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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-12-01 Daily Xml
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GILES ELECTORATE

Ms BREUER (Giles) (15:33): This probably will be my last grievance speech for this parliament. Hopefully, I will be back but, of course, we never take anything for granted, even though I have a good margin. You never take an election for granted, so the next few months will be an interesting time.

I have spent an interesting four years here. I think probably I have enjoyed the past four years more than my previous eight years (although I enjoyed them as well), but the past four years have been very interesting. I pay tribute to the staff in my electorate office—particularly Tracy, who is my right arm and runs my office. She looks after the office and keeps things going for me. I acknowledge Sherie and also Eddie Hughes, who has been a longstanding member of my office and a very important member of my staff. He keeps me informed about what is happening in the community. I acknowledge Anouk and Hannah, a young trainee who is doing extremely well. Previously, I had Pat working there. They have all been a great support for me over the four years. Without your staff, your office would fold.

I also want to pay tribute to my colleagues and, in particular, the Government Whip in this place, with whom I have developed a good friendship and on whose support I have very much relied.

Mr Venning interjecting:

Ms BREUER: And the Opposition Whip; I think he has also contributed. I also want to pay tribute to the Hon. Lea Stevens and Trish White, who are both leaving us after the next election. They have been great for our party and in this place, and I wish them well in the future. There are many other colleagues of mine, but I will not start naming them all because Ivan is yelling at me across the floor.

I also want to pay tribute to the Hon. Graham Gunn, because I will probably not get a chance to speak to him again. I talked about him during the motion to congratulate him. I will miss him. It is interesting that he was standing up there today, still fighting for his electorate. He often fights for mine as well, I think, without realising it.

I want to thank the staff in this place. We have some excellent staff, especially the catering staff, Hansard staff and the people in this chamber. I wish Perry well in his retirement. I want to thank John, who is always very obliging and happy to look after us, and Kane and Joy, who do a great job for us here. There is also my committee staff member, Phil Frensham, who has supported me over the last four years as the chair of the Environment, Resources and Development Committee.

It is an interesting time. I have just received a message from one of the papers in my electorate, which asked: 'What have you achieved in your time here?' It is always interesting to face up to that and think, 'Well, what have I achieved?' I asked the Hon. Lea Stevens this morning what she had achieved as minister, and so on, and put her on the spot, because it is difficult to come up with a single achievement when you think back on all those things and the things you have done.

I suppose what I will be most proud of is the fact that I am always pleased to speak up for my electorate. I will always have a go when I need to and, while I am a loyal member of the government and certainly a loyal member of the Labor Party and would never consider leaving, I am prepared to speak up for my electorate when I need to. When the Premier asks me, 'What is a big issue in your electorate?', with an electorate my size there are so many different issues.

I was interested to hear the member for Stuart talk about the roads in the north of the state, and I want to mention them today and, in particular, the road from Hamilton Station to the Marla turn-off and then down to Nilpinna Station. There are some serious issues there. I have spoken to the minister today about this.

Sometimes these issues can be solved simply, if you think it through very carefully. Like the member for Stuart, I sometimes question the thought processes of some of the employees of the departments, but if we talk to them we can get things done. I will certainly be trying to make sure that that road is fixed, because it is in a bad state at the moment. The roads are never as bad as the member for Stuart makes them out to be, but in this case there is a bit of water damage and we need to fix that. Overall, I think we do a very good job, and the department of transport does a very good job with our roads.

My big issue in the last couple of years, which will be a big issue during the election campaign, is the jetty and the desalination plant that is proposed for Port Bonython near Whyalla. I have made my views very obvious on this. I do not support either of them being located in that spot. I think it is the wrong place, and I have consistently argued with the ministers on this. I think there are alternatives, because in Whyalla we never knock back opportunities; we never knock back development or industry. We are an industrial town: it is our base and our roots. However, we are saying that there are other alternatives, even if it was to go through the OneSteel facilities. We believe there are other options. We do not want to upset our local community. Port Bonython (as they call it; we call it Point Lowly) is a really important spot for us. It is a recreational area for us and it is a home of the cuttlefish and our fish farms. Let us look elsewhere. I wish everyone a merry Christmas and I look forward to another four years in this place.

Time expired.

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