is being faced by households and business is the cost of electricity. It is a huge cost to business and households are really facing huge troubles. I have said before in parliament that the latest report by the independent Essential Services Commission of South Australia (ESCOSA) has shown that the average market offer for electricity for households in South Australia jumped by 19 per cent up to June 2024, to be the highest on record.

This is the third report that has been released under the Malinauskas Labor government and each report had power bills going up such that the average household power bill under ESCOSA shows that under the Malinauskas Labor government it has gone up by $798 over these three reports or nearly 44 per cent. This is a massive rise and South Australian businesses are also struggling as well, experiencing similar sorts of increases of 46 per cent over those three reports or an increase of $1,695. That is a massive increase to their bills.

Meanwhile, all during this time, the Malinauskas Labor government has been totally distracted by their green hydrogen promises. Their Hydrogen Jobs Plan was a very expensive plan. Over the course of three years, instead of looking at how household power bills can be brought down, all the focus has been on the Hydrogen Jobs Plan, which the government has admitted is not going to reduce household power bills.

Along the journey, the main components—as I have explained in parliament before; the five main promises for this plan—have been broken and were broken well before the crisis at Whyalla unfolded. The other important point is that this plan was all about creating electricity. The government have tried to use the crisis at Whyalla as a scapegoat for this to try to diminish their responsibility and not take responsibility for what has been just a massive waste of time and resources by this government on what has now turned out to be a failed project.

As we found out today, the Office of Hydrogen Power South Australia has been closed, so all that effort was wasted. At least $100 million was spent on the capital works through engineering design or through paying for the massive increase in staff in that office. It all counts for nothing, and I will continue to prosecute that.

If I go briefly to some local issues, one issue that has been really important for the local community of Glenelg since I have been elected to this place, and before of course, is the Morphett Road tram crossing. It has been a huge bottleneck for the community for many years and it has certainly caused all sorts of congestion in peak time, whether that is in the morning with commuters coming down Morphett Road to go city bound, travelling from the south, or in the afternoon travelling out of the city and then travelling down Anzac Highway and turning left onto Morphett Road. It is a huge issue.

I have certainly been advocating for a solution since I was elected in 2018, and I have been working with the community around trying to get a result. So much so that we ran a grassroots petition at the start of last year, after being knocked back with requests for some attention to this, principally driven by the fact that the tramline was going to be closed as a result of the Marion Road and Cross Road upgrade.

Many in the community made the good point that the Morphett Road tram crossing is actually more heavily congested than either of those two tram crossings at Marion Road or Cross Road on most occasions and certainly was worthy of being done at the same time. As I said before, the hardworking federal Liberal candidate for Boothby and I ran a petition and we got fantastic support. We got thousands of signatures. We doorknocked, we visited shopping centres, we talked to people at the actual tram stop itself and we got huge support.

We then put that to the government to say, 'There's fantastic community grassroots support here and it should be supported.' However, there was no funding put into the state budget last year and there was no funding put into the federal budget either. Then after that, after continued pressure, all of a sudden there was a petition put out by Louise Miller-Frost, who is the Labor federal member for Boothby, pretty much replicating the wording of our petition. Then, lo and behold, two weeks later there was an announcement. The federal and state governments buckled to the grassroots community support, led by both myself and Nicolle Flint, so they should be congratulated on their hard work there.

I will quickly mention some other fantastic grassroots community hard work done by Nicolle Flint, the Liberal candidate for Boothby. She has been out there meeting with many of the local sporting clubs and working with them. She has certainly identified some real gaps with some of the community clubs, especially those that have growing female participation with a number of teams.

One of those is the Plympton Bulldogs, which previously we had as election commitment in 2018 to upgrade their playing surface, which has now gone from really what was a mud heap to a very usable surface. It was really just in time because it preceded the surge in women's footy. However, the clubrooms there are now many years old and really not fit for purpose. Nicolle has made a commitment that, if she is elected and if Peter Dutton is elected as the Prime Minister, there will be $5 million of funding for that.

Nicolle has also made some fantastic announcements around some change facilities for the women at the Glenelg footy club at Seaview High, and also a significant $500,000 commitment to the Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club to help them expand their clubrooms to allow the club to continue to serve the local community.

If the community of Boothby want a hardworking candidate who is going to stand up for them and deliver results for them in Canberra, then they need to vote for Nicolle Flint in Saturday's federal election.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Odenwalder.