Bills

Appropriation Bill 2025

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 5 June 2025.)

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (11:01): I indicate that I will be the lead speaker for the opposition on this bill. What is a budget? A budget is more than just numbers. It is a commitment to prioritise the needs of our people, to allocate public resources wisely and to uphold the promise that South Australia will support those who work hard and contribute to our state. It is about ensuring families can afford homes, businesses can thrive and communities are safe and prosperous. A budget should reflect the aspirations of South Australians, not betray them with spin, excessive debt and broken promises—yet that is exactly what this Labor government's budget delivers.

South Australia is a state of boundless potential built by generations. Those generations believed in a simple promise: work hard, do the right thing and this great state will have your back. My own family, like many families, arrived here in the 1950s with nothing but a suitcase, a dream, an aspiration and an unshakeable belief in that promise, and this state and this country have been nothing but a place of abundance for those people. South Australians still believe in that promise, but, today, South Australians are facing mounting pressure. The cost of living is crushing. Home ownership is slipping out of reach. Our health system is under incredible pressure. Crime is spiralling. Our regions are in drought, desperate for support.

I have had the great privilege of travelling the length and breadth of this state over the last 12 years as an MP, listening to drought-stricken farmers recently. We are seeing young people now who have been locked out of home ownership. We have seen families let down by Labor's health system. Hardworking South Australians, at the moment, cannot make ends meet.

This budget was Labor's last chance before the election to deliver real relief, to restore hope and to stand with our regions. Instead, what do we get? One of the worst budgets I have ever seen. We got a shrug—literally a shrug. We got an arrogant, visionless budget from a government that seems like they have stopped even pretending to care: no ambition and no big ideas, just more debt, more excuses and more broken promises. Labor's election budget is built on arrogance, not outcomes. This was Labor's last chance to lay the foundations for South Australia's future, not paper over the past.

If this is Labor's pitch for re-election, let me tell you, it is dangerously out of touch. Let's look at what they have delivered in government: a 44 per cent spike in electricity prices for the average household; rising rents that are swallowing more than a third of incomes; no clear plan for housing or innovation; a worsening ramping crisis, now 36 months of the worst in our history despite their ironclad promises; and ballooning debt, now projected to cost $6.7 million a day in interest.

All the while, the Premier, what does he do? He attends concerts and attends events. Apparently, there is another bill today, a very important matter we have to deal with straight away about a golf course, and ignoring the core issues facing our state. You might be wondering, sir, at a time like this, why is party Pete so focused on events? Well, we have seen this episode before. It goes way back, just as the Roman emperors did with the gladiators and the Colosseum; it is about distracting the rest of us from the issues right on our doorstep. That is why they are doing it today.

They think the people of South Australia are stupid. Well, they are not. They are not stupid. Look at where we are as a state: the housing market here in South Australia is the sixth least affordable in the world; our tradie shortage is growing; youth crime has skyrocketed, with breach of bail offences up by almost 60 per cent in some instances; and regional families are being ignored right across our state. Labor's hydrogen energy plan: what happened to that? A multimillion dollar failure. It is not just incompetence, it is betrayal: it is the betrayal of working families and it is the betrayal of our future and it is time that this government stopped underestimating the people of this great state.

With an election just months away, South Australians might be asking: can we afford four more years of Labor—it is a genuine question; four more years of broken promises; four more years of rising costs; four more years of crumbling systems and four more years of excuses? Or is there another way forward? The simple answer is there is another way forward: a Liberal way forward, a Liberal alternative that will ease cost-of-living pressures, that will build more homes, that will slash red tape, that will restore responsible financial management and deliver safer communities and better services and focus on future industries like defence, AI, and robotics. It is a Liberal vision to restore the promise of South Australia, where hard work is rewarded, where every family can own a home and where our communities are safe, prosperous and proud.

Right now, we know that South Australians have lived through a tough three years under state and federal Labor governments. Behind the glitz and glam of this good-time party Premier lies a much dimmer reality. Labor has shattered the intergenerational promise that hard work ensures opportunity for future generations. Right now, young South Australians cannot afford to even get into a home. The cost of living is a gut punch and hope is fading fast.

Labor talk about priorities. Remember what they were elected on? They were elected on a slogan of the right priorities. Remember that? Remember the corflute? Remember the little thumbs up in the corner? We all remember the signs. It is no surprise to members on this side of the house that in government Labor has been focused on anything but the right priorities. They could have brought any bill forward that was of importance today, but what do they want to talk about? A golf course in North Adelaide. Pathetic! During the worst drought in living memory in this state's history they want to talk about a golf course.

They have spent over $100 million on government advertising, including classics like the State Prosperity Project. What a joke that has been. Remember the one that said: 'Building a better health care system'? That was not on the corflute the last time I checked.

Labor are not wise stewards of taxpayers' money. They clearly do not respect it. They have spent millions of hardworking South Australians' taxpayer dollars sending Labor ministers on overseas trips to places like the Cannes Film Festival and flying around the world spruiking a failed hydrogen experiment. Labor disrespects taxpayers' money. It is one thing to do these trips and then bring back a benefit, but when you go to Spain to see a train and you do not bring a train back, and when you go to Europe to look at some of these festivals and you do not bring a festival back, that is a waste of money. Labor disrespects taxpayers' money. They waste millions on frivolous trips and failed projects.

Since the election, the Premier has been riding the wave of event after event, often on the taxpayer dime. The Premier spends his time living it up on that dime with the likes of Sam Smith, FISHER, the Tindalls, Greg Norman and Katy Perry. That is where he is most comfortable—right? And who does not like Katy Perry? We like the events too. They can generate interest and dollars for the state, but that cannot be the whole plan. You cannot run an economy on just events, not when we are facing serious statewide issues.

Remember, South Australians were told to vote a certain way, like their life depended on it? We saw the ads they made. Labor made an ironclad promise at the last election to the people of South Australia to fix the ramping crisis. We are now in the fourth quarter. We are now in the fourth quarter, around 80 per cent of the way through this term, and Labor continues to preside over record levels of ramping—36 months of the worst ramping in our state's history. Hang your heads in shame. Just last month, South Australians endured the third worst month for hours lost to ambulance ramping in the history of our state. Are these the right priorities that South Australians were promised?

Ramping, hydrogen and the right priorities are not where the broken promises end though. Remember, Labor promised to deliver a $593 million Hydrogen Jobs Plan by the end of 2025 that would reduce wholesale electricity prices by 8 per cent. How has that gone? They have broken that promise too. And too many South Australians today are choosing between putting the heater on and eating, yet this budget is silent on bringing down the cost of electricity or forging a proper new plan for our grid following Labor's hydrogen disaster.

Recently, even in my own electorate, in Felixstow, I was standing in a supermarket and a lady came up to me. Her name was Maria, and she had three jumpers on. I said, 'Maria, why are you wearing three jumpers?' This is a true story. It was on a Saturday morning. She said, 'Vincent, at the moment I can't afford to keep the heater on.' There are stories like this, especially amongst pensioners, right throughout the state.

Right now, ESCOSA figures show that under Labor the average household is paying something like $798 more on their annual power bill—nearly 44 per cent more—a substantial rise for SA families during a cost-of-living crisis. We have all received complaints from businesses that are doing it tough at the moment, where the disparity is even worse. The bill crunch has flowed onto small business, with electricity prices for small businesses rising from $3,679 under the former Liberal government to $5,364 under the Malinauskas Labor government, an increase of $1,685, or nearly 46 per cent.

This Labor Premier promised a hydrogen power plant. It was meant to power 60,000 to 90,000 homes by the end of 2025. It was a very clear promise. They said the hydrogen power plant was meant to reduce wholesale electricity costs by 8 per cent, but we know prices have skyrocketed for households and businesses alike. Millions of dollars have been wasted on Labor's failed hydrogen experiment. It has been a farce, it has been an embarrassment—not just a state embarrassment, but an embarrassment to the rest of Australia.

Now, you would think that they would hold those responsible with delivering or not delivering these projects accountable, right? Wrong. The Premier today talks about concerts like AC/DC. At least AC/DC gave us some high-voltage rock'n'roll, because all this Premier has done is give us high-voltage power bills, wasting millions on a hydrogen vanity that is all spin and no spark. It is a flop and it fizzled before it fired.

What did they do with their $600,000-a-year mate? Labor has promoted him, their mate who is getting paid $600,000 a year, to delivering now as the state lead for the Whyalla Steelworks industrial transformation. That is how they look after their mates. This Labor Premier's hydrogen fail is just another promise from just another politician.

In hydrogen, we see a theme repeating: Labor does not respect taxpayer money. They have ended an era of responsible financial management. It is gone. The state's near $50 billion of debt projected in the state budget has sparked a credit warning from credit agency S&P Global, which warned that new spending could nudge South Australia closer to the downside threshold for our rating on the state.

This month, Labor delivered a budget that will see an eye-watering $6.7 million a day needed, on average, in interest repayments by the end of the forward estimates. That is over a billion dollars lost to interest each year. That is money that could go towards hospitals, schools and services. Instead, it is going to pay debt. Labor is raiding our kids' piggy banks and they are locking in debt for generations.

My wife and I are expecting a child in about a month's time. Unfortunately, it looks like what every child who is born in this state will inherit is a debt from the state of something like $24,000, and where will it end? It was once said:

If we are consciously going to burden future generations with unprecedented debt, then the least they are owed is a plan to pay that debt back while also inheriting a better society.

Do you know who said that? Those are the words of the now Premier when he stood where I stand only four years ago. By his words he will be judged by young people today and generations to come. We need a government that does not just talk big on debt management but delivers. That is why, if we are elected, a Tarzia Liberal government will commit to delivering a debt management plan in government so that South Australians can have confidence that state debt remains at a sustainable level.

Only a Liberal government will arrest Labor's out of control debt growth and fix the budget. As I begin to lay out some of our plan, I want to talk about housing, because we know that housing is the beating heart of the South Australian dream. Unfortunately, it is now locked behind Labor's wall of inaction. As Darryl Kerrigan said, 'It's not a house, it's a home.' The Australian dream has long been built around a place to call home, a stake in society, a place to conserve, a place to protect. I still believe in that dream, but I fear it has already slipped out of reach for many.

Liberal Party founder, Sir Robert Menzies, championed his vision of a home-owning democracy, because he understood that the foundation of a strong society lies in empowering individuals to build lives of stability. Because when people own a home, they usually stay, they build wealth, they invest in that home. Home ownership develops invested citizens whose long-term buy-in helps to grow the economy.

Unfortunately, what we have seen from eight consecutive quarters is net interstate migration that is going backwards here in South Australia. Today, the home ownership vision is under threat. Home ownership is slipping beyond reach. It is eroding the very aspiration that fuels many of our shared values. South Australia is in the grip of a housing crisis. It is crushing dreams and hollowing out our future economy.

Our capital city, Adelaide, is now the sixth least affordable city in the world in which to buy a home. According to Demographia, Adelaide homes are impossibly unaffordable, ranking us as the sixth least affordable city in the world, worse than San Francisco and worse than London. It is a crisis and Labor has no answer.

According to ANZ, Adelaide is now the least affordable capital city in which to rent and the second least affordable in which to buy in the nation. South Australia faces a housing supply shortage of a staggering proportion; already 1,500 homes short of targets in just six months with a projected 34 per cent under supply by 2029. Worse, we are on track to be 30,000 workers short across construction, property, and water industries by next year under a scenario where all policy objectives are achieved. Migration has surged, but infrastructure has not kept up.

The Labor government, what did they do? They agreed to a National Housing Accord, promising 1.2 million homes nationwide—remember that? So far it is failing, with South Australia on track to miss its target, according to the UDIA, by 34 per cent. Red tape, combined with up to $237,000 in government fees, charges and taxes on new homes, is limiting increases in supply. Graduates, tradies, young families are now the faces of a generation that are locked out of home ownership. Key workers, police, electricians, childcare workers, cannot afford to buy, or even rent in some cases, where they work.

Meanwhile, what is rent doing? It is eating up 34.6 per cent, on average, of income—worse than Sydney or Melbourne—making it harder to save. In fact, saving a deposit now takes on average 11.8 years. I often hear from young people going through this challenge. On the weekend we were out in the north-east with a guy called Michael who is 30 years old; he only saves around $5,000 to $10,000 a year. Young people are becoming trapped in this vicious cycle.

It is not just a housing problem: it is a betrayal of hardworking South Australians by a do-nothing Labor government. Twenty years ago an Adelaide home cost four times a household's income, with 35¢ per dollar servicing a mortgage. Today, it is nine times the income, demanding 56 per cent. It is nearly as bad as Sydney. For too many, homelessness has begun to be an all too possible threat, and we are seeing that across our suburbs, across Adelaide, right now.

The crisis is not just about homes. It is killing our economy. Unaffordable housing: what does it do? It shrinks families, it limits jobs mobility, and it stifles innovation as well. The question is: do we want to live in a state where the only young South Australians who can buy their own homes are those with parents who can help with a down payment? Is that what we are becoming? Is that what we want here in South Australia?

It is no wonder, with these conditions that have been created after nearly 20 out of 24 years of Labor government, that young people are feeling the need to flee our state for better opportunities—all while the Treasurer gets up in the media in the week of the budget, and what did he say last week? He said, 'I don't think anyone could suggest that the government should be doing more on housing.' If that does not show a government that is out of touch, I do not know what does.

At the same time they are raking in billions, billions from stamp duty, to prop up big government spending. The Labor Premier, what does he do? He hides behind empty promises, grand announcements like golf courses. We will not wait around. Labor promised more homes; they have barely laid a slab on any land release sites since 2023. We have the land, we have the best builders—I know, because a lot of them are in my electorate—we have the plumbers, we have the electricians. We just need this Labor government to get out of the way and stop treating the housing crisis as a cash cow.

Our plan is bold: slash red tape, fast track training of skilled apprentices, open more land for housing where it is appropriate to do so, reduce cost barriers for first-home buyers. This is because aspiring homeowners are forking out almost $50,000 in stamp duty on the median price Adelaide home, according to Domain's latest capital city quarterly data. Stamp duty remains one of the most inefficient taxes that there is. It is time we got serious about stamp duty relief for first-home buyers, just like they do in every other state in Australia, because under Labor at the moment a multimillionaire first-home buyer can purchase a newly-built luxury home and forgo paying any stamp duty—read into that what you will—while a first-home buyer looking to purchase a modest, say, existing home, a unit maybe, or a townhouse, pays an exorbitant fee of tens of thousands of dollars to this big-spending Labor government.

We do not think that the balance is right. Aspiring first homeowners can barely afford their rent, let alone simultaneously fund a new build, that the numbers are telling us will take an average of 15 months to build, according to the MBA. If given the opportunity, a Tarzia Liberal government will act where Labor has failed. A Tarzia Liberal government will rebuild the South Australian dream brick by brick. We will provide serious stamp duty relief for first-home buyers. It is targeted, it is measured. Under a Tarzia Liberal government a first-home buyer purchasing an existing home of up to $1 million will not pay one cent of stamp duty, and this will save first-home buyers up to $48,000 in upfront costs on the purchase of their home.

Today I can announce that we will also waive the $192 mortgage registration fee for first-home buyers, and this will save them the cost of their first grocery shop when moving in. Our plan does not just stop there. We will boost apprentices and tradies. We will fast-track apprenticeship courses in critical industries, like construction, hospitality and defence, responding to industry cries for skilled workers.

Further, by exempting apprentices and trainees from payroll tax and lifting the payroll tax threshold from $1.5 million to $2.1 million will empower small businesses to hire and train the workforce needed to build more homes. The government cannot do it on its own, we need the private sector to do the lifting. This builds on previously announced commitments to establish a one-stop shop for the building industry, modelled on the Australian Building and Construction Commission. The commissioner will cut red tape, resolve disputes and support builders, ensuring projects are delivered on time and on budget.

In addition to all of this, we know we need housing built where the infrastructure is, so why are we not doing more to build up our CBD? As the Liberal opposition, we see great merit in increasing supply in the city centre, and I am happy to stand here today and signal that our supply policy will speak to this ambition. We think we can increase housing capacity in the CBD to assist in building homes for more than 25,000 people.

The CBD might be one of the biggest brownfield sites in Australia, so we should be considering how we remove barriers to increasing housing in our city, in our city square. We want young people to have the option to live close to their workplaces, close to their families, close to universities, close to their communities. Not everyone wants to live an hour away from the city. The opposition has a vision for the CBD, and if Adelaide is going to host world-class events then we should have a world-class flourishing CBD, and we need to provide more foot traffic to businesses in the city that are struggling since COVID times.

From suburban homes to regional infrastructure we will get South Australia building again. These policies are not just about housing, it is also about hope. They are about ensuring that every South Australian who works hard can own a home, raise a family and live in a community that reflects their values. We will stop Labor's habit of piling costs onto households, like the $85 annual SA Water bill hike that everyone is paying at the moment, and will deliver real housing growth, not empty promises. We will fight for a state where hard work buys a home like it used to and where families can thrive.

As Liberals, we know our suburbs are the hearts of our communities, but Labor's previous 85 per cent urban infill targets have threatened their character. Under the former planning minister John Rau, my community was affected more than any other community, so I know exactly what they did in terms of destroying parts of the community.

Moving on to the environment, along with our plan for Linear Park and the River Torrens to fund environmental and recreational improvements that will enhance green spaces, we will also enable more recreation and strengthen biodiversity. We want to protect and enhance our suburbs. That is why we will introduce a single heritage act under one heritage minister, simplifying the process for listing local and State Heritage Places too.

We will re-establish the heritage conservation grants program scrapped by Labor in 2022 and expand it to $2.5 million per year, allowing owners of local heritage places to apply. We will also introduce powers to remediate derelict heritage buildings, preserving our history for future generations. We will tighten demolition controls to save heritage homes and empower local councils with earlier, wider community consultation on developments. It will be communities, not bureaucrats, that will shape our suburbs.

We will grow tree canopy by reinstating the Greener Neighbourhoods grant scheme and incentivise private land owners to maintain and grow our urban forest. We will enhance our Parklands by pursuing World Heritage listing for the Adelaide Parklands and establish a committee under Green Adelaide to boost biodiversity and grow their open space by 5 per cent by reclaiming unused built areas. In this way, our Parklands will remain a global treasure for generations to come.

Moving on to the drought: while our cities struggle with housing, our regions are battling a drought that Labor refuses to take seriously. There is an opportunity today to debate a bill, maybe about drought, maybe allowing for a state of emergency to be declared, but instead we are talking about a golf course because of this government—a golf course. South Australian farmers are on their knees. You would have them in your own electorate, sir. They are on their knees, yet this government will not declare it an emergency and is still locking farmers out of vital funding and support when they need it most. I hear this story no matter which pocket of the state I travel to.

This budget provides little relief to South Australia's drought-stricken farmers and regional communities doing it tough. Despite worsening drought conditions across vast parts of the state, the budget contains no funding for no or low-interest concessional loans, despite many in the sector calling for it, and just $2 million towards the Rural Business Support grants as the government's contribution, equating to just over 1,300 grants of $1,500 each. Last year, the Liberal opposition urged Labor to prioritise drought preparation, but so far their response has been nothing but disgraceful.

I was in Mount Gambier on Friday, and I was hearing the same thing: lengthy delays, restrictive relief packages, barriers that leave many of our farming businesses ineligible for help. Labor's latest drought support package only allows those on the Farm Household Allowance to access ESL and work vehicle registration rebates, which is something like only 6 to 8 per cent of our entire farming community. We say that all those badly affected by drought deserve support, because it is farming that has held up this state for over 150 years.

Create a drought hardship registry. Fast-track the relief with targeted rebates, water carting subsidies and low or no-interest loans for fodder and fertiliser in farmers' time of need. Farmers do not need Labor's platitudes: they are hardworking, they are pragmatic people. What they need is a government that stands with them and takes their concerns seriously. Today was a day we could have gone about that, but instead, what are we doing? We are debating a golf course that the government concedes is something urgent that we need to do today—how pathetic.

Regional cost-of-living pressures have also been ignored. I personally welcome what the Treasurer is doing in respect of public transport in terms of a fair discount for young people, but this government thinks that a school student public transport fare discount is a cost-of-living relief measure. You know what? You cannot catch a bus that does not run in your town.

Farmers and small businesses need practical, immediate support, not spin and token gestures. This government has repeatedly failed our regions and our primary industries. They have failed on the drought; they have failed on plant biosecurity, crippling our tomato export markets. This is an area I can talk about—tomatoes.

I stood with the members for Frome and Narungga when I was in the Adelaide Plains recently. I stood with migrant families—Italian, Greek. These people, their families, have been through war. They have been through famine overseas. They have come to this country with no English. They have faced adversity. But you know what they have not been able to get over? They have not been able to get over the incompetence of this government that has now forced these people into bankruptcy, which is an absolute disgrace. They have failed to retain key employers like SA Tomato, Beston and Seven Point Pork. They have failed to manage a tomato virus that is treated very differently in other parts of the world.

We saw it coming. We asked questions in this house. Do you know what? There are now mortgages that have been handed over to the banks. There are now car repayments; cars are being repossessed. There are now students who have been taken out of schools because of this government's inaction and arrogance.

They have failed on SARDI. They have failed on fish deaths at West Beach. They have failed to support our struggling wine grape industry. They have failed on meaningful investment into regional roads. They have failed on any significant investment into regional health care. How many more times does this government need to fail our regions and the people who put food on our plate, clothes on our back, who build our homes and keep Australia running? This budget was an opportunity to step up, but Labor has failed.

Our regions deserve better. If given an opportunity, only a Tarzia Liberal government will acknowledge and respect the hard work and contribution of our regional communities. Only a Liberal state government will stand alongside them to deliver the targeted and practical investment that they truly deserve, not because of an election cycle, not because of a marginal seat, but because it is the right thing to do. Why? Because, as Liberals, we believe in rewarding those who do the right thing.

Hard work, responsibility, rewarding aspiration, community spirit should be celebrated, not punished. That is why we will introduce practical policies to ease the pressure on South Australia, policies we have already announced like the driver incentive policy to ensure young provisional drivers who go three years without an offence can have $71 of their full licence renewal covered for the following year. It is a small but meaningful reward for safe, responsible driving, giving young South Australians a leg up. It is important in what is another bad year on our roads.

We will introduce a baby seat installation rebate. Full disclosure: I might benefit from this, but we will see. We know that new parents face enough costs. A capped price rebate will enable initial baby seat installations, ensuring that every child travels safely—and they are hard to install, let me tell you.

We will extend more accessible public transport to Mount Gambier. We want to trial an on-demand service to improve mobility for regional families, ensuring access to jobs, health care and education. We will also explore expanding this model to other regional centres too. These measures send a clear message: if you work hard, if you play by the rules, if you contribute to our state, an alternative Liberal government will have your back and back you every step of the way.

Liberals at the state and federal level had a lot to say about the Greater Adelaide Freight Bypass during the election. They have long advocated for the delivery of the Greater Adelaide Freight Bypass, not only for the productivity gains it would deliver but also to get trucks off our suburban streets. Through this budget, we learn that the state and federal Labor governments have only budgeted something like $656 million for stage 1 of the High Productivity Vehicle Network, despite the project reportedly likely to cost around $1.05 billion, leaving a $400 million shortfall. Further, $480 million of the $656 million funding is pushed beyond 2028-29, meaning the Greater Adelaide Freight Bypass quite simply does not look like it is fully funded, with no clarity on whether it will ever be under Labor.

The Albanese Labor government initially committed to a fifty-fifty funding split, but the state Labor government is now describing the project as a $650 million 80:20 arrangement, despite the higher likely cost of $1.05 billion.

Labor is trying to rewrite history and hope that no-one notices. South Australians do not seem to be getting the full network, and they are not getting any of it any time soon. The opposition and federal Coalition committed to delivering the full project, and quickly, because freight operators, exporters and local communities cannot afford to wait.

The HPVN was meant to ease pressure on Portrush Road, Cross Road and the South Eastern Freeway by moving heavy freight to a dedicated corridor. Instead of fixing congestion, Labor is letting the problem pile up. Every year they delay, more trucks hit our suburban roads and the economic benefits of the project are lost. If this project matters, Labor needs to fund it properly and get on with it because South Australians deserve more than political spin and budget trickery.

South Australians also have the right to feel safe. They have the right to feel safe in their own homes and out in the burbs—safe in their homes, safe at their workplaces, safe in their communities—but this is no longer the case for many since Labor took office. They have turned our criminal justice system into a revolving door, and you only have to look at what is almost a 60 per cent increase in breach of bail by youth offenders during a period under their watch.

Labor has made a mockery of the justice system. Look at the court backlog and what is happening with our frontline police. Our hardworking police are sick and tired of arresting young offenders, only to see them released out into the community to reoffend. Some young criminals are racking up over 100 charges in 12 months, as the media has reported.

Let's look at some of the facts. Since Labor came into office we have seen acts intended to cause injury up by 36 per cent, sexual assault and related injuries up by almost 30 per cent, theft up by 14 per cent, serious criminal trespass up by almost 9 per cent, and other offences, like threatening behaviour and harassment, up by 73 per cent. Labor says crime is down when it suits it, but these statistics say otherwise.

Let us not forget the tragic circumstances that led to a surge in deaths of women in our community due to domestic violence. It took, literally, women marching on the steps of parliament for this government to eventually even take action, and this budget is basically silent on any contingency around the funding of recommendations of the royal commission.

We know services are currently struggling to handle the volume of calls that they are receiving each day, yet they did not receive funding in this so-called law and order budget. Let's look at that, and whether it actually was a law and order budget. What did Labor's secret state mean? It meant that South Australians will not be able to see the report that actually examined the state of policing here in South Australia. Why will they not release it, despite the Commissioner of Police claiming that it would be in the public interest for them to do so? It is interesting.

Well, we know that we do have a shortfall of around 200 police, and last year the same number of officers basically left the force as were recruited. Without the right incentives, Labor's plan to recruit more police is destined to fail. They just will not do it. If they cannot do it now, they are not going to do it into the future. If a Tarzia Liberal government is given the opportunity, we will not sit on our hands when it comes to keeping South Australians safe. We did it during COVID and will do it again.

We will make sure that our criminal laws and penalties are in line with community expectations. We will ensure that community safety is the primary consideration of decision-makers and that we take real measures to break the cycle of reoffending. Under Labor, South Australia has become a gangster's paradise, with new youth and street gangs continuing to emerge and be recruited from interstate.

Labor has sat on a recommendation from SAPOL that more resources be put into fighting youth crime for a year, and they will not release the report that I mentioned. They half-heartedly responded to growing pressure on the youth crime crisis with what? A glossy pamphlet and round tables with no results. We will continue to hold this weak government to account when it comes to community safety. We have led the way with knife law reform, protecting our community from assaults, and we are only just getting started.

The cost of living is also worth mentioning because it is crushing South Australians at the moment and Labor has no plan to fix it. You only have to look at the budget: limited cost-of-living relief in this budget does not go far enough. While we welcome efforts to reduce the cost of public transport for students, there is so much more that could have been done and should have been done.

We know on this side of the house that South Australians know how to spend their money far better than the government. The cost of living is crushing South Australians. Under this government recently we have seen electricity is up around 44 per cent, eggs are up 38 per cent, bread is up 26 per cent, rent is up 19 per cent and insurance is up 47 per cent. As I mentioned, the average household now pays $798 more on their power bill per year. Labor promised no new taxes but, as we have heard, they then delivered an $85 average water bill hike for households and introduced a GP payroll tax grab that is making it more expensive.

A Tarzia Liberal government will roll back this pain. We will abolish Labor's water bill price hike. We will scrap Labor's GP payroll tax grab. We will slash stamp duty for first-home buyers, including on existing homes. We will reduce wasteful spending, we will cut red tape, and we will deliver affordable, reliable energy with policies like our home battery scheme. This will save households thousands in up-front costs, it will push down peak demand and it will help drive down prices for people to ease the cost-of-living crunch. Only a Liberal government will put more money back into the pockets of hardworking South Australians.

When it comes to health, Labor's failure is, quite frankly, unforgivable. Their broken promises have left us sicker and waiting longer, and South Australians deserve better. They promised to fix ramping—simple as that. It is worse than ever. We have now endured 36 of the worst months of ramping in South Australia's history. In May, 4,791 hours were spent on ramps, over double the figure from February 2022. We are into the fourth quarter: it is not the first quarter and it is not the second quarter, we are around 80 per cent of the way through.

We need to move away from looking at the stats here and remember what this means for people as well, and what this means is that sick South Australians are left stranded outside our hospitals, desperate to get in for the care that they need. Even in my own community I have seen what has happened to a beloved Hectorville resident at the time, Eddie, who was described by those who knew him best as a 'gentle giant' and who was living in disability care, and who died after waiting 10 hours for an ambulance to arrive. These are the stories: the real-life tragedies behind the statistics, the stories of those let down by a government that was, quite frankly, elected on a promise to fix ramping but has fallen tragically short—tragically short.

While our Premier hangs out with celebrities or helps design new golf courses, why are we not talking about ramping today? Why we are talking about golf courses again? While he hangs out with celebrities or helps design these new golf courses, less than half of emergency patients are seen within 10 minutes, which is something like the worst rate in Australia. The Women's and Children's Hospital is reportedly delayed by years. Professionals signed off on minutes with a two-year difference in the time delay. They cannot even recruit senior people and keep senior people in the hospitals. Where have we got to?

A Tarzia Liberal government will rebuild our health system. Today, I am delighted to announce that a Liberal government will fund a GP after-hours increased access trial to support GP clinics and provide after-hours care to South Australians, including until 8pm Monday to Friday and from 9am to 1pm on Sundays. This will be a two-year trial that will give more South Australians the opportunity to access routine and preventative GP care outside traditional business hours.

I have been that young parent, I am that young parent, who sometimes will do anything to try to get their child into a GP. You go online and you cannot get in and you make a phone call and you cannot get your child booked into a GP. That is exactly what this policy will seek to address with many parents at the moment who cannot get their child into a GP. Why should people have to go to an emergency department to get a GP to check out their child?

We are very proud to announce that policy. It is a two-year trial and will give more South Australians the opportunity to access routine and preventative GP care outside traditional business hours. GP clinics under our plan will receive a grant of $150,000 per practice per annum to meet additional costs of operating after-hours, including wages for practice staff, on-call allowances and facility costs associated with keeping practices open for extended hours because we need to do everything we can to keep people out of our hospitals if they do not need to be there. This is an initiative that would support that.

In 2020, there was an Australian Health Panel survey conducted by the Consumers Health Forum that found 67 per cent of respondents had accessed after-hours primary care at least once in the previous five years, with most after-hours care being accessed between 6pm and 11pm on weekdays. After-hours options allow people to access their GP without taking time off work. This complements our existing commitment to abolish Labor's GP payroll tax grab so that you pay less to see a doctor.

We will deliver long overdue radiotherapy to the South-East because why should your post code deliver your health outcomes? This will help to bridge the funding gap to deliver critical cancer treatment closer to home, sparing patients long, exhaustive journeys. We will also prioritise regional health services and mental health support, addressing the root causes of crime, but also social strain, because South Australians deserve a health system that saves lives, not one that leaves them waiting.

In terms of small business, we as Liberals believe in a South Australia where every business has the opportunity to thrive and every worker has the chance to succeed. Labor's 44 per cent electricity price hikes and water bill price hikes are crushing families and crushing businesses even more. We are seeing small businesses that are closing weekly, unable to absorb these costs. Over the last year, we have seen confidence levels in SA hitting the lowest confidence level since COVID, and 2,500 more South Australians have left the state for other parts of Australia than have come in the over two and a half years to the September quarter.

We will turn this around and only a Liberal government will provide tax reform to support small businesses. What will we do? We will lift the payroll tax threshold to $2.1 million. We will give small businesses room to grow, room to hire, and room to innovate. Only a Liberal government will fix the outdated shop trading hours restrictions. We will give businesses more freedom to choose when they open and South Australians the flexibility to shop when it suits them. We will boost local economies; we will create jobs; we will unleash an innovation boom; we will invest in skills training; reduce red tape to reverse the brain drain; attract young talent; and foster entrepreneurship. South Australia will be a hub of opportunity, not this state of missed chances. These policies will unleash South Australia's potential to create a vibrant economy where hard work pays off.

We have reflected on where Labor has led us. They promised to fix ramping but it is worse than ever with 140,000 hours or so lost since they took office. They promised no new taxes, yet they delivered water bill price hikes and a GP payroll tax grab. They promised cheaper power but households pay $798 more annually, a 44 per cent increase. They promised homes, yet Adelaide on the facts, on the stats, is the sixth least affordable city globally, and supply is falling short of targets.

This budget is not a plan for South Australia's future. Under Labor, it is a blueprint for failure. Labor's near $50 billion in state debt is set to cost $6.7 million a day in interest. It raids our kids' piggy banks and locks in hardship for generations. South Australians face a stark choice: four more years of Labor's broken promises, skyrocketing costs, unaffordable homes, a health system in crisis, or a Liberal government that delivers.

Under a Tarzia Liberal government, we will restore the South Australian promise, the South Australian dream. We will make home ownership a reality. We will reward hard work. We will build safer, stronger communities. We will stand with our regions, with our brothers and our sisters in the country. We will protect our heritage. We will deliver a health system that works.

Let me paint a picture of the South Australia we will build. It is a state where young people can buy their first home in a safe community with a good school, with affordable and reliable essential services nearby. It is a state where households can rely on abundant renewable energy and not have to choose between eating and heating. It is a state where our regional communities are respected and supported by a government that values their contribution. This is the South Australia that we are fighting for, a state where every key worker, every family, every dreamer can afford a home, turn on their heater, put food on the table in a community that is safe and that is proud. It is a state where hard work is rewarded, not punished. It is a state where the promise of opportunity is kept, not broken.

Only a Liberal-led government will build the homes and cut red tape, will lower taxes for business and fees for households, will deliver more accessible and reliable essential services, and return dignity and respect to our regions. This coming election, South Australia is at a crossroads. Labor's path is predictable. We have seen it. We have seen it for three years: spin, debt, broken promises, bad priorities—just like they are pursuing today. The Liberal path is crystal clear: homes for the next generation; affordable, reliable, essential services there when you need them; a budget that honours taxpayer dollars; safer streets, stronger regions and a booming economy.

Let me paint the picture of the South Australia we will build. It is a place where every young person can afford a home, a place where young families thrive in safe, vibrant communities, a place where small businesses grow, innovators stay, and every South Australian gets a fair go. The promise of South Australia should never be a memory. It should be a reality for every citizen in every corner of this great state. It is time to restore that promise. It is time for a government that listens, that acts and delivers on its promises. It is time to return South Australia to its rightful place as a beacon of opportunity, and it is time for a new Liberal government.

Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (11:58): We just heard the question posed: 'What is a budget?' A budget to me is opportunity. A budget is the opportunity for my community to grow, to learn, to be cared for, to have a brighter future. So my answer to that question is: a budget is an amazing chance for South Australia and an amazing chance for my local community of Badcoe.

I am actually struggling to figure out how I am going to get through everything that is in this budget and everything that it promises to deliver, and will deliver, in the short amount of time that I have. Indeed, I might even draw attention to the fact that I do not have a clock yet, so maybe I will just go on for quite some time. I wanted to talk about some of the highlights of this budget and then go into some of the continuing projects that are rolling out in my electorate, and which are providing that opportunity that I spoke of.

I want to start, though, by thanking and congratulating the Treasurer and his team. Devising a budget is no small feat, and he should be congratulated on the incredible work that he has done to put forward a budget that promises a great opportunity for our communities, and I have no doubt will absolutely deliver.

This budget delivers for my electorate in terms of schools, in terms of sport, in terms of the outdoors—recreation, open space and trees—in terms of the environment, in terms of transport and infrastructure, which my community is receiving a large amount of investment in. It delivers for the young and for the not so young.

I have to say that there are more than a few things to get excited about in the budget papers this time around. Definitely, the thing that my community has been most encouraged by, is the most thankful for and has given me the most amount of feedback on so far is the student fare discount for public transport. It is tough, and of course people are trying to save every dollar they can—I know I am—to make sure that they can meet the cost of living and deliver for our kids in particular.

The quite substantial reduction in the student concession Metrocard will make a huge difference to so many people. I have been at our local tram and train stations, of which there are many across Badcoe, in the last week or so speaking to people about this, and I cannot say there is a single person I have come across who has thought it was a bad idea. Everyone is very encouraged by the fact that they will be getting that discount.

Especially for families with several kids, it is going to mean a really significant saving for them. The convenient byproduct of this is people having more confidence and more incentive to be using public transport and encouraging their children to take public transport, of course when they are old enough and able enough to do so. There has definitely been a lot of great feedback on that. People have been really encouraged in my community as well by the materials and services charge reduction, and that is also a real hip-pocket saving for people.

Mr Speaker, you may be aware that there has been a campaign for some time in my electorate to save the Adelaide Koala and Wildlife Centre at Plympton. I have been part of that campaign, pushing hard to make sure that what is really an institution for the rescue and the rehabilitation of wildlife in our community at Plympton is not lost.

This centre has been backed for many years by a very generous benefactor. That is a gentleman who has spent his life caring for animals and in fact has three vet practices. One of them is the Plympton vet, and I choose to send my kittens to the Plympton vet primarily because I know that some of the proceeds from that vet, and two others, go to looking after the Adelaide Koala and Wildlife Centre and making sure that our wild animals are looked after.

However, sadly, some months ago it was not possible for that arrangement to continue, and of course the search started for a more sustainable long-term way to fund the Koala and Wildlife Centre. Of course, that triggered discussions from me with many in my community, including with the environment minister. I was really encouraged by the depth of knowledge that our environment minister has. She is an incredibly impressive person.

Of course, the minister thought holistically about this problem. Rather than looking at it as one centre, she looked at the whole sector and what we should be doing for wildlife across not just the metropolitan area but also our regional areas. From that hard work, we see a $7.6 million package in this budget to address the wildlife sector and make sure that it is more sustainable. Unfortunately, we are seeing vet bills and surgery costs for our most injured animals go up, and that is leading to pressure for these rescue and wildlife organisations.

Although the Adelaide Koala and Wildlife Centre, I am pleased to say, received $1.4 million over four years, securing its future and making sure it can keep doing wonderful work from Plympton, this wider package of $7.6 million will mean that even more animals right across the metropolitan and regional areas will be looked after. What it will mean is that some of the costs of those veterinary services, if they are not being looked after at the Plympton centre, will be met or helped to be met, and that is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, our wildlife are the casualties of some of our modern life—particularly cars—and it is good to know that there is an army of incredible volunteers out there who are doing amazing work. I am really pleased that this budget is supporting them.

Regarding school upgrades, the Goodwood Primary School loos have been an issue for a really long time, and they are now getting a bit of a boost. There will be two new loos built at Goodwood Primary School, literally a great relief to students as well as staff and parents there at Goodwood Primary School—maybe not the sexiest thing in the budget, but it is definitely incredibly important.

I am really pleased that there is additional funding for road safety cameras. As an MP who has several major roads in my area—South Road, Anzac Highway, Goodwood Road, Marion Road—those are all roads on which, unfortunately, we see too many accidents. We want to make sure they are safer, so those investments in cameras are certainly welcomed.

The new ambulance headquarters is firing ahead on Richmond Road. That will be of incredible benefit for my community, and will certainly please many across my area in their hour of need. Obviously that sits alongside the investment that has happened with the Edwardstown ambulance station as well, so we are being very well looked after by the health minister in terms of investment in ambulance services. I am looking forward to seeing the HQ take shape and become a reality.

Of course, we are seeing investments in this budget in the Women's and Children's Hospital and Flinders upgrades, which will benefit my community, and also in public transport security, which is very important. I have some 20 railway stations and tram stations in my electorate, and a population that does prioritise public transport has chosen to live in our area because of the public transport options. They will, of course, be able to feel safer and more secure and travel at extended hours.

One thing that I am personally quite passionate about that is included in this budget is the expanded scope of practice for pharmacists. Those in this place will probably know that I have put a lot of work into, and conducted a parliamentary inquiry in recent years into, expanding the capabilities of pharmacists to prescribe UTI medication and also contraceptive refills. To me, this is really the next step.

We should be making sure that our pharmacists—who are incredibly talented and well-trained individuals—are working at the peak of their capacity, that they are employing the knowledge and training they have received both at university and in extension courses, and also on the job, and that they are using that to their maximum capacity to relieve the pressures on our health system.

I really do feel they are part of the answer in making sure that we are all getting timely and accessible health care and relieving the pressure on our EDs, so I am thrilled to see that work is continuing. What we are really saying to pharmacists is, 'We value you, we know you can do more, you can contribute more, and we are going to give you the opportunity to do that.' That is an incredible investment of state funds.

It will probably come as little surprise to members that I read through the papers, in some detail, listed under the amazing headline of '$1.9 billion for early childhood services'. As a new mum myself, I am obviously quite attuned to my child's development, to providing him with the opportunities he needs to meet his milestones and also to be his best, and to have a great life, to have a life that is full of engagement with others, that is full of physical activity, full of learning, full of language and music and movement. So it is amazing to me to see that we are accelerating three-year-old preschool; if not my son, then certainly his little friends will be benefiting from that particular policy as we roll it out.

It is also really important that we are prioritising rolling it out in areas of most need. I really want to see young people getting every opportunity in their first five years of life, because we know what a difference it makes when those children then go to school in how they progress through the school system and into high school and university or TAFE, or the workplace, if they choose. Those first five years are incredibly critical, and I think the state really does have a role in making sure that all children, every last child in South Australia, is given the opportunity to thrive in future. I am very encouraged by that and also the kindy care trials and the low-interest loans for the care providers, which is all critical work.

The brainchild of the next policy is sitting in the house and she will be happy to hear me say that I am absolutely thrilled about the $20 million investment in multicultural communities. I am very fortunate to have quite a multicultural community. I have a very strong Indian and Nepalese population and also people of Chinese origin—a broad range of people from different cultural backgrounds.

One of the great thrills of being an MP—and you would have heard this many times in this chamber—is attending citizenship ceremonies and hearing people's stories as to how they have come to Australia, and also, of course, being out in the community and meeting second and third generation migrants and seeing how they are getting on and celebrating and keeping their culture while also embracing the Australian way of life.

I feel that my local community of Badcoe is so much richer for the contributions of people from all over the world, and I am looking forward to particularly those groups in my community, who are seeking to celebrate their own culture, language, dance, food and music, having this additional opportunity to be able to do that. It can be tough, of course, especially for some of the smaller groups, to raise the funds to be able to engage in events or even train up their own people to be able to run associations and groups, and so I think that is an incredible investment.

I would also just like to give a shout-out to the arts and cultural policy. This is a $13 million investment. Something I am very passionate about is the arts. In a past life those here would know that I was a court reporter with various commercial networks, and I am very passionate about our courts and justice system. I also volunteered advocating for victims' rights. The investments that we are seeing here in our court system I think are well deserved and, although it is tempting to think these are things that will benefit lawyers and judges and so forth, I actually think that it will make a difference for victims.

We often hear the expression 'justice delayed is justice denied' and when our court system struggles, the entire delivery of justice is delayed, and what that means is the elongation of painful periods for people who have gone through crimes, or even civil wrongs. I think that this investment really means that we can make sure we are delivering justice in a timely way and as efficiently as possible, which can only be a good thing, particularly for victims of crime.

I applaud the Attorney-General and the Treasurer for the investment that is being made in court infrastructure and also security, which is incredibly important. There are additional resources to the Crown Solicitor's Office and District Court associates. A big one for me is Forensic Science SA. Often as a court reporter I would sit in court and hear cases being adjourned due to the forensics not being ready. This investment will provide better, more modern facilities. Investing in the incredible technology that is employed at Forensic Science SA certainly goes a very long way to making sure that people get their day in court, are treated fairly and that they have all the evidence needed, whether they are on the prosecution or the defence side. Of course, cases that are brought in a timely way benefit everyone involved in the justice system.

Finally, I just want to touch on some of the things that are being delivered in my electorate at the moment through this budget. I am very excited that there are some 25 election commitments that I made that are either completed or nearing completion now. Regarding Plympton International College, the $3 million works I committed to at the last election for a kiss and drop, about a dozen extra classrooms and also road safety upgrades are complete. We are just waiting for one more light to come from overseas and be fitted especially to light up one of the roads outside Plympton International College, and then we will be having a lovely opening for those works. Excitingly, that is not the end of our work at Plympton International. There is another $14 million being rolled out for additional classrooms.

This is a school that is an amazing success story, and I really do credit that to Susan Close in her time as education minister. Deciding to make this school a bilingual school and changing its name to Plympton International really gave the school a new focus. What we are seeing now is it is one of the most, if not the most, popular public schools in the area. It has the longest waiting list and in fact next year will exceed its capacity, hence needing to invest in it and make sure that we have the classrooms to fit this influx of enthusiastic students who want to be part of a school that is really cutting edge.

It is a school where you have your lessons in both English and Mandarin and where classes start with tai chi. It is an absolutely beautiful practice at the school. The school bell rings, and there is a little tai chi lesson at the beginning. It makes everyone lovely and calm and makes their mental state ready to go to learn. I have really enjoyed being involved with the school, delivering that $3 million election commitment, but of course I am very excited, and the plans are getting quite well developed now, for the $14 million spend on additional learning areas.

Black Forest Primary School not too long ago opened its $5 million multipurpose hall, new library and additional classrooms. That was actually an election commitment of mine from 2018, so it is good that that one has finally been delivered. Richmond Primary School has a new playground. It is pretty cool. It has a ninja course, and the kids are pretty into that. They are much more gymnastical than I ever have been. They absolutely are managing to get all of their energy out in playtime and lunchtime and then are ready to go back into class and learn from the brilliant teachers there at Richmond Primary.

I would also like to mention that the upgrade to Aldridge Avenue Reserve that I committed to has now been delivered, as has the Beare Avenue Reserve community garden. It is producing some amazing fresh vegetables and lovely flowers in our community. It is a thrill to see little kids down there planting new plants; maybe not so much while it has been raining, but in the summer it has been brilliant. I am still working hard to make sure that irrigation is developed at Teesdale Crescent Reserve, which is also a key commitment of mine and something I am quite dedicated to achieving.

The SASMEE workshop will be open soon. That is our model engineers and model train operation at Millswood. If you have not been, make sure you go. Take the grandkids, take the kids. It is an incredible day out for barely any money for what you are getting. I managed to obtain $151,000 at the last election for a new workshop there. What this means is that the guys—and it is mostly older guys, but there are a few other people as well, younger people and a few women—who work on these model trains and build them do not have to do it in their back shed, particularly if that is not practical for them anymore.

They now have a space where they can work with their fellow volunteers to build these amazing machines and share them about twice a month with our community. Make sure you go down there and check it out. I will certainly be cutting the ribbon on that new workshop in coming weeks. Lastly, I would just like to thank the Treasurer for his work and commend the bill to the house.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (12:18): I rise to make an address in the budget reply. I cannot help but talk about the disappointment for me as a regional member, for other regional members across the state and essentially for the people of South Australia for the lack of vision in this budget that has been handed down, this budget of $23 billion, which matches somewhere around $7 billion as far as the previous Appropriation Bill in this place to take the state's budget to over $30 billion. It is just disappointing, more than disappointing, to see that there is no real support in the regions.

One thing I really want to exemplify is about the drought, the drought that is the worst in living memory. No-one across the state can tell me when their forebears saw a worse time. We originally had figures that this was the one-in-100-year drought, but it went back. People had records that went back 115 years and then people have looked at records from previous times of European settlement, and it is the worst in living and non-living memory.

What that means is we are in a crisis. We are in a crisis in this state with our rural producers, with many farmers not being able to access finance. When I talk about that, there are farmers who at the bare minimum spend hundreds of thousands to put a crop in. They are just the input costs I am talking about, not the plant costs that run into the millions as well and the many millions of dollars worth of land that people need to own just to feed the state. But it increases to where there would be quite a few people investing at least $1 million in inputs, and I know of several farmers who will be spending north of $4 million just on their inputs to try to grow a crop to resolve the issues from last year. And, yes, some of us have seen some rain but it is not right across the state. It certainly has not gone right across the state and it does not mean the drought is over. What it does mean is, yes, it gives hope. It gives hope.

We all knew it would rain, but it was a matter of when, and people are suffering. People have got mental health struggles. Sadly, some people have taken their lives and that is too high a price to pay. As I indicated, some people just cannot get the finance or have waited four to five months for their bank to say, yes, you can put the crop in and you can pay the bills. But the issue is they have already sown their crops dry in the previous months. In some cases, those crops have come up but have died and now, because of no rain and because people have to get their crops in to get the maximum yield, they have to go back and resow—more fuel, more wear and tear, more seed that has to be sourced to put these crops in.

It is amazing when you look at the limited amount of funding that is supplied to around 9,000 farmers across the state, who produce in a reasonable year about $17 billion worth of product for this state. Essentially, we saw the first round of $18 million, with $10 million of that as money that was reannounced for rural financial counsellors, who do a great job. They do a really great job. We saw that topped up to $73 million, and a lot of that was for drought infrastructure grants like water tanks or irrigation infrastructure, etc. But the problem is you have to do a lot of paperwork and some of this was taking up to three months and you have to spend money that you do not have to access these grants. We believe over this side of the house that probably less than $20 million of that money has been allocated to our rural areas and our farmers who do so much in feeding our state, our nation and the world.

Just for a comparison, and I know I have said it in this place before, I believe we do need a sovereign steel industry, but at what cost because $2.4 billion has been pumped into Whyalla. That is a comparison of just those two things. I just hope that we have a good record year this year or at least a better than average year to get through. We have the many organisations doing hay runs. We have people helping out their neighbours, even though they are under stress as well. We have stock that are starving. We have people having to sell off stock in the many thousands of numbers, if not the hundreds of numbers of cattle. Thousands of heads of sheep have had to go to the chopping block and even mothers in lamb, ewes in lamb. So our farmers need more support, they need real support, they need low or no-interest loans and it needs to be got on with so that our farmers can prosper.

Looking at our health budget, we have the government spruiking about something well over 2,000 health professionals that they have hired in this state. Sadly, we do not see too many of those, if any, come out to the regions. We have had to fight for many months to get a doctor to come back to Karoonda. It was in my electorate but it is in the member for Chaffey's electorate now. I have close ties with the town, and it has taken many months to get a doctor there.

We then had the news only the other day about the Riverland Mallee Coorong Local Health Network. Even though they said they were not involved—and even the head of that network, Wayne Champion, said he did not know anything about it—an eviction notice was served on the local clinic where doctors meet the vital medical needs of Tailem Bend and run the clinic there. I find that very hard to believe. The minister expressed in the house that Wayne Champion informed him that he did not know about it, and I find that more than odd.

It is more than odd that the head of the Riverland Mallee Coorong Local Health Network would not have known about an eviction notice, supposedly related to $54,000 in unpaid rent back to COVID times for medical services at Tailem Bend. Thankfully, after I asked a couple of questions in the house the other week, some reality happened. The clinic shut on a Friday night and was opened on a Wednesday—so that is good news for Tailem Bend. It is certainly a hospital that we have been very attuned to as a family. As one of our local ambulance drivers indicated, he used to take my father there on his too many visits with his hip issues, and I have certainly attended a couple of times because of farm emergencies.

So we need more people in health. We do not just need health professionals working in the cities—and I salute them all. We need them supporting our country hospitals and this government is not doing that. It is not getting those people and those services that are needed to the people in rural areas like the people in Hammond, like the people in Mannum, like the people in Murray Bridge and like the people in Langhorne Creek.

Strathalbyn does not have a properly functioning emergency department anymore. It has an emergency department that runs if you make an appointment. I do not know how that works, but I do not think it does. It is a nurse-led clinic—and all tribute to the nurses who run that clinic. This is no criticism of the staff who run that clinic, but essentially it is a bandaid and patch-up, so most people either go through to Mount Barker or head straight through to Adelaide where they get confronted with the ramping crisis.

We have already heard the leader today talk about energy in this state. We have heard from Premier Malinauskas about the so-called state prosperity plan and the hydrogen plan, which is now the hydrogen bomb as I have described it often in this place. In regard to the so-called prosperity that has been offered to the people of the Spencer Gulf, they have seen so many promises before and this is another one that has blown up in their faces. There was the promise of $593 million to go into hydrogen, which is experimental technology that many others will not go near because of the sheer cost and the sheer amount of power that has to be generated to produce that hydrogen energy.

Essentially, all those thousands of solar panels and thousands of wind turbines that would have been needed at Whyalla—the thousands of acres covered with this renewable technology—80 per cent of that energy from that so-called green technology would have been lost on the transfer through to so-called green power. It does not sound too green to me. Thankfully, the turbines that have been bought can burn on gas as they would have had to under the hydrogen plan anyway. That is just a failed project that has not brought down the cost of power in this state, and it is a disaster for the Iron Triangle because it promised false hope and it is just not happening for the people of that area.

I look at the funding allocated for regional roads. There is nowhere near enough funding allocated. There is only dribs and drabs, such as around $10 million more funding for regional road repairs. We need hundreds of millions of dollars more funding allocated to regional road repairs to make our state's roads, the 23,000-kilometre network, far better for people to travel on and safer across the state.

Then we look at the High Productivity Vehicle Network, a project that has been ongoing and discussed for many years in different iterations. It is good to see that there are some budget lines about it but, literally, the first major work to start on this project—which is the Greater Adelaide Freight Bypass—is about five years away. That is beyond the forward estimates.

The federal government, only after one of their backbench candidates panicked when it was not in the federal Labor government's promises for the recent federal election, put up 50 per cent of the funding. That is going to be not even close because, here, there has only been $125 million put up against that, which only gives us $656 million for a $1.05 billion project. That is what it is budgeted for now; I would not be surprised if it blows out by the time it is completed in probably about 10 years' time, according to how I see it running past the forward estimates and its beginning time.

This is a major project, as I have indicated in this house before: a major project that does need building to streamline the freight network that is already in place with those trucks bigger than B-doubles, and to get that freight off Portrush Road and Cross Road to make our roads safer in the city as well. But it needs major work. It needs the duplication of the Swanport Bridge. I will tell you how I see my reading of this plan: I believe, and we can flesh some of this out more during estimates, that the Swanport Bridge duplication is probably—and from opposition you have to surmise a bit—one of the first things that will get done, because unless it is duplicated you cannot get triple road trains or 53-metre trucks across a single-lane each-way bridge.

That will be welcome, but then there is other major work: the new turn-off for that road at Monarto, with a major roundabout and infrastructure to be put in there; roads upgraded with doglegs cut out on the connection through to Mannum as it goes past the entrance to Monarto Safari Park; up towards Sedan and Cambrai, and those two little towns deserve a bypass to be built around them as well; up to the Sturt Highway at Halfway House Road, where that intersection has already been built for triple road trains; and then heading up towards Truro, where the freight bypass around Truro needs to be built. Sadly, my quick crunching of the numbers shows that unless the Labor government fronts up with the extra $400 million, I fear for either that end of the project—the Truro freight bypass—or the Swanport Bridge because $656 million of total funding is just not going to cut it.

Along with that project, I look at another project that we commenced back in 2020, the Strzelecki Track. Yes, it has copped a heap of rain at the minute and it has copped some reasonable falls previously as well at different times, but I do not think the government has maximised the time it could have to get roadworks on that 472-kilometre project up to speed. It is only 40 per cent completed. There has been some damage caused by the recent rains and that project has been pushed out to 2028. It is a vital connectivity project through to the Cooper Basin and from that end you can cut through from Innamincka to Brisbane as well. Hopefully, that project is still on track at $215 million, but we will certainly be keeping a close note of that.

I look at other things that have happened recently with the recent storms and sadly, as I have known in farming for many years, unless you get a high wind sometimes you do not get rain. We have had plenty of wind lately with fallen trees and other issues to deal with, but certainly what we have seen is a lot of damage to marine infrastructure, a lot of jetties, whether it is across suburban Adelaide or, as we have seen in recent times, the Port Germein jetty taking a belting today.

The government needs to make sure that this vital infrastructure has plenty of funding allocated to it, not just for commercial fishing but for those many hundreds of thousands of people who enjoy the recreation of fishing or accessing these jetties just to have a bit of mental health time, walk out on a jetty and take in the air. It needs to be addressed that there is plenty of funding allocated to support councils. Councils have just run out of money. They do not have the rate base and they are not getting the federal grant funding that they need to maintain their regional roads and other infrastructure, on which they are struggling to keep up. We need to make sure that those things get paid for and it needs many tens of millions of dollars for those right across the state.

I have talked in here about the environment food production areas and my thoughts about that where I think it is another level of red tape we did not need. When the bill came out, we offered to put more land in and that was let go. The Labor Party just denied looking at those clauses to add extra land. It was refused and it would have allowed for more people to access housing into the future.

The problem we have with all these developments, like the big one at Murray Bridge, Gifford Hill and the extended project there of 17,000 homes and many other areas, is that there is no funding. There is no funding for water connection and no funding for sewer connection. It is just a disgrace that this government has not funded the infrastructure we need in place so that we can build the homes of the future that are needed.

I want to talk about some of the things that the leader emphasised today that we will do into the future. We will lift the threshold on payroll tax to $2.1 million; we will take stamp duty off for first-home buyers who purchase established homes to match other states across the country; and we will also have a home battery scheme in place to reduce those ever-increasing power prices. We have a vision and that vision was greatly exemplified by the leader this morning. I am just so disappointed with what we have seen from this state Labor budget.

Mr DIGHTON (Black) (12:38): I rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill 2025. This budget delivers on community safety by increasing the number of police on our streets and investing in our correctional facilities and the broader criminal justice system. It makes critical investments in our health system and provides meaningful assistance to families and small businesses facing cost-of-living pressures. Furthermore, it advances our educational reform agenda by accelerating the rollout of preschool for three year olds and supports more South Australians to realise the aspiration of home ownership sooner.

I want to start by talking about the importance of the initiative for three year olds to attend preschool. As a former teacher, I know the benefits of having three year olds attend preschool will be important not only for their academic achievement but also, importantly, for their social development and their emotional regulation, which is really important to prepare them for school. Having early career teachers supporting three year olds will really assist with that development, and I think it is a really important policy initiative for our South Australian community, and the benefits will be obvious in the years to come.

The budget outlines the government's capacity to consistently respond swiftly and decisively to the challenges facing our state. None of that is more apparent than in relation to Whyalla. Over the past year, the government became increasingly concerned by reports indicating the steelworks were under serious threat, accounts of businesses going unpaid, workers being laid off, critical maintenance being neglected, safety standards being compromised and major investments delayed. It became clear that decisive action was required and this is why this government acted and took the step of initiating the placement of the Whyalla Steelworks into administration. This intervention was necessary to protect thousands of South Australian jobs, support hundreds of local businesses and safeguard Australia's capacity to produce critical steel products.

Under this government's leadership, the people of South Australia will not be misled or exploited by individuals who fail to honour their commitments to our state and to our community. In partnership with the commonwealth, a $2.4 billion rescue package will stabilise, modernise and secure the future of the steelworks. The initiative is not just about saving an industry, it is about rebuilding it, reimagining it, providing it with a long-term future and, arguably more importantly, it is about not only ensuring that our country has steelmaking capacity but ensuring the long-term viability and future of both the city and a community.

The budget will also support cost-of-living measures for families, including the extension of a $200 reduction to government school materials and services charges, and that will continue for a further four years. This measure alone will save parents of the more than 120,000 school-age children an estimated $96 million over that period.

In addition—and this has been very popular when I have talked about it in my community—the government is reducing the cost of public transport for school students, a move that will benefit families across our state. Again, as a former teacher, I would often have to stand at the bus stop supervising our kids as they waited to use public transport. Sometimes I had to jump on the bus and remind them that they had to tap on, which was something they often did not do. Maybe this measure will ensure that there is better use of their Metrocards because of the fact that it is now cheaper.

This government understands the daily logistical financial challenges parents face while juggling school drop-offs, pickups and work commitments. This low-cost transport ticket system for school students, which is a 28-day pass priced at just $10, equates to approximately 25¢ per trip over a typical month, and will also cover unlimited travel on weekends and public holidays.

By lowering the cost of public transport, we not only reduce household expenses but encourage more students to travel independently to and from school. The initiative supports parents and caregivers by easing the daily pressures associated with the school run, helping them to better manage their own responsibilities and commitments.

Along with measures to ease cost of living, this budget also helps to ensure the safety and security of all South Australians. In the budget there is $9.6 million, which will be invested to strengthen security on our public transport system, including upgrades to CCTV at key interchanges. One of those initiatives—a key recent initiative—which this government committed to in the by-election, was the redevelopment of the Marino train station, which will include CCTV. It was an important commitment due to crimes that have occurred at this train station, to ensure that users of the train station feel safer whilst accessing it, and that is exactly what we want. We want people to feel safe when they are using our public transport system.

As the Treasurer outlined in his budget speech a couple of weeks ago, at the heart of any government's responsibility is the protection of its people. Whilst crime rates have declined over the past three years, there is more to do. This government is toughening laws, expanding correctional capacity and ensuring our police and justice systems have the resources they need to keep our community safe.

The budget delivers the largest boost to police funding in South Australia's history, with an investment exceeding $170 million over the next six years to build the largest ever police force. By 2028-29, there will be an increase of sworn police officers by 243, with a further 83 to be added by 2030-31. In total, the addition of 326 sworn officers will bring the South Australia Police force to a record 5,000 officers, cementing South Australia's place as the state with the highest number of sworn officers per capita in the nation.

Of course, it is not just about recruitment. There is also a focus on ensuring that SAPOL officers are where the community needs them more, and that is on the front line. To support this, the budget also outlines the funding of police security officers to build on the 189 positions they currently have. These officers will be deployed in regional areas, freeing up sworn officers so that they can be more visible and active in our community.

A further $9.7 million will be provided to support the ongoing civilianisation of administrative roles within SAPOL, allowing 20 more sworn officers to return to operational duties. South Australians want to see their police in their communities and this budget helps to ensure that. We know the impact that that visible presence has on deterring crime, so we need to make sure that our police are visible and that the community can see them.

Over the next five years, the government will invest $72.4 million to expand our prison capacity by 116 beds, bringing the total number of new beds funded over the past budgets to 468. An additional $6.8 million will enhance prison security to reduce the trafficking of contraband, including drugs and weapons. Beyond that, we need to understand how important rehabilitation is within our justice system. This budget commits $8.1 million to establish a 30-bed bail accommodation support program designed to create remand to bail pathways, support rehabilitation and contribute to Closing the Gap targets.

The budget also includes investment in our criminal justice system. The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions will receive an additional $9.4 million, with Forensic Science SA benefitting from $5.5 million to expedite the judicial process. The budget also includes $20 million for critical core infrastructure upgrades and to improve security at court facilities across South Australia.

Of course, community safety extends beyond our streets and courtrooms. It also includes our roads. Far too many lives have been lost and too many families have been devastated by, arguably, some preventable road trauma. The budget includes investment in road safety initiatives to try to reduce the numbers of those who are injured. The government will continue to deliver budgets that protect and strengthen our communities.

I want to talk about the investment in health. This budget again delivers a significant boost to our public health system, with an additional $1.9 billion to meet the growing demand for our services across South Australia. With this latest investment, this government has now committed more than $9 billion in new health funding across four consecutive budgets. This sustained investment has allowed the government to recruit record numbers of frontline health professionals—doctors, nurses, ambulance officers, allied health workers—and to significantly expand capacity.

By the end of this calendar year the government will have delivered an additional 330 beds across the state. These efforts have had a tangible impact; ambulance response times have improved markedly in the past year, ensuring South Australians in urgent need of care are being reached more quickly and more efficiently.

But there is more to do, and that is why the government has included $170 million in new funding for mental health services. This includes the delivery of 130 new mental health beds to support those experiencing acute mental illness and to relieve pressure on our emergency departments. I also want to again outline, as I have in this chamber before, the significant investment that is taking place in the southern suburbs, including the Flinders and Noarlunga hospitals and the Repat, which is increasing the capacity of hospital beds by 226 beds in that particular area.

Another key funding in the budget was $13.9 million to expand the South Australia Police Mental Health Co-Responder program. In speaking to SAPOL about this program and about how important it is, it was identified to me that this program helps support members of our community who are suffering from mental health concerns but also helps to ensure that police officers are able to allocate their resources to be used more effectively in our community. It is great that this Mental Health Co-Responder program will be expanded to include the southern suburbs.

The government is also supporting innovation in primary care, and so in the next three years $2.2 million will be invested to expand the scope of services that pharmacists can provide. This will allow more South Australians to access timely care in the community and avoid unnecessary trips to already stretched emergency departments. The budget also outlines and includes funding for the fourth 24/7 pharmacy, which is going to be in my community of Hallett Cove.

Those expanded services and expanded hours are demonstrating the different ways this government is committed to supporting the health care needs of South Australians. The budget reaffirms the commitment to build a stronger, more responsive and more accessible health system that is capable of meeting the needs of our growing population and ensuring also every South Australian can access the care they need.

The budget also builds on the government's sustained and determined efforts to address the housing supply and affordability crisis, which is affecting not only South Australia but the entire nation. This government has committed $3.2 billion to expand public and social housing, unlock new land, invest in enabling infrastructure, and reduce taxes to stimulate supply and improve housing affordability. Through the Greater Adelaide Regional Plan the government has mapped out where 315,000 new homes will be delivered over the next 30 years.

The road map is accelerating planning approvals to ensure houses can be built faster in the right locations and at prices South Australians can afford. The budget outlined funding for $30 million to prepare the Onkaparinga Heights site for residential development, which is expected to provide at least 2,000 residential houses. This development, along with other developments such as the Port Stanvac redevelopment—which is going to include 3,500 houses along with commercial, retail, education, and industrial zones—will expand the significant supply of houses in our southern suburb areas.

This budget will ensure there is further momentum to invest in our homes across the state, and together we will support construction businesses and ensure that there are homes for young families, for key workers, for people seeking stability and security in an increasingly difficult housing market.

The other initiative that was announced in this budget is a rent-to-buy scheme, allowing long-term renters the opportunity to purchase one of 100 homes currently under construction by the South Australian Housing Trust. This is about opening new pathways to home ownership and breaking the cycle of permanent renting for those who aspire to buy their first home.

I want to finish by recognising the efforts of the Treasurer and his team for their work in delivering this budget, and commend the Appropriation Bill to the house.

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (12:54): I, too, rise in support of the Appropriation Bill. I was rifling through some storage boxes just the other day and happened to come across my year 12 jumper from Naracoorte High School, about circa 2003. I helped design the jumper, which was a rugby jumper, the Canterbury brand which was still the rage in the early 2000s. It had the Southern Cross on the sleeve and our school logo and motto 'carpe diem', which means seize the day.

The main feature, of course, was my high school nickname in big, bold white letters on the back that spelled out 'Goose'. I am not sure if I should publicly admit to the fact that this was not because I was a fan of the Top Gun movies—I have actually never even watched them—it was more in reference—

Mr Pederick: Shame!

Ms HOOD: Shame; I know, it is on the list. It was more in reference to Lucy Goosey, which was shortened to 'Goose'. So while thankfully I did not keep my high school nickname, I did keep my high school year 12 jumper because it was a reminder of how my public education changed my life.

That is why I am so proud that we committed, with the Albanese federal government, to the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement (Gonski), which will ensure public schools in South Australia receive more than $1 billion over 10 years—$16 billion nationally—so that public schools will be fully funded for the first time ever.

We do this because we believe that every South Australian child deserves access to a world-class education and the opportunity to thrive, regardless of their background, where they came from, or their parents' income. That is why this Malinauskas government is making such significant investments in this space. I know I would not be here without public education. The impact it had on me actually inspired me to go on to become an education journalist, so that I got to tell the stories of public schools and students and educators all across our state.

The Malinauskas Labor government is now writing a new chapter in our education system and at its heart is the aim that every South Australian child does deserve the best possible start in life. That is why our government has such a strong focus on education starting from the earliest years, committing to the universal rollout of three-year-old preschool.

Due to the incredible response to this policy, we are fast-tracking the delivery of our commitment, which will start rolling out from next year. It will create 2,000 additional places at long day care sites while we continue the kindy care trials and provide low-interest loans for non-government schools, not-for-profit early childhood educators and care providers, to build the capacity for three-year-old preschool.

We are also already very proud of having the largest network of autism inclusion teachers in the country, which creates more inclusive classrooms across the state, and we are supporting students to pursue vocational pathways by building five new technical colleges, giving young people the opportunity to graduate into a guaranteed career.

This is something I am personally very proud of. I have three brothers—we will not mention the eldest one here in this place—but one of my other brothers, I can honestly say, is one of the smartest of us, but he was not considered the smart kid in school. He could pull apart any kind of machinery on the farm, or a motorbike. He could pull it apart and put it back together without an instruction manual, but he probably did not excel at maths or English or history. He was incredible with his hands, but that was perhaps not recognised in mainstream schooling.

These technical colleges recognise that not all kids are necessarily academic, but they are some of the best and brightest minds in our state. I think my brothers would all agree that Toby is probably the most successful of us and he has made such an incredible career out of trades. I am so excited to see all the kids that will go through our technical colleges, making a career out of it, thriving and reaching their full potential. With those comments, I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 12:59 to 14:00.