Regional South Australia

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (16:15): I move:

That this council commends the Marshall Liberal government for recognising the importance of regional South Australia and its communities, noting their contribution to our economy worth more than $29 billion per year, through:

1. Investing $3 billion across more than 1,000 regional projects;

2. Upgrading hospitals, doubling country cancer services and upgrading about 4,800 kilometres of regional roads; and

3. Implementing the Our Regions Matter blueprint following extensive consultation with regional communities about what is needed to improve opportunities for the 29 percent of South Australia's population living and working outside the metropolitan community.

Regional South Australia contributes about $29 billion to the state's economy, with just 27 per cent of the state's population. This is because regional people, people in my Riverland community and in other communities around regional South Australia, are not just hard workers but are smart and innovative. I have said time and time again in this chamber that it is the regions that drive this state's economy.

As a member of the Marshall Liberal government, I was proud of the enormous amount of work that we did over four years in government to support the regions. I would like to acknowledge the outstanding work that both the member for Chaffey and the member for Finniss in the other place achieved in their time as ministers for primary industries and regional development.

The Marshall Liberal government created jobs and delivered better services, with $3 billion worth of investment across more than 1,000 regional projects. We upgraded hospitals, doubled country cancer services and upgraded around 4,800 kilometres of regional roads, including sealing the iconic Strzelecki Track. We built new schools and upgraded existing schools in our regions, we improved local sporting clubs and we delivered new mobile phone towers to fix blackspots.

We provided strong support for our primary producers and fishers. We stood shoulder to shoulder with bushfire, drought and COVID-19 affected farmers, providing grants of up to $75,000 per producer for those affected by the 2019-20 bushfires. We delivered a $21 million drought support program, and we ensured that growers still had access to seasonal workers despite COVID-19.

We gave farmers on the mainland the choice to grow genetically modified crops by lifting the moratorium that Labor imposed in 2004, therefore enabling them to finally be on a level playing field with their interstate counterparts when it came to crop production. We invested significantly in protecting crops and livestock from pests. Not only did we deliver on our promise to hire two additional wild dog trappers but we upgraded and rebuilt 1,600 kilometres of the South Australian dog fence.

We eradicated feral pigs on Kangaroo Island, reduced the damage of wild rabbits and invested more than $70 million to protect jobs and businesses by addressing and eradicating fruit fly outbreaks. We supported South Australia's commercial and recreational fishers by reforming the marine scalefish fishery (something ignored time and time again by the previous Labor government) to ensure sustainable, long-term fish stocks, and we invested significantly in the snapper restocking program in Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent. We also gave our recreational fishers more places to fish and better infrastructure by opening up South Australia's reservoirs and investing in jetties and boat ramps across the state.

Most importantly, after consulting widely with regional South Australians, we developed a South Australian-first, comprehensive Regional Development Strategy to drive economic growth, create jobs and ensure people in our regions have the services they need closer to home. We did this because prior to the Marshall Liberal government there was no strategic, whole-of-government approach to state government investment in our regions.

Five strategic priorities were identified to guide government investment, decision-making and service delivery to reflect the priorities of the regions. These priorities were:

1. Regional voice: how to engage regional stakeholders, businesses and communities to identify ways to grow;

2. Regional connectivity: ways to identify and enhance digital connectivity through telecommunications and data infrastructure and making sure infrastructure programs were implemented, including transport network solutions and engaging representatives for local input;

3. Regional leadership and skills: centring on engagement and giving regional leaders access to development opportunities and, in addition, having strategies in place to support worker shortages;

4. Regional services: identifying regional service gaps and putting in place services for communities' safety, wellbeing and livability; and

5. Regional investment: focusing on initiatives that result in increased trade, productivity, profitability, sustainability and growth.

The delivery of this regional development strategy aimed to guide, prioritise and coordinate the South Australian government's long-term engagement with and investment in South Australian regions. These are just a few of the projects the Marshall Liberal government delivered for our regions around this state. We delivered them as we know and understand the critical importance of regional communities because we live it.

Our regions are the backbone of our state and the economic powerhouse that drives prosperity for all South Australians. Prior to the Marshall Liberal government coming to office a bit over four years ago, the regional communities of South Australia were let down time and time again by the former Labor government. There was a backlog of regional road maintenance, roads that the former Labor government refused to fund for basic upkeep. Instead of investing in basic upkeep, they chose to reduce speed limits, crippling productivity for our farmers and growers right around the state.

Prior to the Marshall Liberal government, there was a backlog of health maintenance projects—hospital equipment in desperate need of upgrading. Between 2004 and 2018, Labor spent a mere $14 million in total on regional health infrastructure, equivalent to a mere $3.5 million per year across the entire regions of our state. Let's not forget that in 2008, Labor tried to downgrade and even close dozens of hospitals in country South Australia. In December 2017, the Premier and Labor closed the Repatriation General Hospital, which provided care for older patients and veterans, many of whom originated from our regions, despite former Premier Mike Rann's pledge it would never, ever be closed by a Labor government.

Despite the now Premier's assertions and promises that they are the new Labor in town, we all know on this side of the chamber that the truth will be revealed in the coming months and years and that truth is: Labor is notoriously bad for our regions and cannot be trusted.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. R.A. Simms.