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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-02-16 Daily Xml
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Address in Reply

ADDRESS IN REPLY

Debate on motion for adoption resumed.

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg) (10:42): I thank His Excellency for his address to the parliament this week, for the opening of the 52nd parliament, and also for his attendance this morning at the special service at the Pilgrim Church to bless us all and, of course, give us wise counsel in our deliberations—

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: He is not authorised to do that.

Ms CHAPMAN: I didn't say he did—in which we as members of the parliament received the blessing of the church leaders and for wise counsel in our deliberations in this place. I thank him for that. My message to him is: suffer the little children, and women and truck drivers.

In reading this contribution, one stark omission was any consideration to the startling statistics in the area of suicide, juvenile crime, murder in particular and domestic violence. As you are aware, Madam Speaker, we have law enforcement agencies that are funded by the government, such as our courts, police, Director of Public Prosecutions, Parole Board and Correctional Services, all of whom work to ensure that we have the safe communities that we all aspire to.

Safe and active neighbourhoods were a feature in the address that we had from His Excellency. However, what was omitted was the startling statistic of suicide in this state, of which there are some 200 per year, and which seems to have had no impact on this government as to how it is going to be addressed. Much is said about the road toll in this state and the deaths of our young people in particular. The media have picked this up, and it is not unimportant, but understand that it is only half of those that take their own lives. We must have this addressed. Much more has to be done than the government has done in its first 10 years, which was to bulldoze what facilities we had at Glenside Hospital and fill it up with supermarkets, the Film Corporation and churches.

In relation to juvenile crime, whilst the government, in the last 10 years, has committed to building an extra juvenile facility out at Cavan (the government is spending over $60 million on that), there has been little provision of support services within those institutions. This is evident day after day after day, not only in the inquiries this parliament has convened on juvenile justice but also by what we see as a stark reminder in this morning's newspaper, that is, that a 14-year-old boy (I think he is now 15) has been convicted and sentenced to a period of some 15 years nonparole for the murder of one of our most senior citizens, a women, I think, in her 60s. This is a stark reminder of the government's failure to address these important issues, which I am very disappointed to note was effectively omitted from the government's presentation of what it is going to do in the forthcoming term.

In relation to domestic violence, again, we have not even heard an announcement of a register for those women and children who are the victims of the murders and manslaughter that take place in this state. It is fair to say that the government needs to address bikie gangs and organised crime; they are out there responding to polls and, of course, to outrageous events. Indeed, the statistics for murder for this state show that 37 murders were committed last year, some 12 of which involved family members or friends and 21 of which involved strangers and that the profile, not surprisingly, is still very similar in that 16 were females and 23 were males.

What that probably tells us, if we look at what the situation was 10 years before, is that there has been a very significant increase in the profile of our murder victims in this state. There has been an increase in males as victims and an increase in stranger murders. So, it is not unreasonable that the government addresses issues in relation to organised crime; that is quite acceptable. We just wish to goodness the government would get on with it, and not waste year after year, not just in terms of legislative reform but ensuring that there is enactment—and I will come back to that in the moment.

However, it is also important that they do not overlook that last year at least 12 people were killed by their spouse, usually, or their partner or ex-partner and that it was predominantly women and children in this category. That cannot be overlooked, and it is time that the government actually got serious about this and that it not just try to pretend some interest. It has had inquiries. It took them two years to even implement a police injunction order procedure in the time it says it takes to train police to do it—years after they had received Ms Maurine Pyke QC's report.

So, again, it is very disappointing that we did not have it. Here is an example of what I see as complete ignorance of the real world. Just last week, I think, evidence was given to a coronial inquiry into the death of Shane Robinson. Members would remember that Shane Robinson killed himself in July 2009, at Yunta, after he had stabbed a police officer and had held a 75-year-old woman hostage—a most despicable crime—and he had done so while he was out on parole.

The first response to this was that the former attorney-general rushed out and bleated to the world about how inept the Parole Board had been in dealing with this. What transpired later, in fact—before we even get to the coronial inquiry—was that there was an acknowledgement that a warrant had been issued and had been laying out there for some two weeks before the police had acted on it.

When we came to this place last year to discuss the Correctional Services Act reform, which was to give the Correctional Services Board extra powers to deal with Shane Robinson-type incidents, we found that there had been promises made, thankfully, that these warrants would now be acted on promptly. Whilst the Parole Board has a role to play in this, when they issue a warrant for the arrest of a parolee all law enforcement agencies have to take some responsibility. So, I say to the government, 'Don't put your head in the sand and just start blaming someone you think you can pick on,' when, in fact, we all take responsibility, including the police who have now made a commitment to ensure that they will execute those warrants. But the evidence a week ago at the coronial inquiry was the startling evidence of the Chief Executive of Correctional Services, namely, Kevin Hill. The executive gave evidence that—this is very important—after the attacks and death, questions were raised and there were allegations also by minister Koutsantonis that the Parole Board had spectacularly let down the people of South Australia.

He told the inquest that the Department for Correctional Services, in fact, had been slow to pass on crucial information about Mr Robinson's past. In fact, he specifically said that the department did not immediately notify the board of a serious breach just a month earlier when Mr Robinson had strangled his girlfriend. Now, that information was critical. What does the government do about it? It puts its head in the sand on these issues. The ministers sit here: minister Rankine, minister Koutsantonis and minister Rau. These three people are responsible for the law enforcement out there.

We want answers, obviously, as to why there is no mention of the reform in this area; why they just come along here and want to give more power to bureaucrats to be able to act in the face of evidence that has been given at inquests that, in fact, there has been a major breach on behalf of the very bureaucrats they ask to give more power to.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Ms CHAPMAN: I say to His Excellency, 'Inform your government, please, that it has been monumentally deficient and negligent, I suggest—

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: Point of order, ma'am.

Ms CHAPMAN: —in its application of this area of the law.'

The SPEAKER: Point of order. Member for Croydon.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: It is contrary to standing orders to place the vice-regal representative in an invidious position, or to make reference to the vice-regal representative in a polemical way; and I ask you to caution the member for Bragg not to instruct, via her Address in Reply, the vice-regal representative to say something to the government.

The SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Croydon.

Ms CHAPMAN: If I may speak to that, Madam Speaker?

The SPEAKER: There are standing orders relating to the vice-regal, so I would ask you to very careful.

Ms CHAPMAN: Indeed, there are, and to make any offensive statement to Her Majesty or her representative is in breach of standing orders. I, however, indicated a request. The Executive Council, including the Governor, is a very important part of the trilogy of institutions that represent this state. They meet, I think, still once a week, and they have a responsibility, as His Excellency has. All these speeches, of course, are going to be conveyed to His Excellency, and we thank you for that; and I hope that he reads mine with some application.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Croydon!

Ms CHAPMAN: Let me say that the other aspect I want to speak about is what has transpired after 10 years. It has really become a totally dysfunctional and incompetent rabble of a government—the pale imitation of what we have today from the Rann era. Remember, we had Rann, Foley and Atkinson. The great three amigos of the parliament were in here during the previous government to present to us their stamp on that era. I would describe them as arrogant, rude and dismissive—and that is to be kind to them—of that era.

We are glad they are gone; that they are out of the way and that they are no longer going to be so dismissive and rude and arrogant towards the people of South Australia. But gone are the three amigos, and what have we got now? We have the three blind mice. We have got Weatherill, Rau and Snelling in charge. They are the three who have replaced them. What have they replaced it with? They are clearly the people who are ignorant, amateur—

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: Point of order, ma'am.

Ms CHAPMAN: —and insincere.

The SPEAKER: Point of order. Member for Croydon.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: It is contrary to the long-established practice of the houses of parliament in the English-speaking world for any member to refer to another member as an animal. I refer you to Erskine May, and I ask you to ask the member for Bragg to withdraw the reference of three members of this house as 'three blind mice'.

The SPEAKER: I am very concerned that the member for Croydon feels so wounded by those comments, but I would ask you to just withdraw it.

Ms CHAPMAN: I am happy to do that.

The SPEAKER: I'm glad.

Ms CHAPMAN: I notice he did not have any complaint about himself being called one of the three amigos, but in any event—

The SPEAKER: He is obviously very sensitive this morning.

Ms CHAPMAN: What we have is a replacement government, under the leadership of these three men, which is a demonstration of ignorance, amateur behaviour and insincerity. It is of great concern to me, when I read this 'visionary statement' which is to be some tabloid of a patent for the next four years from this government, that it should be so wanton in its omission of important aspects for this state.

Not only is it clear from me and the members on this side of the parliament, but I note even the press this morning were quick to criticise the government in identifying question time as having degenerated into a farce even though, when he took over as premier, Jay Weatherill pledged a spirit of cooperation. The publication this morning indicates that he has not only deviated from his own code of civility, but also simply avoided any scrutiny of his government by this parliament in question time. I quote:

Every question asked by the opposition resulted in nothing more than a tirade from the government's front bench about poor Liberal performance.

They have been caught out and what we have is this 'visionary statement' which has obviously been identified as nothing more than a squint.

Now I come to the claim that there will be a commitment to advanced manufacturing which is a most disturbing aspect of this contribution in that we do not actually have any blueprint in this. We have a promise for another committee to be set up to develop advanced manufacturing, we have commentary about the importance of salvaging what we have left of manufacturing, but we do not actually have any indication, other than setting up another committee, to advance manufacturing in this state.

When the government undertakes this commitment to advance manufacturing in this state I would ask that they read an article by Paul Cleary that was published in The Australian last weekend. It is an article which my office has done some research on in respect of real issues that are facing South Australia, indeed across Australia, but South Australia because of the manufacturing industry and the dearth of opportunities here. It starts:

When it comes to giving us our daily bread, the single biggest cost is not the ingredients, nor even the manufacturing process that includes labour and power. For one of Australia's biggest food manufacturers, Goodman Fielder, distribution accounts for almost half the delivered cost of the loaves it bakes every day of the week and then trucks to 20,000 retail outlets.

It refers to the company's 'decentralised network of 19 industrial bakeries' stretching across the country. It goes on:

...delivery costs account for 43 per cent of each loaf, well ahead of raw materials at 30 per cent, and manufacturing at 27 per cent.

This is a company which is not completely centralised. It has 80 distribution points and it trucks out to 500 delivery runs to retail outlets. It goes on to say:

...freight must be an even bigger cost on companies that have consolidated their operations to achieve economies of scale. In the era of high protection, Holden had plants in several states; but it has now consolidated its vehicle manufacturing into one plant at Elizabeth...

that of which we are proudly the host, the last remaining manufacturing base here in South Australia.

Whilst the article goes on to talk about ways in which manufacturing may be assisted—the abolition of payroll tax, the opportunity for competition, exposing the importance of having food labelling for companies, 'Made in Australia' and all sorts of other answers—it points out the following in respect of the manufacturing survival against the mining industry. It says:

Indeed, as the capital-intensive mining industry soaks up more than half of all investment, the labour-intensive economy is not only smashed by the high dollar, it is also starved of capital and is shedding jobs. While the government is focusing on the iconic car industry...(and other manufacturers, it needs to consider this challenge) Australia's food industry employs about 300,000 people and accounts for one in three manufacturing jobs, yet it barely rates a mention when politicians talk about what needs to be done to maintain a viable and diverse manufacturing base.

When primary producers are included, the industry is facing a triple whammy of competition from powerful retailers, increased food imports and higher transport costs as the mining boom pushes farmers off the rail lines...The loss of food manufacturers will have a bigger effect over time than the closure of a car plant.

That is the claim that is made. I think it is important that the Premier and his cabinet understand that, whilst there might be a meritorious case to save our own remaining car industry here in South Australia—and, of course, we are not allowed to have a business plan for that, we are not allowed to know what they are going to do until they have done the deal and all that, so there is the usual secretive way that they are keeping it under wraps—there is a much bigger issue out there for the manufacturing industry of this state, which is important for our state (that which is left).

There is a major problem against imports. There is major competition for our rail links. It is established that the production cost of even a loaf of bread is 30 per cent for the producer for the raw materials, 27 per cent for the manufacturer, and a staggering 43 per cent for every loaf of bread that is distributed—the cost of getting it out to people. Bearing that in mind, we have to accept and understand that consumers are going to look to cheap imports. We have a spiralling descent in both consumer choice and food security in this country, as well as a significant problem for our manufacturing base.

I ask the government to look very carefully at this, and be reminded of what we were told at the service this morning, the blessing we received and to have wise deliberations—'Give us this day our daily bread.'

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (11:03): The Governor's speech on Tuesday is in no way any reflection on His Excellency. It was written by the government to be read by the Governor, and I must admit that, in 10 years in this place, it has to be one of the flattest I have heard, which is a disappointment because I have a lot of respect for the ability of some people opposite but that ability does not seem to be coming forth. I can say that the Governor we have in South Australia at the moment, His Excellency, Kevin Scarce, has been doing an excellent job. I am very pleased that he has been re-appointed for another two years. I thought it might have been for another complete term, which I think is five years, but I understand how hard he and his wife, Liz, work so it is very pleasing to see that they have been re-appointed.

I notice that the mover of this motion on the Address in Reply, the member for Little Para, who represents Elizabeth and some of those suburbs around there, mentioned that the Governor is from Elizabeth, a northern suburbs boy. When I was very small, I think in late 1955, we moved to Elizabeth South (Hogarth Road, Elizabeth South) and I went to Elizabeth South Primary School. When we moved to Salisbury in 1960, I went to Salisbury Primary School and Salisbury High School, as did the member for Unley—we are boys of the northern suburbs—and I am very proud to have that history as part of my roots because it is a great part of South Australia and a great part of the state to have come from.

I refer to what the member for Little Para said about 'breaking down barriers and showing local kids that they have the same opportunities as people from more affluent suburbs'. He was talking about the way the universities work with the schools in the northern suburbs to try to get the kids to achieve their full goals, ambitions and potential. If you want an example of the fruit of that you need look no further than His Excellency and members of this place, because it is a fine example of what can be done if you set your goals and work hard to achieve those goals.

The welcome to country is sometimes a bit controversial. There is a thought out there that it is a bit of a sop to our Aboriginal friends and communities. Can I say, for one, that I acknowledge the close relationship our Aboriginal friends and communities have with their land. The need to recognise this true relationship is something that I think none of us should overlook. We had Kaurna elder Lewis O'Brien, Uncle Lewis, come and give the welcome on Tuesday. It is disappointing that members of the lower house do not get to see that—we go in there after that. It is great to see a man like him representing the Aboriginal communities of South Australia.

I congratulate Uncle Lewis O'Brien on being awarded an honorary doctorate at Flinders University for his contribution as an elder on the Indigenous Health Professional Education Advisory Committee and as Patron/Elder in Residence to the Indigenous Preparation for Medicine Program at Flinders. My son is doing second-year medicine, in fact he has just deferred for 12 months, but he was telling me—

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

Dr McFETRIDGE: He is a specialised vet! He was telling me that the program there, including the cross-cultural work they are getting, is very worthwhile. As I have said, the speech that was handed to the Governor to read out this year was quite flat. I will have a quick look at it. One thing that really blew out at you was on page 13—unlucky for some—of the speech:

The government believes that our public discourse should be more civil—that we should be slower to attribute blame, and quicker to accept responsibility. Parliament should demonstrate how debate and dissent can be constructive—and not be a forum for endless squabbles that lead nowhere. To this end, the Government will call on all Members to maintain the proper standards during this session. And beyond this, we will enact a Code of Conduct for all Members, to ensure that their public lives are beyond reproach.

That did not last very long at all. Just read the article in today's The Advertiser about the farce that question time has become, because it is question time, not answer time. That is the problem. If it became answer time and short, sharp and factual answers were given, then things would go a lot more smoothly. But what do we get? We get the politics, the tirades from the other side, making political points from, sometimes, things that are completely untrue, particularly our policy on GMH. There is no stronger supporter of GMH than I.

I remember them building the Pinnock sewing machine factory opposite 85 Hogarth Road, Elizabeth South, when I was a young kid, even before Holden's was thought of. I remember them building the Holden's factory and what a great thing it was for Elizabeth, what a great thing it has been, and still will be, for this state. To say that the Liberal Party does not support that is completely wrong, but that is what we had. We have seen episode after episode, since the Governor's speech, where this Premier and his government have not lived up to what was written on page 13 of the speech.

On pages 2 and 3 of the speech there is mention that, 'South Australians are troubled and uneasy about the shifting and uncertain times the world now faces.' When you have high water prices, high electricity prices, high land tax, high government charges all the time, the cost of living is a significant issue for each and every South Australian. It does not matter where you come from or where you live, each and every South Australian is very aware of the costs that are imposed in this state.

The Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Isobel Redmond, mentioned someone she knew moving their businesses and real estate portfolio interstate because of costs in this state, and I had exactly that put to me. People who live at Somerton Park had businesses in the Northern Territory and were selling up just because of the logistics; they said that there was just no way they would invest in South Australia because of the costs and charges here.

On page 3 of the Governor's speech it said that the government had comprehensively reviewed where the state now stands and made decisions about where its focus needs to be for the future. Well, the focus for the future is not the sale of the forests, it is not the sale of the lotteries; if you want a future fund what better thing than the forests? That is $40 million a year, and year after year after year it will come in. It will certainly increase with CPI, as it does, but it is there. It is the whole stupidity of it, when the federal Future Fund is looking at investing in the forests here. Where is the sense in that?

Regarding the sale of the lotteries, I just remind the house that I think the figure was $97 million—it is about that anyway—that the state lotteries put into our public hospitals last year; just about every year they are putting in that sort of figure into hospitals. Where is that money going to come from? There is also the $24 million that the agencies pick up through the sale of lottery tickets and scratchies, that sort of thing. They do not get much out of me, unfortunately for them, but they do reap a lot from the Lotteries Commission agencies. There is not a lot of foresight, looking towards the future, there, but this government seems to be set on that. It will rue the day when it makes those final decisions.

'Seven primary areas of focus for action,' doesn't that sound good? That sounds really good; what a motherhood statement that is. It is the sort of stuff we have been seeing from day one. Clean, green food industry—

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

Dr McFETRIDGE: Look, we all agree with that. It is all motherhood but we all agree with it: a clean, green food industry; the mining boom and its benefits; advanced manufacturing; a vibrant city; safe and active neighbourhoods; affordable living; early childhood development.

What happened to Fraser Mustard's report? Where did that go? It sat for a long, long time. I hope the Minister for Education resurrects that report because there is some fantastic stuff in there. I had the pleasure of having dinner with Fraser Mustard down at Glenelg, and I had a chat with him about some of the issues. The late Fraser Mustard was a man who will be missed. He was a fount of wisdom on early childhood development and it is a tragedy that now, many years after he came here as a Thinker in Residence, this government is mentioning early childhood development. There is no doubt that these seven areas are areas that we need to focus on, but we should have been focusing on them for the last 10 years of this government.

The cost of living in South Australia is one thing this government will have to look at, and it will be something that this opposition will be focusing on very strongly. As I said, the future fund sounds good but why didn't the government accept the Liberal proposition three or four months ago was it now, when the shadow treasurer proposed it?

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Dr McFETRIDGE: I can understand the politics, I can understand the interjections from the member for Croydon, the banter that goes across this place. I understand that there is a bit of theatre involved in here. The kids that I bring in from the schools, we show them the blood line, the sword line, we show them a copy of the execution warrant of Charles I, and those are the sorts of things that they remember. Even my granddaughter's grade 1 class remembers the blood line, the sword line, and the execution warrant, but not much else.

We understand that there has been robust debate in here for many years, but let's move forward. Let us go back to page 13 of the Governor's speech and let us actually see the Premier, the leader of the state, put that into action, and if there is a good suggestion from this side or from the government I think we do ourselves a disservice not to at least examine it and critique it, and also accept it, if that is the thing we should do—not might do, but should do. I think it was Sir Thomas Playford who said, 'Give the people of South Australia what they need, not just what they want,' and I think those words really show what we should be doing. I suppose it is the same as JFK's words, 'Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.' They are similar sorts of thoughts.

The state of the economy in South Australia is going to continue to suffer under this government while we have the faceless men and women of the union dictating to the Labor Party. We have seen it with the change in premiers and we have seen it now with this bizarre decision to make two half holidays on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. I cannot understand why the government does not examine this deal much more closely, and its effects on the people of South Australia, with the imposition of the 2½ times penalty rates for relatively normal hours. They might be very busy hours but they are relatively normal shopping hours.

I will just read some of the emails I have received from just a few of my constituents who run businesses. I boast to people that I have 106 restaurants and cafes within walking distance of my office in Glenelg—and I am trying to keep my weight down by walking between those restaurants and cafes. They are all very hardworking people and some of them pay extraordinarily high rents and overheads, and now we have this other impost on them. I will not read out the names of the owners and their businesses but just the content of the emails. One email states:

Dear Sir

We operate a number of stores in South Australia. This proposed legislation is another example of this state government's...intention to take business back to the 'dark ages'. At the least, this legislation will mean our business closing at 5pm on those days...this will guarantee the demise of many small businesses in this state.

Another one states:

Hi Duncan, I would only support the amendments from 6pm, not 5pm, but most traders I have spoken to are against any change at all.

That was from a hotel owner. Another email states:

...we would like to voice our opposition to any additional public holiday penalty hours for employees (Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve).

Business just cannot sustain such costs and it would adversely affect the purpose of even opening during these times. You may think, 'Well just don't open' but then we lose market share to the bigger chains and department stores who can put on skeleton staffing numbers. As a business, we cannot put on .5 of a staff member—so our costs are inordinately higher than department stores...

Fair enough for additional outside core hours of trade, but core hours should be at normal pay rates, regardless as to whether these hours are considered 'significant socialising hours'...As it is, I haven't paid myself for the past three years. It leaves me wondering in the wee small hours of the morning why I am doing this at all. I may as well give up and stay at home gardening. At least I'd live a lot longer.

Another email states:

Having read the proposed changes to the Holiday Act I am thoroughly opposed to any change. At this time, small business is doing it tough, I know of very few traders who would speculate that times are better. To increase costs unnecessarily is both unfair and irresponsible. Staff costs for my business represent almost 10 per cent of sales, with a 25 per cent margin this leaves very little to cover rent and other outgoings. We already face competition from major chains who price unrealistically and take dollars from farmers and other suppliers to fund this. Please do all you can to discourage any change.

And one more states:

For what it's worth we would like to mention the proposed changes to Christmas and New Years public holidays will have an overall detrimental effect on our trade, and furthermore staff remuneration too. Since the federal government's changes to public holiday rates in early 2011 now means we pay casual staff approximately $42p/h...on public holidays.

Since these changes were implemented we have since decided to close our two city restaurants...for all dine-in trade, and only trade takeaway...

The emails go on and on, and a lot more are coming in every day from businesses I represent in the electorate of Morphett, particularly in the Glenelg area. This decision by the government is really something that it needs to think about.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: What about Business SA?

Dr McFETRIDGE: I understand there is quite a split in Business SA. The member for Croydon talks about Business SA. I think this is a bizarre announcement from Business SA. I do not think it represents the true membership of Business SA, and I will certainly be interested to see how many of my businesses down at the Bay are members of Business SA. I do not believe they are represented by Business SA.

I am really excited about my new portfolios—police, emergency services, corrections, road safety, volunteers and Aboriginal affairs—and I will talk a bit more about these later. On page 10 of the Governor's speech, it states:

We know that there is now 36 per cent less victim-reported crime than there was in 2001...And securing the safety of the people is a primary role of government.

If that is the case, why would you cut back on police recruiting? Why would you impose the efficiencies on the police department that are being required? The numbers of police on our streets should be maintained, should be given the highest precedent by this government, and we need to make sure that the South Australian police are given every support they ask for and deserve. I have the highest regard for the South Australian police, as I believe everybody in this place does. I will be looking forward to having further briefings by the police and to making sure that issues are raised in this place on behalf of South Australians and the hardworking men and women in our police department.

I was pleased to be with the minister and the member for Finniss at the opening of the new police academy last week. It is a fantastic building.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

Dr McFETRIDGE: It is a good thing that the government has done it. It is a fantastic thing, but well deserved. The member for Croydon should know that I am one person in this place who will criticise whenever I can—it is my job in opposition to scrutinise the government—but not if it does something that is really good. The police academy is something that is really good, and I am pleased that the police department has got what it deserves.

One of the other portfolios I have is emergency services. My father was in the MFS for a bit over 30 years, I think it was. My nephew is in the MFS now. I have a terrific working relationship with the MFS. I think that they do a fantastic job. I will say that I am looking forward to further discussions with them on simple things such as the name change to a fire and rescue service, because they do far more than put out fires. It is a much more technical job than it used to be many years ago when my father started in 1956.

Today is the anniversary of Ash Wednesday 1983. My father was the superintendent in the fire service and in charge of the Metropolitan Fire Service response on Ash Wednesday. He received a Governor's commendation for the work he did on that day, and I am very proud of my dad.

I put on the record that I first joined the CFS in 1984 at Kangarilla when we moved down there, and I am still a member. When I was at Salisbury primary school, the Salisbury EFS station was over the road. It was one of the old Nissen huts. When the siren went off, nothing went on in the class for that minute or so whilst the siren was going. There is an issue about fire sirens, which I will talk about at another time.

I have been a member of Kangarilla CFS and I was captain of the Happy Valley CFS for eight months. People say, 'Well, only eight months?' Yes: because I realised that my business—my veterinary practice—was very demanding and I could not afford to spend what was amounting to about two days a week doing paperwork for the CFS. The burden of paperwork, the red tape, is still there for volunteers and we need to be very conscious that we are not asking too much of them and that they are given every opportunity to do what they want to do, that is, help their communities.

The Kangarilla CFS is a great group of men and women. Some are older like me and some a lot younger. Ken Best runs the servo down at Kangarilla and was the captain of the Kangarilla CFS for nearly 30 years. He has retired from that position and Jeff Benham has taken over now. Ken has been a stalwart of the Kangarilla community, through both the service station and as the captain of the CFS.

I went out the other day to the Toops Hill fire, driving the bulk water carrier, as they call it now—the tanker. You need a heavy truck licence to drive some of these vehicles and I have one of those, so I went out for the day. It makes you realise what idiots are out there lighting these fires. Your blood boils when you realise the damage that could be done by idiots lighting fires. We need to make sure we support all our volunteers and full-time professionals in the MFS and CFS.

The SES does a fantastic job. I am looking at variations on their roles and I have spoken to officers in the SES about how we can improve, enhance and modify their roles because we cannot do without the volunteers in floods and other disasters.

Listening to Radio National last night, there is going to be a flood of devastating proportions at some stage in South Australia and we are going to need every man and woman on deck to make sure we are able to respond as best we possibly can. That will be both the full-time professionals and also the volunteers.

My other portfolio is Corrections. The first thing I should say about that is we have seen a few examples of where this government has had to pay out contractors and pay out miners because of changed attitudes and, should I say, bungled negotiations and political decisions. In Corrections, we saw the $10 million payout to the various consortia that were wanting to build our new prisons. We do need new facilities in South Australia—not just adding on, not just repairing, not just refurbishing.

One of the big issues that has been raised with me by various people throughout Corrections and other places is the age of our prisoners and the numbers of prisoners. Thanks to Family First's Hon. Mr Evans, when he had the government change the statute of limitations on sex offenders, we now have many, many aged offenders in our prisons. Some of them will need intensive elderly care. They will need wheelchairs; they will need a lot of additional facilities. Some people may say, 'Well, damn them,' but I think you have to be humane because, while you want to punish them and the incarceration is part of that, it should not be the old bread and water in the dungeons style now.

The people in Corrections are working very hard. I aim to visit all of our prisons within the next few months—just as a visitor, for no other reason—and see what we can do to assist the rehabilitation of our prisoners. It costs $194 a day for a prisoner. We cannot keep paying that. It is like hospitals. The most efficient hospital is a hospital with no patients, according to Yes, Minister, and I think in some ways it is the same with a prison. If you could reduce prisoner numbers, the reduced burden on the state's coffers would be significant.

Road safety is a massive issue for us all. I do a fair bit of country driving and I leave my lights on all the time. I think we should be running a campaign of 'light up your life: have your headlights on when you are out in the country', because, particularly with darker coloured cars, these steely grey cars, flashing through the shadows of our gum trees and things, it can be difficult to see them coming out of intersections. If you have got your lights on anytime, 24 hours a day, it is much easier to see these vehicles. I do not know whether it would have a massive effect but, if it saves one life, I think it is one of those things we should be looking at because the cost of deaths and injuries on all of the portfolios in this place is very, very significant.

The cost of injured road accident victims being in our health facilities must be in the millions and millions of dollars, so we need to focus and not have this silent mentality. I do not like using the word 'silent' but it appears we do have concrete walls between departments in this place where they are not going to spend money in one area to try to save money in their own area. The silent mentality has been broken down, so we are looking at road safety across all portfolios. It is not just a thing for the shadow minister or the Minister for Road Safety.

Volunteers in South Australia is another one of my portfolios I am getting back, actually, and I am pleased to have it back. We have the highest number of volunteers per capita of any state. Our volunteers are worth $4.9 billion per year and that is an amazing figure. We could never replace our volunteers, whether they are CFS, Meals on Wheels—you name it. There are hundreds and hundreds of organisations, thousands of volunteers and billions of dollars involved in this.

It is an important area we need to focus on and I will certainly be looking very closely at the occupational health and safety legislation and the work and health safety legislation that is going through this place. The fears are quite genuine amongst our volunteer organisations because of the impost of further responsibilities and regulation. Nobody can be allowed to act in a cavalier fashion or recklessly but, at the same time, let us not kill off the goose that is laying the golden eggs—$4.9 billion worth of golden eggs.

I am very pleased to have the Aboriginal affairs portfolio back again. As people in this place know, I have bent over backwards to try to be bipartisan on Aboriginal affairs. I am unfortunately having to admit that that really has not worked as well as I had hoped and I will be taking a more aggressive attitude on Aboriginal affairs. I will be very fair about it. I will be very focused about it, so that the Aboriginal communities in South Australia can rely on me to be their spokesperson and hopefully their champion.

There are many issues that are going nowhere. I have a song at home by a calypso singer. It is called Dance of the Politician. It is one step forward, two steps back, and then sidetrack. We cannot do that with Aboriginal affairs. Even former premier Rann said to me one day, 'Aboriginal affairs always seems to be one step forward and three steps back.' We cannot do that. We have to move forward. We cannot keep spending. I think the global budget is $200 million a year on 3,000 people in the APY lands and we still have not really improved the conditions up there.

We need to make sure that the decisions we are putting in place, the legislation we are putting in place is effective. Just as the DPP said about the bikie legislation, it does not have to be tough, it does not have to be strong (and that is the word I have used) legislation, it has to be effective legislation. We need to make sure that we discuss and liaise with the Aboriginal communities to put effective legislation in place so that they are going to move forward.

The Prime Minister made some announcements yesterday on Closing the Gap. It is a very large gap. We have reduced it just in a very small way, but as Winston Churchill said in his short and best speech, 'Never give up, never give up, never give up.' That is what we can never do in South Australia; we can never ever give up on giving South Australians—whether they are Anangu, whether they are pirinpa, so whether they are black or white—the very best of what this great state can offer.

I just hope that this government does not offer us the bland outcomes that we have seen in this bland speech, which, unfortunately, had to be read by the Governor on behalf of this government. We need better leadership; we look for better leadership. I do not see it, unfortunately. I just see the same old, same old, and I look forward to seeing the opposition hold this government to account, to make sure that they are responsible for their actions, because with power comes responsibility and at the moment I just see an irresponsible government. They did not expect to win the last election and I guarantee I will be doing everything I possibly can to make sure they do not win the next one.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (11:32): I also take the opportunity to wish the Governor well for his extended two-year term and for his efforts on behalf of the people of South Australia. I think Kevin Scarce and his wife, Liz, both do a good job in that office, ably assisted by their staff. When the time comes for him to step down, his replacement will have to be admirably suited to the position, as it appears that Kevin (I should say His Excellency) has fallen into it.

There are a number of issues that I want to touch on. Firstly, I found it a somewhat disappointing speech. Others have different views on it. I found it, as I think the member for Morphett said, fairly disappointing in its content and fairly blandly delivered, but that is the way of the world. I am not so sure that the government will get to achieve what it is talking about and I guess there is no greater evidence of that than what is taking place in South Australia now with the outlaw motorbike gangs and the fact that they seem to be perpetually at war and that we are having shootings and deaths in the streets.

I wonder whether, at the end of the day, the police are not going to be found a little bit wanting on this, unfortunately. We can put all the legislation in the world into place—and the opposition has supported the government on most of this legislation and tried to firm it up, make it better and produce amendments—but, quite frankly, when shootings take place, people die and bikies such as Mr Focarelli are put in protective custody, I seriously wonder where it is all going to end.

I was talking to some police officers last week, and I suggested to them that they should go to these bikies and tell them that the weapons they are using are not big enough, because clearly they are not getting their intended targets. It is a dreadful thing to say I suppose, but the reality is that these things go on—Cafe Paesano and this poor lad who was shot at Dry Creek. Vince Focarelli has been shot a number of times now and is still surviving. One police officer did say that he thought that when he retired he might go as a consultant and teach them to shoot straight. I know we jest about it, but it is an extremely serious matter.

It is an extremely serious matter that Vince Focarelli I suspect is now in G Division and will probably be there for some time. Having visited G Division a couple of times in my role as a parliamentarian, I can tell you that they will not get him in there.

Mr Sibbons: For how long?

Mr PENGILLY: Brief visits, Sibbo. They will not get him in there, but ultimately he will come out or go into mainstream prison or whatever, and his future is not bright. We have to stop this sort of thing. The former premier puffed and blew and made lots of noise about knocking down bikie fortresses, but from my observations they are all still standing there pretty well and still operating fairly successfully, so in that respect it has been a dismal failure.

I also read in the press, even this morning, of what is taking place in Sydney. It is a disease. These mongrels of bikies peddle drugs and violence and do not care who is in the way. The poor old bystander can end up being the victim. They are a blight on society. I sometimes wonder whether they should all be invited to an oval somewhere, and the last one left standing goes to prison. If that is the way they want to behave, they should take it out on each other in a big group and let the rest of us get on with our lives.

Mr Speaker, the car industry in South Australia has long been a critical industry—Mr Deputy Speaker, I beg your pardon: the speakers change quite regularly up there and I did not take a lot of notice of you. We had the former transport minister, who was unfortunately sacked some time ago, there yesterday. The car industry has come in for a lot of discussion in the last week or two. It is a critical industry to South Australia and to Australia. I just wonder how much longer governments of all persuasions can go on putting in place bail-out packages to keep the car industry running.

I know that my federal colleague, the member for Mayo (Jamie Briggs), has had quite a bit to say about the car industry and his thoughts on the matter. I get people in the rural or tourism sectors or other industries coming up to me and saying, 'Look, the government of the day is continuing to bail out the car industry. We are about as efficient as we can be in our industries, yet we see no bail out,' so it leaves the rest of the community extremely ill at ease while this goes on.

Anyone who had the opportunity to watch Foreign Correspondent on Tuesday night about the car industry, the Audi industry in Bavaria which I think employs 22,000 workers—they are going gangbusters. It was an extremely interesting program. If you did not see it, it is worth going back and having a look at it. It is worth noting, particularly the way Europe is going, how Germany (and in particular Bavaria) is still powering ahead.

We are still to have a lot of pain and agony yet in the car industry. There is no question that they produce good products. For the record, along with many other members in this place I drive a Commodore, and it is quite a good car. I would have to say that it is not really suitable for my electorate: I am continually hitting kangaroos, wallabies or some other form of stock, and it is too low, and I had to get a new exhaust the other day. The point I make is that, while members of parliament are required to have Australian-produced vehicles and Holdens in South Australia, there are far more suitable vehicles around, so it is an issue and something we will have to look at.

I was interested that in the Governor's speech he talked about health plans in conjunction with local councils in South Australia. I am not sure where this is going to run, but let me say that local government in South Australia in most cases has little money. They are not likely to have any more money. I am very much of the view that across the nation—whether it be federal, local or state—we have to start trimming budgets, and CPI increases only, and that applies to local government at the grassroots. I hope that they take note of that.

Quite frankly, the people of South Australia, the ordinary Joe and Josephine Blow in the street or out in the country, are struggling like they have never struggled before. I have a constant stream of people coming through my office who cannot pay their power bills, they cannot pay their water bills, gas bills or registration bills. The list goes on. It is simply not good enough that charges continue to go through the roof on such things as gas, water and electricity, and the poor average person of a family with two or three kids or pensioners are absolutely struggling to be able to live satisfactorily and, in many cases, this is after they have spent their life in the workforce. If they are on the aged pension, they really have no disposable income whatsoever.

I say to the government that if they are putting in place health plans with councils, who is going to pay? Where is the money going to come from? Are you expecting the local government sector to pick up on this and even rate people higher to pay for it? Are you providing the money? I will be interested to see the details.

That then translates also very much in my electorate to public transport. Public transport is an enormous issue—or more to the point, the lack of it. In the lead-up to the last election, the government promised some money to put in some public transport in the Victor Harbor and south coast area. We have the LinkSA bus service which seems to be working particularly well.

I say to the Minister for Transport Services: get over the catfight in the office. There is an enormous catfight going on in that office between the minister, the chief of staff and, I understand, poor Nicole Cornes. I understand that Nicole Cornes is on the point of a nervous breakdown. It is out in the open. It is an absolute drama. Nicole is a very pleasant person, and I feel very sorry for her; it is circulating out there now that it is taking place—a catfight at the O.K. Corral. I hope that Nicole comes out at the end in a satisfactory condition because she deserves better. She is a failed candidate, but I have always found her to be very pleasant. For a minister to have a catfight going on between her, the chief of staff and one of her other staffers is not good enough. Public transport is a—

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: Point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. How on earth is it appropriate for the member to describe activities going on in a ministerial office as a 'catfight'? How on earth is that appropriate?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I think the point of order is around relevance. I ask that the member for Finniss perhaps continue his speech.

Mr PENGILLY: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The fact of the matter is that I was told it was a catfight by a member of the Labor Party. Sorry, I will keep going. I have had my two bob's worth on that. Can I also talk about earlier this week the payout to Marathon Resources over the Arkaroola debacle. This would have to rate as one of the sorriest states of affairs in South Australia's history, what was done to Marathon. I am actually fed up to the back teeth with the way Marathon have been accused of this, that and everything else including waste disposal a couple of years ago.

The reality is that a contractor who was working for Marathon did that. That contractor put a few bags of material under the ground; there was not very much. It has been blown out of all proportion to what it really is. They went ahead and they were issued with another exploration licence and the government stuffed it up. The former premier Mike Rann had to go out and make a big man of himself and announce that Arkaroola was going to be declared a sanctuary and part of the world heritage area and out of that he was hoping to get a job with David Suzuki. So, we have a good South Australian company that was shafted. Mark my words: ultimately, when we are all long gone and the world's resources are running low, I have no doubt that they will get uranium out of Arkaroola, whatever they say at the moment.

I think it is a sad moment. I am glad that there has been an agreement that Marathon will get $5 million. My personal view is that it should have been paid a lot more. I am not aware of the negotiations that took place or anything else, but I thought Marathon was given short shrift and its directors have my sympathy. It is a good company and I hope it goes on to greater things. I thought the way they went about all of that was very cynical.

Earlier I mentioned the police issue, and currently that issue around the state, particularly in my electorate, is causing a bit of angst at a local level on both sides of the electorate. I have stations where other officers urgently need placing, such as Yankalilla and on Kangaroo Island. The officers who are in place there are doing extraordinarily long hours. The situation on the island has been resolved to some extent but there has not been much resolution at Yankalilla.

An issue taking place at the moment is the activity of one officer in the Fleurieu who is making life hell for farmers and other people. I am having some communication with others at the moment about this to see if we can expedite some sort of common sense. As has been pointed out in this place, this is the Year of the Farmer. There is no greater need in this nation than to produce food for us and for the world and to avoid starvation overseas, and we have some of the most efficient and wonderful farmers in the world in Australia and, more particularly, in South Australia.

Farmers have to move between properties; they have to move their machinery between properties; they have to go up and down the road between blocks and they carry firearms with them for vermin control, and they are getting clobbered on these matters, which I do not think is at all fair. I think this needs putting on the record in the house for the benefit of those opposite. The Governor's speech talked about law and order. Farmers have to drive down the road with a tractor and a roll of hay on the back or with a roll of hay on the ute and, by its very nature, pieces blow off. In the Mount Compass area farmers have been booked for having hay blow off rolls that they are transporting. It is absolutely ridiculous.

In high rainfall country it is also ridiculous when they are singled out (and this has happened in my electorate) because their numberplates are unreadable because they are driving down dirt roads with mud going everywhere, and they come out onto the road and they have been pulled up and booked for having an obscured numberplate. I find that totally ridiculous and a lack of common sense.

People have also allegedly been taken to task by police officers for having a firearm in their ute when they are driving around. I have yet to find out whether or not they have been booked but I will find out. As I said earlier, if you are driving around and practising good property management and you have foxes or rabbits on your property, or you have a permit to shoot kangaroos, wallabies or possums, or you find stock down that cannot recover and you have to put out of its misery, you need to carry a weapon around in your vehicle. You just have to do it. It is like carrying a broom around on the back of your vehicle for cleaning out troughs: you carry a rifle around in the front. I think it is time some common sense came back into it.

Why I raise that issue is that it is my belief that what is taking place is that there are orders to blatantly raise revenue for the government through SAPOL and for officers to have targets. They will deny it but I believe they have targets. Similarly, with speed cameras, they are supposed to save lives but they put them in the most obscure places. They are now trying to reduce speed limits on country roads. One of my councils (Yankalilla council) has been asked to have a trial period of reducing speed on some roads to 80 km/h. It is just madness.

People actually have to get from A to B. If they think they want to run around and make fools of themselves like that, well, that is one thing, but all I want is a return to common sense in South Australia. Many of the police officers who live in our country towns live, work and play in the community. They are an integral part of the community and they do a great job, but every now and then we have someone who wants to drive around to create chaos, and it makes life difficult for the rest of the officers in that area.

There are a couple of issues I would like to refer to in relation to that part of the electorate contained on Kangaroo Island; one is the surf event that took place last year. Let me leave this house in no doubt whatsoever: we need to have that surf event continue. It needs to be as successful as it was last year, but the bugs need to be ironed out.

I have no problem with finances being brought under tighter control or questions being asked about why it ended up with this mess regarding bills not been paid, which has been attended to by the government through SATC. We need to put in place a better structure for that, and there is no argument from me whatsoever. It rests on the government's shoulders that they did not put in place the correct controls; but I will not tolerate this event being talked down.

It was a great event. It was a significant achievement that it was put on over on the island. It attracted around 4,000 people. It gave islanders an opportunity to listen to music, which they never get the opportunity to do, particularly the young people. It was terrifically good for business despite the hiccups in payment, which are now being attended to; a lot of others have been paid, I would say. We need it again.

It was good for the Fleurieu Peninsula. It took a lot of people down through the Fleurieu. A lot of people stopped at Yankalilla and Normanville. Some people stayed overnight at locations before they went over on the ferry. It was wonderfully good for business. The ferry company has about 100 employees up through the Fleurieu and into the metropolitan area who work on the vessels, in the offices, and tie up the boat. It added life to the economy and it did the same on the other side of the water.

I urge the government, when they consider their budget, to continue with that pro surf event. I say to those who want to knock it: for sure, if you want to question the financial accountability, that is one thing. I have no great problem with that, because it was very poorly handled; however, do not knock the event.

Tourism is hard enough work now. It is a people industry. It is an industry that goes by word of mouth. So, Mr Deputy Speaker, if you get, people running around knocking the event it spreads, and it is bad news. It may well happen up in Gawler with something; I do not know, but tourism is word of mouth. It is quite simply at the moment cheaper, or as cheap, or around the same sort of money, to jump on a plane and fly to Bali as it is to go to many of our destinations in South Australia to enjoy yourself.

Our jobs are local jobs. We need those local jobs across the state and in my electorate. In my electorate, along with primary industry, tourism is an enormous stimulator of economic activity. The jobs down through the South Coast, through Yankalilla, Normanville, and right through that area, are reliant on tourism. They are growth industries, which brings me—I will be very careful about what I say here because we have a motion in the house—to the fact that we need to do something about the management of fur seals. This issue will come up in a week or fortnight's time, and I have an answer to it, but it will probably not be popular.

It is really important that we get on top of what is going on in relation to bad vibes in tourism and encourage South Australians to stay local, to take their holidays in South Australia wherever possible, to go to one of the great spots on the West Coast, in the Flinders, the Barossa, Fleurieu, or Kangaroo Island, the South-East, the Murraylands, wherever—it does not matter much where.

Mr Goldsworthy interjecting:

Mr PENGILLY: I think most of Adelaide goes to Yorke Peninsula. It is an enormous industry that creates thousands of jobs, and it is a word of mouth industry that needs support and encouragement, and it does not need knockers for anything.

I thoroughly enjoy the Clipsal. I freely admit to being a petrolhead. I love the Clipsal and I look forward to it in a couple of weeks, actually. It is wonderful for the state. It was a good Liberal initiative as I recall along with the Tour Down Under. The Governor in his speech talked about investment in South Australia and that is one of the good ones.

Sellicks Beach is also in my electorate, and in the speeches this week much has been said about the Barossa plan and the McLaren Vale plan as far as planning goes. Let me tell you that I have circulated amongst some members a motion that I have received from the Sellicks Area Residents Association. They have grave concerns about some aspects of that McLaren Vale plan and I hope that the government picks up and takes note of their concerns. They are writing to the minister.

These outer suburban areas are filling up with people rapidly and, as much as we value and need to save farmland in some areas, they have concerns that in times to come they will not be able to build on land that they have held for a long time, and likewise in the Barossa, I understand, but the member for Schubert can talk about that.

I would just like to talk about the government's announcements last year about the formation of a Kangaroo Island Futures Authority. I am not completely sold on this by a long shot. It is fine to have ideas and I think the former premier puffed and blew again and came up with this wonderful idea, but if all the plans in the world and all the meetings in the world and all the people given jobs in the world on these instrumentalities do not translate into funding for projects, you are wasting your time having them, quite frankly.

If we are going to spend a couple of millions of dollars on administration and creating positions and putting more bureaucrats in place, it is a total waste of time. I have expressed my thoughts on the formation of KIFA. I think the government has missed an ideal opportunity to get people on there such as leading businessmen or leading farmers who actually know something about where they are going. I do not knock those who have been put on it, but I think they could have done a lot better.

I understand the local press this week, which came out yesterday on Kangaroo Island, has said that minister Rau is consulting with business leaders next week. I rang a couple of the leading farmers on the island this morning just to ask whether they had been invited. They knew nothing about it, so heaven knows who minister Rau is meeting with, but what will happen is that we will get a heap of puff and blow once again and heaven knows what the press on the island will write about it. Unless this thing works properly, unless they clearly identify projects and unless they are funded, it is a waste of time. It is not something that I think we need to waste money on unless genuine outcomes are going to come out of it.

I return again to the CPI and the over and above CPI increases that are impacting on residents in my electorate and, indeed, on residents of other members' electorates, whether they be Labor or Liberal or Independent or whatever. I am having a growing stream of people come through my office who cannot cope with where things are going. They simply cannot cope, and I say that it is not good enough.

I do not know about members opposite but I can assure you that, in my area in my electorate, there are many, many people who have very little money. You can talk about Victor Harbor, and the press talk it up as being a rich man's paradise, but there are many people in Victor Harbor on very limited incomes, and that is so right through Port Elliott, Middleton, Yankalilla, Normanville and across on the island. In fact, the island is one of the lowest socioeconomic places in the state.

Let me use Victor Harbor as an example. There are significant numbers of retirees down there. Some of these retirees are self-funded retirees who suffered through the global financial crisis and had their incomes trimmed back, but by and large they have survived, and then you have those on the government pension. Let me say that those on the government pension are at the lowest end of having any money available for too much at all.

It is a sad indictment of where we have gone in Australia, where we have super wealthy people, particularly in the Eastern States and in Sydney and Melbourne, but we have people who have worked all their lives, whether it be at Holden or Mitsubishi or in manufacturing—whatever they have done, it does not matter. Simply, a lot of them worked through without having superannuation and brought up families for the benefit of this state, and they are now on the aged pension and simply cannot make ends meet. I think it is disgraceful and absolutely outrageous, and I do not know where it is going to finish up.

It is a sad indictment and I think this government and future governments, both in this state and across the nation, have to come to grips with this. If we did not have volunteers in this state—and volunteers were talked about, I think, by the member for Morphett earlier—taking up so much of the slack and picking up on what is required, we would be in an even worse mess than we are now. I will conclude my remarks. I thank the house for the opportunity and I thank members for listening to me, and I will listen to other members with interest.

The Hon. C.C. FOX (Bright—Minister for Transport Services) (12:01): Mr Deputy Speaker, I stand before you as the inaugural Minister for Transport Services.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: And a wonderful inaugural minister you are.

The Hon. C.C. FOX: Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. A compliment is always welcome. I would like to congratulate Premier Weatherill for creating this new ministry, the ministry of transport services. I am very proud to be the inaugural minister. This new ministry reflects the Premier's own focus on serving the people we are elected to represent, and I note that my department and my staff are a crucial part of that team.

This Weatherill Labor government is taking unprecedented steps towards transforming Adelaide's public transport network into the best in the nation. Just four years ago Labor made the largest ever investment by a South Australian state government in this city's public transport. We committed $2 billion to a decade-long program to modernise and revitalise our train, bus and tram networks.

What began as a state-based program was subsequently uniquely recognised for its vision and vibrancy by the federal government. With this recognition came federal investment in our system, worth in excess of half a billion dollars. We are steadily transforming the network into a vibrant state-of-the-art system providing faster, more frequent, greener and more efficient services for train, tram and bus customers, and a safer public transport environment for us all.

I know that in time we will indeed boast the best public transport system in Australia, one renowned for the connectivity of its buses, trains and electrified rail. Electrification is one of the most complex transport projects ever undertaken by the South Australian government. It will deliver a more modern and efficient network, along with environmental benefits, such as reduced noise, vibration and local air pollution.

The new electric train services will open up the opportunity for increased housing along public transport corridors. This government understands and values the ideas of growth and sustainability. We do not seek to create ghettos of wealth or poverty, but rather to connect and further integrate our already diverse society. By bringing increased public transport closer to new housing, we open up our towns and cities in more ways than one.

Our multibillion dollar investment stretches out over more than 200 kilometres, from Blackwood to Birkenhead and from Seaford to Gawler. This Weatherill government will soon introduce 66 new railcars specifically designed and purpose built for our fully upgraded and electrified metropolitan rail network.

The A-City will be the first railcar in Australia to use an advanced best practice crash protection system now in use in Europe. It is a wide-body train, which gives passengers more room. To be delivered as 22 three-car trains, the A-City trains will seat around 240 passengers, with standing room for another 300.

The 66 new railcars will be complemented by the state government's ongoing program to fully refurbish 70 vehicles within the existing fleet, converting 54 to electric propulsion. These railcars will be kept at the brand-new multimillion dollar Dry Creek railcar depot, which was completed earlier this year. Electric services will commence from 2013, and all existing converted railcars will be electric by 2016. So, Adelaide will, within three years, be home to Australia's newest electrified rail network, serviced by the nation's most modern and safest electric train fleet.

Understandably, South Australians want to know what is being done to improve public transport in Adelaide right now. The future is exciting, but so are our current achievements. We have more buses on our roads than we have ever had before; we have effectively doubled the size of our tram fleet; and we are well advanced on an ambitious program to first rebuild and then electrify our rail lines and rail fleet, as I said before.

Late last year, the new contracts for the provision of bus services across the city were activated. These contracts were signed in June 2011 and were part of a very rigorous competitive tendering process. The intention is to ensure that these new contracts are providing—and will continue to provide—a greater level of bus service across the city, importantly, at a much better price for taxpayers. It is worth noting that the legacy of the Liberal Party's privatisation of the bus services in the late 1990s has been a difficult burden to carry.

As minister, I acknowledge, and have always done so, that the issues resulting from new contracts have been disruptive to public services. While I think that all users acknowledge that any mass transit system cannot meet everyone's needs, they also expect that the majority of expectations should be met. The issues which emerged during this service changeover period have been given considerable media attention. Far from decrying this attention, I think it is understandable that the fourth estate examine one of our most significant services to the people of South Australia.

We as a government do not shy away from difficult issues. I acknowledge that there has been some disappointment and dissatisfaction, so my attention to these matters during the first reporting period has been unwavering. I have pursued a determined campaign to ensure these contractors meet the justifiably high standards the public expects of them. As a government, we demand the best possible outcomes for every South Australian. Standards are set and standards must be met. We cannot shy away from potentially inadequate outcomes, nor do we intend to.

Returning to approaching change for the better, additional improvements to public transport will flow in 2012, through the introduction of a brand-new smartcard ticketing system on all our Adelaide metro buses, trains and trams. The arrival of the aptly-named Metrocard will provide customers with a range of new options, speeding up boarding and facilitating the provision of real-time passenger information across the network. In London, it is the Oyster card; in Paris, it is the Navigo; in Hong Kong, it is the Octopus card; and in Adelaide, it is the Metrocard, perhaps because our great fishy export, tuna, did not lend itself well to the appellation of a transport pass, which would make it 'Tuna card'. Along with continued investigation opportunity to provide—

Mrs Vlahos interjecting:

The Hon. C.C. FOX: Tuna card? Well, it might have been called 'Tuna card' but, as it so happens, it's not—greater bus priority as part of plans to revitalise the City of Adelaide, it will be a crucial part of the state government's ongoing commitment to improving on-time running. The continued flow of even more buses and our work to develop expanded capacity at our most popular park-and-ride facilities along the O-Bahn busway at Klemzig and Paradise is of particular importance to those living in the north-western suburbs of our city.

Next month we will complete the second stage of our total rebuild of more than 40 kilometres of the Gawler railway line and build on preliminary work to electrify it. I take this opportunity to thank the Deputy Speaker and member for Light, Mr Tony Piccolo, for his unflagging determination to see these changes through. Mr Piccolo uses the line on an almost daily basis, and his suggestions and constructive criticism have been invaluable in this process.

The state government is introducing extra Sunday services to the Glenelg tram timetable for weekend commuters, in time for Adelaide's busy festival months. The tram's new sectors have also been very popular, which is interesting when considered in the retrospective light of the opposition's furious and vehement campaigning against these developments, with the notable exception of the member for Morphett, who has always been very pro-tram.

Later this year the Weatherill government will take delivery of another two brand-new trams, bringing the state's tram collection to being even larger than it was previously. The public transport spend comprises—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. C.C. FOX: It is double, and that can only be a good thing because double is more than we had before. The public transport spend comprises one of the biggest departmental budgets in this state, but investing in infrastructure must be reflected in an equal investment in end-user satisfaction; and I am proud to be able to represent these people to the best of my ability. I have noticed with some surprise that some members of the opposition have referred to this role in derogatory and patronising language, which in my opinion is a contemptuous and self-annihilating approach to the commuters of this state.

When the role of transport services is belittled every commuter in this state is belittled, and I believe that we owe people the best service possible, not curt dismissal. The $2 billion investment is a decade-long investment program, and I and this government should be proud to see this happening, and indeed we are. My message to the people of South Australia who rely on us for public transport is clear: I will do everything I can to deliver the system of tomorrow, but in doing so never take my eye off the reality and requirements of today.

Why shouldn't we strive to be home to the best public transport network in the country? Indeed, why shouldn't we pursue the iconic status and networks in Europe and American cities? Yesterday I think I heard the Liberal opposition leader dismissing vision with disdain, but why shouldn't we harness our vision for practical outcomes? Why shouldn't we strive to give our very all to the people of this state? If no-one had ideas and foresight and passion then our state would grind to a halt. There is no reason why it cannot be done, but a commitment from me as minister and this government will ensure that it can be.

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