Question Time

COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT FUNDING

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (14:46): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Regional Development a question about the impact of federal government cuts.

Leave granted.

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS: Yesterday the minister referred to the federal government cuts to almost every area in South Australia, particularly our regions. Can the minister outline the risks associated with Liberal government cuts such as these?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:46): Good question. I thank the honourable member for his fabulous question. South Australians are rightly deeply concerned about what the election of the federal Liberal government means to this state. They are deeply and rightly concerned.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: They are both. They are deeply and rightly concerned. It has only been 10 weeks since the election of the new federal Liberal government, and South Australians are already clearly beginning to see what happens when a federal Liberal government is elected. We know what is in store. We have already seen significant cuts, broken promises and decimation of our public services at the state level here in South Australia. With the Liberal government at the federal level, clearly no jurisdiction is safe.

I spoke in this place yesterday about the disgraceful decision by the federal Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development not to honour any non-contracted commitments made by the former Labor government and funded. They were funded and budgeted for, and the decision had been made to pursue those. They were not election commitments. Decisions had been made to pursue those and funds were made available. This is likely, as I indicated, to result in the loss of around $20 million to South Australians, to our community projects, and many of those projects, as we know, were going to occur in our regions.

I also spoke about the delay in accepting the proposed guidelines for the South Australian River Murray Sustainability program. Most shamefully, $650 million in River Murray upgrades and water buybacks have been deferred, threatening to choke our state's lifeblood and undermine the nature of the agreement South Australia reached to save the Murray River. In the regions, the commonwealth has also reneged on an agreement for the upgrade of the road through the APY lands where its share was $85 million. Just reneged. Gone in just a click of the fingers. Gone.

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: Ripped away.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Ripped away. Ripped from the lands. Who can forget the $10 million cut to our Farm Finance Package for our South Australian farmers in need, showing the true disdain with which the Liberal government holds the South Australian farming community. The Coalition's dismissal of regional South Australian communities is a disgrace and, of course, those opposite have done nothing, absolutely nothing, not a thing; not lifted a pen to write a letter, not lifted a phone to make a phone call. They have done nothing to try to retrieve some of the damage that has been done, the services ripped from our farmers.

The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Steven Marshall, and those opposite continue to remain silent. There is no justification at all in letting the federal Liberals rip billions of dollars from our communities. The Liberal government is playing with the livelihoods of real families and real communities.

The list goes on and on: abolition of the Department of Regional Australia, reduced fire assistance grants, and cuts to the CSIRO reported at around 1,400 scientists and researchers. Jobs on the line; 1,400 of our leading scientists and researchers. Cuts to jobs at our Border Compliance Division that slipped under the radar, potentially jeopardising jobs that are involved in our front-line quarantine services.

As I said, the list goes on and on, and it is not just our regions where we have seen devastating cuts. Also at risk is $500 million of automotive assistance. This reckless decision is putting the jobs of thousands of Holden workers at risk, and where is Mr Steven Marshall and those opposite? Nowhere to be seen; certainly nowhere to be heard. They are all too happy just to sit back and watch Holden workers suffer this downfall. What a disgrace! What an absolute disgrace!

We have had childcare workers dealt a massive blow. The $300 million funding boost aimed at improving the wages of 30,000 childcare workers, one of the most underpaid group of workers, looks like it is going to be axed. It looks like that $300 million is likely to be axed. What would we really expect from a Liberal government? That they would stand up and deliver for the workforce that is approximately 95 per cent female? Do we think they are going to stand up for them? No. They can only find one meritorious woman to put in the ranks of their cabinet, so they are unlikely to look after all of those other careworkers—one woman meritorious enough to go into their cabinet. One.

Just in the last two days we have seen another backflip from the federal Liberal government with the federal education minister indicating that he wants to tear up the funding agreement reached as part of the Gonski reforms with the states and territories, including South Australia. They just want to tear that up. These cuts total over $2 billion—$2 billion.

An honourable member interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! I will be inviting the minister to restart her answer in a moment. I am listening. Minister.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: You can leave any time you wish. I am not keeping you here, the Hon. Mr Ridgway. Minister.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Two billion dollars of cuts potentially—$2 billion worth of cuts in just 10 weeks. God help us! We have had 10 weeks of stunning silence from the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Steven Marshall, and complete silence from those opposite us. The silence is deafening. The only plan that we get from Mr Marshall and his shadow ministers is a little pamphlet. That is what we are peppered with: glib statements. It doesn't take rocket science to see how Liberal governments operate. We are seeing a culture of cuts, disdain and complete disrespect and disregard for South Australia's interests.

So, although Mr Marshall is doing his best to keep his plans as secret as possible and fobbing off voters with meaningless rhetoric and little pamphlets, we all know what they are going to do with this state. As I said, we can see what the Liberal ideology is. It is: cut, slash and burn, and that is what is in store for us if those opposite happen, God forbid, to be elected in the next election.