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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-11-28 Daily Xml
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LIGHT ELECTORATE

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light—Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, Minister for Social Housing, Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers) (15:47): I would like to take this opportunity—actually it is my first grieve for the year, and I have not had an opportunity since I became minister on 21 January—to take a few minutes to reflect on some of the key issues as I see it, not only in my portfolio but also in my electorate. Next week on 5 December, we celebrate International Volunteer Day and it is one of those areas which I hold very dear to my heart. One thing that I am proud to say is that in my own community of Gawler and in the electorate of Light we have many volunteers, in all walks of life, and it is their contribution that makes the electorate of Light such a great community.

Without singling out any particular group of volunteers, I would also like to acknowledge the great work that our CFS volunteers do. Only yesterday they were fighting fires just north of Roseworthy and, also, I understand, that there was a smaller fire near Angle Vale. I have had an opportunity to meet with the various brigades over the term and I do admire the contribution they make and also the way they put their lives on the line sometimes to keep our people safe. In that relation, I would also like to acknowledge the contribution made by employers who release their volunteers to do firefighting and other work.

On 3 December it is the international day to mark people living with disabilities and this year has been a landmark year for supporting people with disabilities. With the NDIS enacted and starting to be implemented in this state, we are on the way to creating a fairer society. The NDIS—which this state government has signed up and was also one of the first to sign up to in its full rollout—will ensure that people living with disabilities, their families and carers will have a better go.

Importantly, for the first time in their lives, they will have more control over their lives. Under the new NDIS they will have individualised funding and the capacity to self-manage their funds. That will give people living with a disability and their families and carers an opportunity to purchase those services and goods which make a difference for them and their lives.

This week is also Social Inclusion Week. In my view, social inclusion is about enabling people to participate in society, irrespective of their social or economic standing in the community. As a government, we are doing the best we can to ensure that opportunities are afforded to all people in our community to participate, whether in the case of work where we have improved opportunities for training, etc., in education, where we have increased funding, or in a whole range of other areas. I think that this government has a good record in that regard.

Closer to home, I will briefly talk about the Holden's issue, because it is an important issue, including in my electorate. As has been said, Holden's is more than just cars. Not only are direct and indirect jobs under threat—and that is about 13,000 direct jobs—but also, more importantly, is the basic skill base that will be lost if we lose a firm like Holden's. We will lose that skills base not only in Holden's but also in those component industries.

I know some people are critical of the funding this government provides to Holden's to keep them open, but we need to remember that, apart from those thousands of families whose livelihoods depend on Holden's, there are others that depend on Holden's and, importantly, the confidence of that community. We need to understand that, if Holden's goes, it affects not only those people directly but the whole community, for example through property prices, which are likely to fall in the whole community. We all have a stake in Holden succeeding, so it is important that the Liberal opposition comes on board to support this government in its endeavours to make sure that the federal government makes the correct decision to support Holden's.

We need to make sure that the opposition also comes on board to support this state in maintaining education funding for our schools in our community, because the proposed cuts by the federal Liberal Party will affect both government and non-government schools in my electorate.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The very last grievance from the member for Schubert—total silence!

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