Disaster Recovery Funds

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (15:44): No government can control the weather, no government can stop the tides, change the seasons, or prevent every biosecurity incursion from reaching our shores. What a government can control, and what South Australians should expect, is the quality of its response when disaster strikes. Sadly, this state Labor government's response to crisis after crisis has been slow, reactive and too often driven by public perception rather than genuine care for the people affected.

Take the drought: farmers warned for months that conditions were deteriorating, stock water was running low, feed was vanishing and urgent support was needed. Instead of acting early and decisively, the government waited and waited and waited, and when a package finally came it was buried in red tape, with restrictive eligibility criteria excluding many of those it was meant to help. Even now, the government cannot provide a clear breakdown of where promised funds have gone. For too many producers, that so-called support has been nothing more than a press release.

The drought is far from over and significant challenges remain. Farmers, supported by the minister's own drought commissioner, continue to call for urgent cashflow relief. Yet, the government has failed to deliver no and low-interest concessional loans or rate rebates—practical measures that would provide a genuine hand up rather than a handout to the primary producers who sustain our state and our nation.

Then there is the algal bloom, devastating our oceans and coastal communities since March. From the outset, the government's approach was defined by buck passing and delay. Correspondence was shuffled between departments, with no clear lead agency stepping forward. Early concerns from affected communities were largely ignored, and the buck passing between the Premier, the Minister for Environment and the Minister for Primary Industries was akin to an episode of Utopia, but without the humour, as these are people's lives and livelihoods.

This lack of accountability wasted precious time, worsened impacts and left fishers, coastal businesses and regional communities without the clarity or support they needed. The eventual support package mirrored the drought package: all spin and no substance. Some fisheries have been closed, but many others remain technically open, despite suffering a total loss of catch and facing years of resource depletion.

The government's initial narrow eligibility criteria excluded many who are hurting the most. There is no real plan to protect or restore the resource, and it wasn't until public outrage grew, fuelled by fishers, by councils, by communities and by the opposition, that the Premier and his ministers even pretended to take notice. This is not a one-off failure. Successive Labor governments have progressively reduced long-term water quality monitoring in our oceans. Without consistent long-term data we are left guessing about the health of our marine environment and unable to pinpoint the causes of disasters like the current algal bloom.

Baseline data is not a luxury, it is a foundation of sound environmental management, allowing us to detect changes, respond quickly and hold decision-makers to account. Labor loves to brand themselves as the party of the environment, but when it comes to actually delivering real environmental protection, they are missing in action.

Beyond their crises failures, this government has imposed a statewide bow hunting ban without consultation, supported compulsory leasing powers over vacant land in this place and pushed new restrictions on landholders' rights and landowners' rights, all without genuine community debate. These are top-down decisions, made in Adelaide boardrooms with little regard for the people's lives and livelihoods affected.

The message must be clear: these decisions do not just hurt our regions. When fishers and farmers struggle, prices rise for everyone. When freedoms are eroded, every South Australian is at risk. We are all connected, and we must stand up for one another. Enough is enough. We need a government that works for the whole state, not just its political favourites, a government that listens, a government that acts and a government that respects the contributions of every South Australian, from the heart of the city to the farthest reaches of the outback, one that is proactive, not reactive, one that values action over optics, and one that always has its ear to the ground, standing shoulder to shoulder with the people it serves. We need a change and we need it now.