Grievance Debate

Malinauskas Labor Government

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (15:06): I want to start today by acknowledging the many carers who are in the gallery today in respect of, I believe, carers month—Carers Week. Well, it should be a month, because carers do a fantastic job out there in the community, so I want to acknowledge the many carers who are here with us today. I think my colleague the deputy leader is going to make a more extensive contribution on that, but I thought I would acknowledge them while they are in the chamber today.

Moving on, what a scandalous week it has been for the government this week—an absolutely scandalous week. Whether it is on the algal bloom where they have let down the people of South Australia, whether it is on hydrogen where they have let down the people of South Australia, or whether it is on the damning housing figures that we have seen reported yesterday, this government continues to lurch from crisis to crisis.

Talk about a government not able to read the room—for months South Australians have been waiting for this lacklustre government to release the full details of its summer plan. As we saw, it was around $100 million. Unfortunately, it trickled out way too little and way too late. What did it choose to do instead? Treat South Australians with absolute contempt, preferring instead to drip-feed specific information.

We know that their algal bloom presser on Saturday got cancelled because the optics were not good enough because of the foam at Glenelg, so they moved it to the next day. Then they chose to drip-feed specific elements of the plan over a number of days, reinforcing the fact that this government cares more about PR than people.

We then discovered a centrepiece of its plan, which was the app. It contains information but even today members of the public are sending me messages about the confusion, about the inadequacy, about whether the information that has been provided is actually absolutely accurate at a number of beaches.

We know that this government is economically devoid—absolutely economically devoid. They have had to face the scrutiny of what was a damning Auditor-General's finding this week. This is one of the worst findings, by the way, I have ever seen. Basically, this government has wasted, they have literally poured down the drain, nearly $300 million on this hydrogen vanity project, despite going to the election saying this would reduce energy prices by some 8 per cent. They have wasted not $100 million, not $200 million but nearly $300 million of taxpayer dollars, poured down the drain.

The sum of $285.2 million—that is the staggering amount of money that the hapless Office of Hydrogen Power spent in just three years on a project that effectively is now on the scrap heap. Just let that sink in. That is actually more than the amount of money that they spent on the entire drought and the entire algal bloom. Think of what you could have done with nearly $300 million. We see state debt—

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: I am sure the carers would appreciate some of that $300 million. But do you know what? This government has poured it right down the drain. State debt is nearing $50 billion in what will become almost a daily interest bill of around $7 million a day just to service that debt. The state simply cannot afford a government that is throwing these millions and millions of dollars down the drain.

Add to that the fact that South Australians are paying some of the highest power prices in the state's history during a cost-of-living crisis where we have seen that South Australia is the sixth least affordable city in the world. One can only wonder where that shameful waste of money could have been better directed helping South Australians. But wait—there is more. Despite government assertions, most of that money will never be recovered.

We also know that $85.7 million of that money has been effectively written off the government books. What is more alarming is that the bill paying is not over for taxpayers who still could be on the hook for another $212 million of remaining contracted commitments and liabilities. You just could not make this stuff up. If this was a private company, people would be in jail—it is as simple as that. Little wonder why South Australians are rightfully outraged—absolutely outraged—at such a vulgar and outrageous waste of taxpayer money.

You saw some people on the steps of parliament yesterday—not traditionally friends of the Liberal Party—but even they are now taking to the streets and protesting because they are sick and tired of the waste of this government and their warped priorities.

What disturbing reading it was for this government and this hapless Premier and housing minister, let alone the tens of thousands of South Australians trying to live the great Australian dream of owning their own home. We saw the figures that were released yesterday of 12,500 or so homes. They need to build around 16,000 and they are behind by thousands and thousands of homes each and every year. Still to this day, in this term of government, on the sites where there has been some movement, not one slab has been laid—not one slab laid.

This is a hopeless Labor government and they will not take the opportunity to rebuild the great Australian dream of home ownership. It is going to be up to the Liberal Party to do just that.