State Labor Government

The Hon. L.A. HENDERSON (15:30): Thank you, Acting President. At the 2022 election, the Labor government campaigned under the slogan of 'For the Future'. But almost four years on, the future under this government is not looking bright. Instead, it looks like a child protection system that is in crisis; a childcare system leaving children and families exposed due to delayed reviews; a cost-of-living crisis pushing household budgets to breaking point; a property market increasingly out of reach for young South Australians; a collapsing coastal economy; farmers struggling through drought; and ramping at levels never seen before. These are not isolated issues. They form a pattern, a pattern of a government which is distracted by bread and circuses while failing to deliver on the issues that impact people's daily lives and shape their opportunities for their futures.

Since 2022, the price of everyday essentials has surged. Bread and cereal products are up by around 21 per cent, dairy by 20 per cent, fruit and vegetables by around 15 per cent, and power prices continue to climb at a relentless rate. According to the Office of the Valuer-General, the median sale price for homes in metropolitan Adelaide has jumped from $650,000 in March 2022 to $847,000 in September 2025. Housing affordability is now one of the most common concerns that is raised with me when I am out and about in the community listening to constituents.

While the Premier is busy promoting LIV Golf and the next fixtures for Gather Round, ordinary South Australians are worrying about how they will make their next mortgage payment, how to afford rent, and whether buying a home will ever be possible for their children and grandchildren. For many, the dream of home ownership is slipping further and further out of reach, as prices continue to skyrocket.

As the cost of living rises, more families need both parents back at work, simply just to keep the lights on. For many, that means turning to child care, but the system that families rely upon is showing serious cracks. In recent months, we have seen an increased focus on the state of child care across Australia, and what we have learned is alarming. Some centres in South Australia have not been assessed for up to 10 years—10 years. This is unacceptable, particularly when around half of the state's childcare centres were found not to be meeting the national quality standards.

Parents deserve transparency, and they deserve accurate, up-to-date information to help them decide whether a centre is safe for their child, but Labor's failure to keep up with assessments has left families without that basic confidence and that basic information. We have all seen the devastating stories from interstate, stories that remind us just how vulnerable children are, and how essential it is that governments uphold their responsibility to protect them. South Australian families should never be left exposed because the government of the day has fallen behind on their critical reviews.

If we are talking about the future, then children must be at the heart of that conversation. We have seen the child protection minister face the threat of multiple censure motions now, and calls for her resignation, not just from the Liberal Party but from other members across the political divide within this chamber: the Hon. Tammy Franks, the Hon. Connie Bonaros, the Hon. Sarah Game, and the Hon. Jing Lee. It is not often that we are all together, joined in one cause, but on this we are because the state we see this child protection system in is utterly unacceptable. Quite frankly, I am sick and tired of us constantly coming here and having the same conversations, but never seeing any action from this government.

If anyone has taken the opportunity to look at the newspaper across the last few months, the last few weeks, they will see just how dire this situation is—yet we see no change from this government. We see no appetite from this Premier to actually do something about it, but you know what? We have LIV Golf, so everything is great.

We see thousands of South Australians who have joined in our cause for a standalone child protection minister. We continue to see calls for this government to do better for the most vulnerable within our community. South Australia's most vulnerable definitely and desperately need change, so it is time this government took it more seriously.

Lastly, there is ramping. Let us not forget the corflutes that Labor will fix the ramping crisis and that we should, 'Vote Labor like your life depends on it, because it just might'. Their promises were clear, they were a contract to the South Australian people, and that contract has been breached. The results speak louder than the slogans. South Australians were promised the crisis would be fixed, instead it has worsened.

Time expired.