Marshall, The Hon. S.S.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta) (15:22): Today I would like to reflect on the legacy of former Premier Steven Marshall and, in particular, his government's handling of the COVID pandemic. What might have been 10 minutes of your Thursday afternoon can instead be dealt with in five today. Premier Steven Marshall has been the most substantial servant of the 95 members of the House of Assembly with whom I have served since 2010. The scale of his capacity and reputation is reflected in the role he now undertakes as President of the Australian American Association in New York, and, while that role may be privately funded, through it, he continues his public service to South Australia.

I am absolutely certain that history will cast an extremely kind reflection on his service as Premier. I am also dead certain that he would prefer I not give this speech because it is absolutely not his style. He never liked self-aggrandisement in others and he never practised it himself. He did not even give a valedictory speech in this house upon his retirement. Personally, I take a very different view so in my last few days here I choose to seek his forgiveness rather than his permission and will press on.

As Premier his economic record was transformative and our state continues to benefit from many of his reforms. His agenda lowered costs for South Australians who paid hundreds of dollars less for electricity and water in our last year than they did in our first. He halved the emergency services levy and abolished payroll tax for thousands of South Australian small businesses. Along with the member for Unley, David Pisoni, he reinvigorated our training sector with nation-leading growth and apprenticeships and trainees. Along with Stephen Wade, our health minister, he revitalised the Repat as a health precinct as part of a $1 billion investment in health infrastructure. He was my strongest supporter for our successful education reform proposals and massive upgrades to school infrastructure.

After years of procrastination at the old Royal Adelaide Hospital site, Premier Marshall's vision for a new innovation precinct came to life at Lot Fourteen. He won, for South Australia, the Australian Space Agency, along with the Cyber Collaboration Centre, and with Stone and Chalk at Lot Fourteen delivered the largest start-up centre in the state's history. His actions generated significant new investment, high-tech jobs and exciting opportunities for our young people.

In the months prior to the onset of COVID, net interstate migration was restored to South Australia's favour for the first time since the State Bank calamity, and that was amplified during the pandemic as we in South Australia enjoyed better, freer and safer lives than most other places in the world. So for those two years there was no place on earth that anyone here can even pretend to say that they would rather have been than South Australia. Well supported by health minister Stephen Wade, police commissioner Grant Stevens, and Chief Public Health Officer, Professor Nicola Spurrier, Premier Steven Marshall led our state through the most difficult of times, with better outcomes than pretty much anywhere else in the world. He kept our community as safe as possible while ensuring that we were able to live our lives as normally as possible.

While some of the premiers were running tallies of how many days in a row they were doing solo press conferences, Premier Marshall and cabinet took the view that when experts were giving the advice to government that they were giving, we wanted those same experts to be giving the same advice to the public as soon as possible. The idea of wrapping it up in a cabinet committee to protect secrecy was never an option. This decision certainly gave up political advantage but it contributed mightily to public safety. Public understanding of and support for public health measures was far higher in South Australia than other states as a result.

Listening to the best available health advice and sharing it with the public also helped us keep schools open, a key priority for us all at the time. From the beginning of the pandemic right up to March 2022, South Australian school students faced less disruption than any other jurisdiction in Australia, a world-class outcome. In 2021 we reach our vaccination targets quickly. These were essential in suppressing the eventual spread of COVID, and our health system was never overwhelmed as were so many others. Thousands of deaths were prevented.

The outbreak of Omicron changed the landscape. Close contact rules that had served us well for 18 months saw thousands of families, including mine, stuck at home for two weeks at Christmas. Ironically, if we had had a slower vaccine take-up, like Queensland and Western Australia, our borders would have still been closed when Omicron arrived. Instead, we lost a lot of goodwill that Christmas and it hurt us badly in March. First-term governments are often given some leeway from voters but by the election the previous four months had felt like four years. People were fed up with the pandemic and with the government.

But it is worth noting, from a political point of view, that Steven Marshall's popularity remained strong and always strongly in double digits net positive favourability. I am glad Steven Marshall was leading our state during the pandemic. I am proud to have played my role in his cabinet and I am very proud to have served with Steven Marshall for 14 years here. He did an enormous amount for this state, and it must stand on the record that his service was truly worthy.