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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-05-08 Daily Xml
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Address in Reply

Address in Reply

Adjourned debate on motion for adoption (resumed on motion).

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Manufacturing, Innovation and Trade, Minister for the Public Sector) (15:33): I rise today to provide my contribution to the Address in Reply. I start by welcoming all new members. The people of our electorates have bestowed their trust in each of us, and we must all honour that faith diligently. I also take this opportunity to thank the people of Port Adelaide for returning me to this place and to thank all of those who worked so hard in the campaign. I would like to single out my parents, who have used their retirement extremely productively to help their daughter remain employed.

This government has been re-elected on a platform of building South Australia with policies that emphasise the importance of retaining and creating jobs. This is no easy task; our economy faces some enormous challenges. The continued strength of the Australian dollar has put intense pressure on our trade-exposed industries, and none more so than our manufacturing sector. Our exporters have also faced the challenge of a higher exchange rate and slower global growth in most of our major trading partners.

As a government, we could have stood back and let these external pressures rip through our economy. Instead, we chose to stand by our industries and the workers they employ to help them undertake the transformation required to adapt to this new and challenging economic environment.

Our task has been made more difficult, our goal to diversify industries made more urgent, by the decision by Holden, Ford and Toyota to stop manufacturing cars in Australia. While I welcome the challenges that being a minister in this government will bring and look forward to meeting them head on, I also remain committed to being a passionate advocate for the people of the Port Adelaide electorate.

The honour of representing the people of Port Adelaide has given me a particular insight into the concerns of South Australian families working in the manufacturing sector. Each day, they sit around the table with their families and look ahead to an uncertain future. Headlines about job losses and a troubled world economy feed into their natural anxieties. The media obsession with bad news also clouds the opportunities that do exist.

The truth in all of this is this: our economy is now more diversified and more resilient. We have sustained economic growth for more than a decade by embracing defence industries and expanding our mineral resources and energy sectors. We continue to create a vibrant city, and I look forward to that vibrancy spreading beyond the CBD to Port Adelaide, where this government has a strategy to revitalise the inner harbour and the heritage waterfront.

As Minister for Manufacturing, Innovation and Trade, I subscribe to the position that government must be an active participant in the shaping of our economy. Our role as a government is not simply to enjoy times of growth and prosperity and, in turn, expect businesses to work in solitude when times get tough. Experience shows that South Australia is a better place today because government has been prepared to work with business and the community to deliver results.

In South Australia, there is a positive future if we are willing to act together to achieve it. The challenge for this government is to work with business, our academic institutions, our skills sector and our community to embark on a rapid transition that ensures everyone can continue to enjoy and share the long-term prosperity of this state.

Fortunately, we have already embarked on a strategy to work with our employers, to assist our industries in this state to diversify and to move towards an economy that accentuates its strengths in advanced manufacturing and in innovation. Even before the car manufacturers announced their plans to exit Australia, this government had begun the task of preparing our manufacturing sector to transition to a business model that emphasises high value and lower volumes. This is only part of the challenges that lie ahead.

One of our central tasks as a government will be to respond to the void that will be created when the auto industry finally leaves our shores. Our actions must ensure that this seismic shift in our manufacturing sector does not lead to increased unemployment and slower economic activity. We can do this by supporting the many workers that will have to leave the automotive sector to use their high level of skills in other industries.

In that regard, South Australia is well placed with the defence industry and the mineral resources and energy sector that require a highly skilled, highly motivated workforce. Component suppliers will need to be encouraged to look to new markets and reduce their reliance on the automotive sector, and we need to fill the gap in economic activity by accelerating infrastructure projects and expanding our ability to transform ideas that emerge from our research institutions and centres of excellence into commercial realities.

One of the areas of advanced technology I look forward to advancing in this area is the opportunities offered by fostering low-carbon manufacturing in this state. Governments, businesses and communities around the world accept the science of climate change and are taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Through the initiatives contained in the innovation pillar of this government's manufacturing work strategy, I will be seeking to assist local manufacturers to capture low-carbon opportunities. Through the future markets pillar, initiatives aim to combine industry innovation with future market opportunities to stimulate restructuring of industries in which South Australia has significant strengths.

As I have said before in this place, a manufacturing sector cannot be restored once it has gone. Our efforts must focus on retaining a manufacturing sector in this state but one that is more advanced, more nimble and leverages off our natural strengths in adopting innovation and in value adding.

This government has already begun the task of partnering innovators with entrepreneurs through the vision that is being transformed into reality at Tonsley Park. We are also creating a highly-skilled and trained workforce that will be ready to take on the jobs of the future, whether they are in advanced manufacturing, clean tech or mining services. We will continue to support manufacturers to identify markets both locally, through our industry participation program and the mining industry participation office, and internationally, through our China and India engagement strategies.

Our exports are currently at record levels. A bumper harvest and a greater contribution from increased volumes of mineral exports are helping to drive our nation-beating trade performance, but we need to do more to ensure that our small and medium enterprises maintain and expand their share of our exports.

In South Australia barley is already being used to make China's famous Tsingtao beer, our copper and iron ore helping to build its infrastructure, but we also need our SMEs to tap into the growing middle class appetite in Asia for premium and quality goods. Our wines and our foods need to make the most of the opening up of markets in Japan, South Korea and, of course, especially in China.

As pleasing as it is to have the value of exports break through the $12 billion barrier, we need to continue to target new markets and diversify the products we export, rather than focus on bulk commodities, such as barley and iron ore. As a minister I am lucky to have inherited a portfolio where the foundations for this trade engagement strategy have already been laid by my predecessors, the member for West Torrens and the member for Newland.

We are well on our way toward deepening our relationships with China and India. As minister I will continue that work to support our businesses to find pathways to these promising markets. Our engagement with China and India goes beyond trade to include the opportunities for investment and cultural exchanges. We are well on our way to establishing South Australia as a brand that represents premium value, reliability of supply, and what is increasingly important for consumers in these emerging economies, a high standard of quality.

As a minister, I intend to work with businesses to increase the awareness of South Australian products in targeted markets and develop the capacity of our local businesses to engage with the specific challenges of operating in China and India.

South Australia has a long history of innovation. From the stump-jump plough in our early years of settlement to the technological advances being made in areas such as media devices, South Australians have been able to come up with ideas with a commercial application. We need to continue that innovation and link it to an entrepreneurial spirit that also exists in our many small and medium enterprises.

As I mentioned, Tonsley Park is a showcase for the government's approach to better integrating science and research with entrepreneurs to accelerate the ability to commercialise ideas. Having TAFE SA's Sustainable Industries Education Centre and Flinders University share the precinct with companies such as Signostics, Siemens, Basetec, ZEN Energy and Tier 5, puts companies in touch with the innovators of the future.

Beyond Tonsley, our major universities are growing and internationalising our education and research sectors. By bringing international students here and developing cooperative relationships with overseas institutions, we are creating links that will eventually improve our capacity to target new markets.

These are exciting, challenging times. This government's intention is to engage those families in my electorate and elsewhere in this positive future, to ease their anxiety about their own job security and the future opportunities for their children here in this state. Our ability as a government to deliver this future is also predicated on having a public sector that has the capacity and the resources to implement our strategies.

It is with honour that I have accepted the Premier's invitation to take on ministerial responsibility for the South Australian Public Service. As a former public servant, I am proud of the quality of our Public Service in this state. We have some of the best regulators and policy developers in the world right here in Adelaide. More than 100,000 people work in Public Service jobs in this state educating our children, protecting our streets, fighting fires and providing a range of professional services.

In February this year the Premier released 'A Modern Public Service', a policy designed to do more to harness the expertise and professionalism of our public servants. Through adopting these reforms the government wants to provide greater opportunities for young people in disadvantaged areas to gain employment in the Public Service. We want to improve the community's interaction with its Public Service; whether it is ways to further reduce red tape or using technology to improve access to government services and information, there is much that we can do as a government to lift our game.

As Minister for the Public Sector I look forward to developing a charter of Public Service guarantee so that South Australians know exactly the standard of service and treatment they can expect when engaging with our many government agencies. No-one is perfect, but the charter will ensure that, when something goes wrong, the government will respond effectively to fix it.

A modern open government that is valued by the community requires transparency, accountability and access. This government is working to improve access by allowing the community to make better use of the data held by the various agencies. We are making government more responsive to the community through our many 90-day projects.

Government is not the sole source of good ideas when it comes to how we deliver our services. That is why Our Citizens' Juries and the Better Together programs can play an important role not only in allowing our Public Service to hear different voices, but also in providing a mechanism to act on that advice.

South Australian businesses dealing with the government should also be assured that we are a model customer. Our government agencies receive more than $2.5 million invoices a year, a majority of which are paid in a timely manner. This government acknowledges that there is still scope for improvement.

Last year the My Invoice website was launched to enable small business operators to track the progress of their invoices. By improving the flow of information to small business operators, My Invoice gives South Australian businesses greater confidence that their payments are moving promptly through the system and, in the event that invoices are paid outside the standard 30-day terms, they are now entitled to claim penalty interest. My Invoice is just one example of how government is able to use new technology to provide greater access and improved transparency.

I am grateful to the people of Port Adelaide for again returning me to this place. While I have taken on new roles and new responsibilities in this parliament, I will never lose sight of the fact that it is the people of Port Adelaide who have sent me to this place to represent them.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:45): I too rise to give my Address in Reply speech and congratulate His Excellency Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce, the Governor of South Australia, on opening the 53rd parliament. He has been a fine servant to South Australia over the seven years he has been in that position, and I have had the pleasure of meeting both him and his wife Liz on many occasions. He is probably one of the most personable dignitaries I have had the pleasure of meeting and engaging in good conversation.

I am proud to be re-elected to this place for my second term for the seat of Chaffey. It is not only what was the then existing seat of Chaffey; the electoral boundaries were changed to incorporate another 9,000 square kilometres in the selection, so it now takes on all the council areas of the Southern Mallee, the Karoonda East Murray, and a little more of the Mid Murray council—and I notice that we have one of the councillors here in the chamber today keeping an eye on what I have to say. I am absolutely honoured to be re-endorsed by the constituents of Chaffey. They have put their faith in me to represent them in the parliament and also to give them a voice, which is very important in today's world.

I would like to congratulate all the new members in this place, on both sides. I think we have some good, young blood and I feel this place will be better for it. I would also like to congratulate the members who have been re-elected to this place, whom I have met over the last four years.

In reflecting on this reply speech today I went back over my maiden speech. I think it is held fond in everyone's memories; when they come to this place they gear up to put their beliefs, their platform, in stone on the Hansard so that they will be remembered in their time here. On reflection, I think the three main platforms I came into this place with, representing the people, were the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, the reopening of Lake Bonney at Barmera in the Riverland, and the ongoing pressure of biosecurity in the region. I guess it has been a long-held badge of honour that we were the only mainland state to be fruit fly free and, as a farmer and irrigator and grower, I experienced the advantage of having that, and the extra wealth it brought the region.

I can proudly say that over my first term I was part of the consultation process into that Murray-Darling Basin Plan, and I will touch on that a little bit later. Lake Bonney at Barmera has been reopened, it has been reconnected to the river, but I think many people today still reflect on the damage that was done by the disconnection of that lake. The social fabric, the belief that people had in the town was severely diminished. I think today we have seen the local government putting in money and the community re-engaging with that town and the lake. It really is a picture once again, and that is great to see.

The biosecurity issues are something that I will touch on, but as the minister stated today, after 23 years of having no fruit fly outbreaks, sadly we had two outbreaks in January of this year. Both outbreaks have been eradicated and the good work of biosecurity ensured that we now have that freedom status when we enter our markets and the added cost that it puts onto every box of fruit that leaves the property or leaves the packing shed is now underpinned by that freedom status.

I am proud to live and work in Chaffey and, as I said, Chaffey is now comprised of the Riverland and the Mallee. Once upon a time, Chaffey was half of the Riverland, and the population has exited through one region or another—I think the drought has played quite a significant part in this exodus over time. In saying that, the economic and social fabric is strongly associated with irrigated horticulture and dryland agriculture and they are probably two of my great farming passions—apart from fishing, of course!

The region is obviously recognised for its premium food and being a premier food bowl of South Australia. I noticed in the Governor's speech that he identified seven strategic priorities of which the government promised to focus its agenda and number one was an affordable place to live. Well, the government has certainly not lived up to that. Every day the cost of living continues to put pressure on every person, every business, every household and every electorate. Water prices have increased, electricity prices have increased, taxes have increased, and it has been a benchmark of the current government to let those costs spiral out of control—and they really have.

Why did water prices increase? It is a wealth tax—it is not about the cost of water; it is about what it costs for sewerage, supply, etc., and it is a cash cow. It is a wealth tax that creates a cash cow for the government. We talk about: why wouldn't we reduce those profits of SA Water to reduce the cost of living? As the government would say, 'Well, we will put taxes elsewhere.' I think that is atrocious. The desal plant obviously had a lot to do with it and I think they overstepped the mark. A 100 gigalitre desal plant was primarily because the government was a stormwater denier; it was a denier of diversification when it came to sources of water and South Australians are paying the price.

With regard to creating a vibrant city, yes, the government has put a lot of focus into the City of Adelaide and the Adelaide Oval, I think, is a benchmark of one of our great sporting grounds. We look at the transport upgrades that have been undertaken, with all good intentions, to bring us up to a world standard—poorly managed, I must say. The disruptions, the closures, the services that have been absolutely substandard have been a benchmark of this government. Sadly, living in the regions we do not have public transport; the regional centres, in most cases, do not have that luxury.

Concerning every chance for every child: as we see, regional South Australia is slowly diminishing, slowly retracting and the first people that we see leaving our regional centres are the young because they are not being given the opportunities. There are not the training opportunities. Businesses are finding it tough with the cost of living, the cost of doing business, and therefore they are not taking on apprentices, they are not taking on the trainees that we once used to have. Once upon a time, this state was a great state for apprentice opportunities, and trainee opportunities. Today, we still have those opportunities, but on a much smaller scale, and I think that will reflect as history continues.

Safe communities and healthy neighbourhoods. Yes, we are seeing the government putting out there that they are going to be tough on crime. They continue to put up new measures, new legislation and new bills on being tough, but I am not seeing the reduction in the crime. I am seeing more police and I am seeing these coward punches that are now being highlighted more and more. That has been around for some time but, sadly, safe communities are, I guess, a luxury of living in a regional centre because regional centres do have safe communities and healthy neighbourhoods.

Growing advanced manufacturing. I might reflect that I did not make a contribution in this place when we talked about the discovery that Holden's was going to close but I worked at Holden's, and proudly so. I was an apprentice at Holden's. I worked there for nearly seven years. I did an apprenticeship as a fitter and turner and went on to do toolmaking and pneumatics and hydraulics. I was a proud apprentice and a proud tradesman working at the tool room at GMH.

In 1982 the rot set in. There was a workforce of around 20,000 at Holden's—GMH, as it was called back then—and I was part of the 3,500 who were made redundant. But it was another opportunity. Everyone is dwelling on the closure of Holden's being the end of the world and we are all going to fall off the cliff and nothing will ever be the same again. Maybe it will not be the same again, but there is life after Holden's. People will look at new opportunities. People will look at a new experience and how they can potentially open a business of their own. They can chase a dream. They can go out and use the skills set that they already have, or they can go out and be retrained and be part of an existing workforce.

Sadly, Holden is an iconic brand here in this state that, after 2017, will no longer exist. I think that there is life after manufacturing as we know it and there is a life after Holden's. So, to all of those people who, sadly, will lose their jobs, there is an opportunity to look elsewhere. They will seek new opportunities and they will move on.

Realising the benefits of the mining boom for all. Sadly, Olympic Dam did not eventuate. There was a lot of bluster by the then minister, the Premier, that this was going to be the biggest thing since the Hills Hoist and sliced bread, and it did not happen. But, we do have a mining sector that is going along. If we look at why the mining sector is not as buoyant as it should be, it is the cost of doing business here in Australia—it is the cost, particularly here in South Australia—that is a detractor, and I think it has been made very clear that the mining boom is going to slowly ease its way in and slowly ease its way out over time.

I would like to make mention that in the new part of my electorate the Mindarie zircon mine has re-opened and is going along quite nicely with new practices and a much healthier style of extraction to get the zircon out of the ground. It is obviously moving large amounts of sand to then process it and extract the zircon which is exported to China and used to harden products. Essentially that is what the zircon is about.

That mine has never realised the jobs. It has never realised the potential flow-on effects to the region. We have a camp there now and people drive in and they drive out. They use food that is supplied from Adelaide. There is very little benefit to the local economy and very little benefit for local jobs because a majority of those jobs are imported from elsewhere.

Last, but not least, the premium food and wine from our clean environment. I will expand on that one because Chaffey is the premium food bowl and the most diverse food bowl in South Australia and, potentially, in the nation, and it is proud of what it has achieved over much time.

If we look at the wine industry, the Riverland is renowned for having the bulk wine tag, and we are slowly shaking that. We are slowly shaking that because we have introduced some of the alternative varieties, and we are refining our winemaking techniques. Our fortified wines and our brandies are world-class. I am proud to say that in the Riverland we produce more than 50 per cent of the vintage of South Australia. We produce a quarter of the nation's wine crush. I would like to add that Australia and New Zealand's winemaker of the year came from the Riverland—Eric Semmler—and I congratulate him. He was judged over five styles of wine, and he was given that prestigious award only recently. He is a very fine man and a very fine winemaker.

If we look around at the rest of the food bowl in Chaffey, it produces 95 per cent of South Australia's citrus (33 per cent of the national picture), 90 per cent of stone fruit is grown in the Riverland and 98 per cent of South Australia's almonds are grown in the Riverland. Eighty per cent of South Australia's potato and onions, washed produce, is grown in the electorate of Chaffey. Chaffey is the largest potato and onion growing electorate in the southern hemisphere. It is a highly diverse region. We have not touched on pistachios, avocados, or mangoes, or dates but we are trialling many new fruits that people will slowly see come on to their shelves, and very proudly so.

Underpinning all of that is water. It is water not only from the river, not only from the great River Murray, but it is also the underground water that is now part of Chaffey. The Mallee Wells is world renowned for its quality water, on its vast sandy paddocks, for growing the world's best washed potatoes. Through that, we are still looking at recovering from drought. The Murray-Darling plan is something that has been lingering for quite some time now. We have a date, and there has been much debate in this place about exactly how the Murray-Darling Basin Plan was going to be rolled out and when it was going to be rolled out, who would be affected, who it would impact upon, and exactly what it would mean to the driver, which is the economy here in South Australia.

With much debate on both sides of the house, the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is 2,750 gigalitres. Both sides debated for many, many hours what the number should be. The state Liberal Party supported 2,750 from day one. The Premier did not; he supported 4,000. All of a sudden, the basin plan has been signed off by all states and it is 2,750; but, where is that water going to come from? Of that number, South Australia's contribution is 183 gigalitres, and to date over 100 gigalitres has come from irrigators and their communities.

At the moment, we are looking at the 3IP program, which is a federal government initiative, to help growers readjust and diversify their businesses and help them put in better practice and more efficient systems to achieve 40 gigalitres. The federal government has tipped in $265 million. That is something that could be ground-breaking for Chaffey, because Chaffey is not only a world leader in efficiency gains and monitoring, but it is also one of the great regions for showing the rest of the country just how efficiency gains can be made.

Looking at exactly how we are going to find the next 83 gigalitres is going to be the next challenge for South Australia. At the moment, of that $265 million we are looking at getting 40 gigalitres. We need to achieve another 40 gigalitres of water. To put that into perspective, it is all the water, all the irrigation—if any of you have been to the Riverland—for Renmark and Berri, all put together; that is what we have yet to achieve, so we have a long way to go.

I will not dwell on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, but what I do have to say to the current government here in South Australia is: 43 gigalitres is still to be achieved. How are we going to achieve it? We have had no commitment from the Premier. He claims to be the champion of the river. We need to see him put up. To date, he has turned the debate into a political circus. He claimed that he would achieve all the water without any coming from irrigators. As I have already said, we are looking at 183 gigalitres to come out of productive use here in South Australia.

The Mallee prescribed wells area in the Mallee has been an issue for quite some time. The prescription into that area is going to mean a reduction of between 30 and 50 per cent of production. That will mean a 30 to 50 per cent reduction in jobs, in production and in driving the economy. What it will mean is that people will have to adjust. I have called on both the minister and the Premier to look at putting a moratorium on the introduction of that prescription until there are adjustment mechanisms in place. We will wait and see.

We heard the minister speak about biosecurity today with the Queensland fruit fly outbreak in the Riverland. The two outbreaks at Loxton and Pyap have had a significant impact on the region, but the timing has been kind to us—not to some, but to most of us. Most of the seasonal produce has been harvested, but it has still impacted growers. We have to acknowledge that those growers had financial losses and severe market questioning, because when export markets hear of fruit fly it rings alarm bells and it puts their businesses at risk.

The Mediterranean fruit fly outbreaks in metropolitan Adelaide have been ongoing for many years. I was buoyed to hear the federal government put in an $80,000 starting fund to look at a national fruit fly approach, and the South Australia is also putting in $65,000. I think it is a great initiative to assist in keeping Chaffey fruit fly free. I would like to acknowledge the Liberals' election promise that we would encompass Mypolonga, which is part of Hammond, as part of that fruit fly free area. However, sadly, the current government and it is not acknowledging Mypolonga as being part of that freedom area.

Again, we look at cuts to research and development. One thing I have seen is that the federal government has come up with a finance package that is going to help the Loxton Research Centre. It is now going to be an international centre of excellence for water, but it is also going to be adopting cutting edge technology and using it in the local conditions. I know this is really almost a re-announcement, because it was world class 40 years ago and in the last 12 years it has been wound back to nothing. Through lobbying from industry and constituents in Chaffey, the federal government has decided, in its wisdom, working with PIRSA, to put some money back into that centre so that it can be reinvigorated into the realm where it once was.

I will touch on some of the issues around the region, starting with roads. Every regional member in this chamber—we all have concerns about the condition of our roads and the safety of our roads. Sadly, the two commercial rail lines that run from Pinnaroo down to Tailem Bend and from Loxton to Tailem Bend look as though they may close. That is going to put about another 6,250 truck movements on those deteriorated roads. I will be meeting with ministers, both state and federal, lobbying them to look at ways that we can upgrade those roads and keep them safe.

There are over 4,000 small businesses in Chaffey, and they all rely on water. That is why water security is so important. Regarding tourism, I congratulate Destination Riverland for its initiative. The state government almost fully defunded all tourism organisations, and Destination Riverland has done a magnificent job in giving life back into tourism, promoting the region and giving a stimulus to operators who have been and still are affected by the drought.

I would also like to acknowledge the Caudo family for their work around tourism and their initiative to bring True Grit to the region. As any regional member in this place would know, to draw 15,000 people into a region over two days and to have them spend and create a microeconomy is an outstanding achievement, so I pay homage to them. Also, Zac Caudo has been named Young South Australian of the Year, and he has done a remarkable job. Tourism is on the rise, and we have a lot of shining lights in the region, but most of it is centred around the river, so it is great to see.

When we look at health, we look at the Patient Assisted Transport Scheme. PATS has been one of those very topical issues over the past 12 months. It is great to see that we have had the review, but I am still waiting on the minister to come out and initiate the recommendations from the review. It has been a real concern that, with all the fuss and bluster around the PATS review, nothing has been implemented as yet. I was sad to see that $500,000 in funding was taken away from the Closing the Gap program. Fortunately, private enterprise stepped in and is footing the bill for the Riverland Division of General Practice; I think that is a great initiative.

I have 64 schools in the electorate of Chaffey, ranging from preschools to primary, secondary and area schools. Sadly, over the last three years, we have had three schools close, but again, it is about keeping the viability of the regions there, and keeping the fabric alive so that we can actually keep those schools viable.

One of the main issues, particularly in marginal areas, is broadband and mobile phone coverage. Most people living in Adelaide would not have a clue about what it means to have nil phone reception, or not being able to access broadband. I have concerns that, in today's world, specifically in today's business world, farmers do their business in their tractors. They do not go home to an office; they are talking to their markets, they are talking to the silos, they are talking to their transport guys, they are talking to their receival depots and they are talking to their pack houses, and that is why having internet services in those regional areas is so important.

Deputy Speaker, my time is all but up, but I have highlighted some of the issues that I have in Chaffey. Again, I thank the good people of the Riverland and the Mallee for putting their trust in me and giving me the opportunity to represent them for another term.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Before I call the member for Giles, I would like to remind the house that this is the honourable member's first speech, and I ask members to accord him the full and customary courtesies. Member for Giles.

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (16:13): Thank you, Deputy Speaker. I would like to start by thanking the Governor for his speech, and I would also like to acknowledge your election to the position of Deputy Speaker. I would also like to mention the member for Fisher; I have only been here for a few days and I do not know the member for Fisher, but like all of us, I have been following in the media his travails, and I wish the member for Fisher all the best and a speedy recovery. It is at times like this that we get a bit of perspective and reflect upon what are the important things in life, so I wish him well.

I would also like to mention the late Frank Blevins, a former member for the seat of Giles. His passing last year was a loss. Over the years, Frank made an enormous contribution to this state, to the seat of Giles and to the community of Whyalla—a real loss.

I would also like to acknowledge the sterling effort of the Premier, Jay Weatherill, in securing an amazing victory for the Labor Party. It is a great privilege to be elected to represent the vast electorate of Giles, the largest electorate in the state, an electorate the size of Germany in land mass. It is an honour to represent the people and the diverse communities that make up the seat, and I give a commitment to serve in the electorate to the best of my ability, and that means all of the electorate, from the smallest distant community to the bigger population centres of Roxby Downs, Whyalla and Coober Pedy.

To all those people who supported me during the campaign, to all my volunteers, to all those people who encouraged me over the years a heartfelt thank you, and a big thanks to the people who voted for me and voted for Labor. I particularly want to mention my family: my partner Kathryn for her unstinting support and thoughtful advice and for keeping me on the straight and narrow, not just during the election campaign but through a long life together. I am blessed to have such a loving and conscientious partner. My children, Sinead, Liam and Ciaran, for their down-to-earth good humour and their help. A big thanks to Tracy Robinson, Sherie Lamb, Linda Hall and Michelle Wilby for volunteering hours to assist during the campaign, and especially to Tracy, a real rock.

I also acknowledge Cheyne Rich for his calm, professional manner and invaluable input, and Dave Gray and David Di Troia. I would not be standing here today if it was not for the support offered by Dave Gray. A lot could be said about Dave—his poor table tennis skills, his inability to stay on a bike—but his great redeeming feature is that he was in the same class as me in that great Whyalla school, Eyre High. Your support, Dave, is deeply appreciated.

I wish the former member for Giles, Lyn Breuer, all the best in whatever she does next. Lyn diligently served the electorate of Giles for 17 years. Lyn made history as the first female Speaker of the House, an achievement that she is rightly proud of and something she probably did not imagine way back in 1991 when she was elected to the Whyalla city council as a single mum raising two children on her own—a real battler. Many thanks to Lyn for her support over the years. Lyn said she will put her feet up and watch daytime TV. I cannot see that happening for long; I am sure she will find a role where she can continue to advocate for regional South Australia. In the meantime, Lyn, get the fishing rod out, go catch some fish, and don’t forget to drop some off at my place.

There is one other person I will mention. He shaped who I am and what I try to represent. My dad, Jim Hughes, is no longer with us, but he was a man with a deep sense of a fair go and an abiding belief that ordinary people working together can achieve extraordinary things. He was a Scotsman, a fitter and turner, an active trade unionist, a shop steward for many years, and for a time the secretary of the Australian Metal Workers Union in Whyalla. They were unpaid roles, something you did on top of your job.

He gave his time freely to his workmates, his union members, his church, soccer clubs and the community. He was a loving dad. He would always go into bat for the underdog. He died in 1998, the year of the World Cup and the Peter Reith waterfront dispute. In that year, he gave part of his pension to support the wharfies and turned up at the picket, even though at the time he was very sick and in great pain. He lived out his beliefs to the end.

With my Irish mum, Masie, they raised three children: Kathy, Jim and I. As children, we spent the first years of our lives in the industrial north of England in a town called Rochdale, which is part of Greater Manchester. We had a simple rule in our household: you support Manchester United south of the border and Celtic north of the border. I have added Port Adelaide to the rule. Alas, one of my sons was corrupted at the age of six in Coober Pedy and became a Bombers supporter. I regret to inform the house that he is now 19 and he is still a Bombers supporter. Hopefully, as he matures, he will see the error of his ways.

When I was 10, we moved to Whyalla which, at the time, was a boomtown attracting people from around the world. My dad worked as a machinist for BHP and my mum worked as a cleaner in the coke ovens. My dad was an avid reader and I was lucky to grow up in a house well stocked with books.

I was fortunate that I absorbed the values that my dad lived in his day-to-day life. He expected that I would be the first child in our family to go to university, but I was a rebel and a ratbag at school and, as The Advertiser indicates, elsewhere, so that honour went to my young sister. My dad valued education and I met his expectation after a decade of labouring jobs.

It was people like my dad, across the generations and as part of the broad labour movement, who worked together to improve workplaces and the broader community. The Labor Party is at its best when it embodies that spirit of a fair go. We often take for granted what has been achieved over the years through individual effort and collective action, but those achievements can be wound back and there is now a full-scale frontal attack on the ethos of a fair go at a national level.

I want to acknowledge the people who voted for the opposition in Giles, especially in some of the communities beyond Whyalla. To those people and communities, I intend to be as strong an advocate for your interests as I will be for the interests of the community that I come from. Irrespective of which community we come from in Giles, we all have three things in common: we are all South Australians, we do not live in Adelaide and we want a fair go for regional South Australia.

A fair go is measured in tangibles. It means employment opportunities and access to decent education, health services and mental health services. It means the right environment for people and businesses that want to have a go. It means people with disabilities and their families get the support they deserve. It means early childhood services and services for the elderly. It means safe and attractive communities. It means looking out for future generations and respecting South Australia's magnificent natural environment. These are more or less the same things that people in the metropolitan area want.

When I referred to tangibles, I listed employment opportunities first. Unlike Tony Abbott, I do not accept that the loss of an industry and the resulting unemployment is a liberating experience. I come from a community that experienced huge job losses over a period of two decades. Few people thought that was a liberating experience. There is nothing liberating about intergenerational unemployment and, in the case of Whyalla, population loss.

I was there at the start of the job losses as a teenage grinder in the dying days of the Whyalla shipyard. Close to 2,000 jobs disappeared overnight. I was working as a steel deseamer in the steel industry, just before the commencement of the industry restructure which led to a wave of job losses over a 15-year period. Those changes to the steel industry were necessary; the alternative was no steel industry. The restructure was assisted by the Button Steel Plan, and it was notable at the time that, federally, the Liberal Party had no policy of assistance—not much changes.

Being part of a community where unemployment rates tracked consistently double the state average and reach close to 13 per cent and did so in the context of a population loss of just over 10,000 is definitely not liberating. Those experiences, that history, leaves its mark and it is why jobs, economic diversity and economic intensification are priorities. They are priorities that need to be addressed within a framework that treats seriously our obligations to future generations and the need to, in a thoughtful way, reconcile economic needs with environmental imperatives.

Whyalla turned the corner following the spin-out from BHP to OneSteel and for a period a few years ago during the term of the Labor government in this state we had an unemployment rate that was below the national average. Our rate now tracks the state average. That represents a huge improvement but, once again, unemployment is edging up. But, there are opportunities; there are things that we can do to make a real difference.

One of those things is mining. Giles is made up of a number of communities that depend upon mining. Iron Knob is the birthplace of the Australian iron and steel industry, with its initial history of a century of iron ore production which has now been added to by a further anticipated quarter of a century of production. Iron Knob is responsible for the birth of the Hummock Hill settlement which officially became Whyalla 100 years ago.

Whyalla has the Middleback Ranges and Roxby Downs has Olympic Dam. The vast multi-mineral resource that is Olympic Dam will continue to be exploited over the coming century in one way or another. There was real disappointment in our region when the BHP Billiton board did not give the green light to the expansion and there is a lesson there about not counting your chickens before they hatch. We will see a reconfigured expansion at a different scale and with different timing and we can say with confidence that there will be a long-lived mine with all of the future opportunities that come with that activity.

Coming on the heels of the decision about the expansion, the Roxby Downs community experienced a difficult period as BHP Billiton moved to rein in costs to improve mine viability. An 800 job loss hit is hard to take and impacts in a serious way in a community the size of Roxby Downs. It hits the employees that have lost their jobs and their families. It hits businesses and especially small businesses in the community and it shakes confidence. The community will bounce back.

Within Giles we have seen the growth of mining over the last decade with a number of mines that have come online or are anticipated. AusMinerals continues to mine copper at Prominent Hill and the largest undeveloped copper resource in Australia at Carrapateena has also an additional gold resource, a copper and gold resource that was discovered through direct state government assistance in the form of the Eyre PACE program.

IMX continue to export their copper and rich magnetite from Cairn Hill and Arrium has expanded their Middleback Range resource, while developing the strangely named Southern Iron operation near Coober Pedy in the Far North of the state. We need to ensure that the Woomera Prohibited Area is effectively opened up to allow exploration and mining.

Any one of those established projects you could point to as a job generator in the seat of Giles and the broader region. To take one example: Arrium's mining expansion has seen mining related jobs go from approximately 250 jobs in 2002 to over 1,500 today. Some of that is fly in-fly out, but most is based in communities like Whyalla and elsewhere in the region. Arrium's mining operations continue in parallel with resource processing based manufacturing and the steelworks directly employs 1,230 people.

So when I referred to economic intensification earlier in this speech, it was a reference to further mining development while retaining and, against the current, expanding manufacturing. That current is strong with the continuing strength of the Australian dollar—even though it has come down—global competition, over-capacity in the steel sector and, a perennial one on the Australian scene, subscale production facilities. It means we have to be smarter and it means we have to innovate. If we give up on manufacturing as a nation we will eventually pay a very high price.

I want to highlight the importance of being willing to innovate, to look afresh at what we do. In that context, I acknowledge the passing, at far too young an age, of the former manager of Whyalla's OneSteel operations, Jim White. Jim was the driving force behind the transformative Project Magnet, which shifted the feedstock for the steel industry in Whyalla from haematite to magnetite and, in the process, enabled the export of haematite. It enhanced the life of the plant, reduced steel-making costs, and generated very significant environmental gains for the Whyalla community.

As part of that shift to haematite export, the harbour at Whyalla has been expanded to handle up to 13 million tonnes per year, and there is a lot of potential for further expansion if commercial drivers are in place. It is worth noting that OneSteel, or OneSteel Arrium, delivered the expansion on time, on budget, and without any controversy or community opposition.

There are a number of lessons, not just for Giles but for the state, in the way that Arrium has approached mine expansion and port development. It has followed a pattern of incremental growth and consolidation, and has taken advantage of high iron ore prices. The two sites that have been used for additional shore-based shipping infrastructure have no inherent conflict over land use, and minimal environmental negatives.

During that period of high prices only one other company has delivered on iron ore exports in South Australia and that is IMX, with its copper-enriched magnetite, exporting out of Outer Harbor. There are extensive iron ore deposits in South Australia. I am told that there is potential for significant regional job growth and income generation.

With the exception of Arrium's operation, there is not much infrastructure in place to support additional iron ore export, and we are now entering a period of global oversupply of iron ore as major producers have added additional capacity. Demand from China is softening. As prices trend lower, companies that do not have financial closure and do not have infrastructure in place will find it increasingly difficult to get over the line. The temptation is to shelve planning for future development.

I think is important that we take a long-term view, even a generational view, and be ready to catch the next wave when it comes. We do not want to repeat the multitude of poor proposals that have been one of the features of this round of high commodity, price-driven interests in mine development in South Australia. We cannot control commodity prices but we can control how we plan, as a state, to take advantage of our mineral resources.

Planning for the long term, a far more strategic and coordinated approach, and a willingness to engage communities early in decision-making processes as well as a willingness to consider options and alternatives in an open and transparent manner will ultimately lead to better results. Top-down decision-making often reflects a very narrow perspective and is often marked by a lack of openness and curiosity. It is usually a very expedient form of decision-making, and it is a form of decision-making that engenders cynicism.

The negatives are often amplified for regional communities due to the deeply entrenched 'metrocentric' culture that prevails in South Australia, and let us be honest, that culture has prevailed under Liberal and Labor governments. It need not be that way, and I am confident that it is an approach that will be abandoned in the interests of developing the whole of the state.

In the context of mining and associated infrastructure development, the last time there was an attempt to comprehensively involve regional communities—especially the communities around the Spencer Gulf and the various groups with an interest in the region—was nearly a quarter of a century ago when the former member for Giles, the late Frank Blevins, was the minister for mineral resources. The overall initiative was called the northern Spencer Gulf resource processing strategy.

The community engagement process was years ahead of its time and was well resourced. It was not fly-in, fly-out, tick-a-box consultation. It was carried out in parallel with the commencement of the aerial magnetic survey of the state—a great Labor initiative. The survey itself demonstrated an innovative approach to the use of technology and the openness with which the survey results were shared. Frank Blevins and the public servants providing the advice at the time deserve to be remembered for what was a very important policy initiative.

Subsequent governments continued support for mining exploration, but the engagement process was shelved when Labor lost office. If it had continued—if over time the initiative had been built on—we might well have been in the position to have had a far more coordinated, thought-through and timely approach to infrastructure provision and be in a position to take advantage of elevated commodity prices.

What the northern Spencer Gulf processing strategy represented was a clean-sheet approach to building decisions which involved communities and incorporated environmental, social, and economic aspects from the beginning. It had scientific input from the start, especially in relation to the marine environment. The aerial magnetic survey of the state was an important initiative allowing us for the first time to look extensively below the cover of sedimentary rock that hid potential mineral wealth in South Australia.

Below the ground we have mineral resources, but above the ground we have an energy source that dwarfs all other energy resources: the direct solar resource and indirect solar resource that is wind, can turn South Australia into a renewable energy power house and, in the process, give us a far greener mining industry while also greening all other sectors of our economy. Why not set a target to become the greenest mining province in the world, and why not marry our renewable energy resource to our mineral wealth, or at least announce the engagement so that down the track they can tie the knot?

We have always been a solar state in a solar world, except that we just take it for granted and we do not give it much thought. We are entirely dependent on a biosphere that is driven by the sun. For thousands of years, Australia's Aboriginal people lived off the bounty provided by the sun. For generations, our farmers have harvested solar energy. What we are looking at now (and the process has started, but we have further to go) is developing and applying technology to capture the sun's energy. It is research and development; it is learning by doing; it is creating economies of scale; it is taking technology off the shelf that is being developed overseas; but it is also making our contribution with our know-how and adding our piece to the global sustainability jigsaw. We can do our bit and benefit as a result.

Nearly all of Giles is low rainfall but high solar resource. The seat of Stuart has a great solar resource and the seat of Flinders has a reasonable solar resource and a world-class wind resource. We should work together and as a state reject the tin foil hat rubbish that is coming out of Canberra when it comes to renewables and global warming.

The target to reach 33 per cent of the state's electricity from renewables by 2020 is likely to be met within a year. Most of that renewable energy to date has been from wind but solar will, over the coming years, start to make a greater contribution, largely as a result of the ongoing fall in the cost of photovoltaic technology.

Regional South Australia has benefited significantly from investment in renewables, with $2 billion worth of investment out of a total investment of $5 billion since 2003. The investment has created jobs for regional South Australia and provided rent for farmers and assistance for communities through the establishment of community funds. The penetration of wind and the displacement of fossil fuels has also led to a reduction in the wholesale cost of electricity in South Australia.

In my community of Whyalla, 120 jobs and 14 apprenticeships were created by fabricating the towers for stage two of the Snowtown wind farm, a process that was ably assisted by the state government with a $2 million co-contribution to ENA. We should be building on those efforts but, instead, we see the Abbott government creating profound investor uncertainty.

The state Labor government initiated the preparation of a report on the wind potential on the Eyre Peninsula and the development of a green grid to harness that world-class resource and effectively link into the national grid. The report looked at harnessing an initial 2,000 megawatts on a staged basis, but the report indicated the potential resource was five times greater.

With sensible national policy, the resource could be developed and the grid upgrade would eventually benefit other potential industries on the Eyre Peninsula such as mining. It would represent a multimillion dollar input into the region and further displace fossil fuel generators. It would also help to provide a basis for higher end manufacturing, provided there was long-term investor certainty in the wind sector.

Manufacturing communities like Whyalla could increase tower production. Hubs, nacelles and blades are all imported. With investor certainty, local manufacturing facilities could be developed. If we captured the wind resource on the Eyre Peninsula and captured the manufacturing opportunities, it would be a big boost to employment. Rounding the numbers off, the stage development of 2,000 megawatts on the Eyre Peninsula would mean the fabrication of 800 towers, 800 hubs, 800 nacelles and 2,400 blades in addition to a wide range of job-generating ancillary services.

Companies in the past have expressed their willingness to invest in Australian manufacturing, but each time that desire has been undermined at a federal level, initially when the Howard government failed to increase the 2 per cent mandatory renewable energy target, and now with the Abbott government's review headed up by a man who rejects the science behind global warming. A review held just 18 months after the last review found that the mandatory renewable energy target was working to deliver cost-effective clean energy.

Over the coming years, we are going to see a fundamental change in the business model that underpins electricity generation, distribution and retail. The change has already started and we will move from the centralised hub and spoke model to a far more distributed system and a system that will increasingly put power back in the hands of consumers. Members might not have seen comments recently made by Bob Stobbe, the CEO of SA Power Networks, where he said that all forms of centralised generation and transmission would inevitably become redundant.

That raises some really profound questions and I am sure it will lead to all sorts of debate. To date, the most visible part of that shift has been the massive increase in rooftop solar in our suburbs and regional centres. It is not the well-heeled that have been adopting solar; it is low to middle income earners that own their own houses, or at least are paying off mortgages. Thirty-two per cent of Australia's housing stock is in regional and rural areas, and those areas account for more than 40 per cent of solar installations.

In cities, it is the outer metropolitan mortgage belt that has seen the greatest penetration, and the suburb that leads the charge in South Australia is Salisbury. Contrary to the nonsense that is often pedalled about solar being a form of middle-class welfare, solar uptake declines as income levels increase. The affluent do not worry about high electricity prices. The less affluent do, and they look for ways to reduce their exposure to high prices. The levelised cost of energy from a run-of-the-mill PV system in Adelaide is approximately 13¢ a kilowatt hour compared to grid-delivered electricity at approximately 30¢ a kilowatt hour. It is a no-brainer.

The cost of photovoltaic panels has already come down a lot over the last five years, and it is anticipated that the levelised cost of PV-generated electricity over the next six years will drop to between 4¢ and 9¢ a kilowatt-hour. It is a game changer with incredibly significant implications for this state, for this country, and for other countries similar to ourselves with great solar resources. Those implications become even more interesting if the cost of small-scale energy storage for households and businesses replicates what has happened to solar PV.

We need to ensure that those people on low incomes in the public or private rental market do not miss out on the advantage that solar provides. I welcome the commitment to establishing a pilot program involving 300 households to trial the roll-out of solar, with a further 5,000 households to benefit if successful. In Whyalla alone there are 2,300 Housing SA properties, so I believe we need to look at a range of financial models that will be able to assist the roll-out of solar. Ultimately, those off-grid communities, such as Coober Pedy and Andamooka, will benefit from the technology cost reductions we are seeing and will reduce or eliminate their reliance on expensive diesel systems. I welcome the state government's commitment to reintroduce grid parity for South Australia's off-grid communities.

PV has of late received a lot of attention, but the solar technology that might be best suited to power on demand and best suited to a range of industrial applications that goes beyond straightforward electricity generation is concentrating solar thermal. Concentrating solar thermal is still expensive, but it is coming down in cost. Due to the high temperatures generated, a number of energy storage options are possible, and it addresses what is often seen as the weakness of renewables, intermittent supply.

Concentrating solar thermal complements wind energy, and peak energy production closely matches peak electricity demand. The high temperatures generated can also be used in a range of industrial processes. Copper miners in Chile are starting to use concentrated solar thermal. For a state like South Australia, the provision of early targeted support for concentrated solar thermal might generate significant long-term benefits. We need to build the industries of the future and the infrastructure to support the industries of tomorrow.

I have focused on the importance of mining and renewables and I have acknowledged the role of manufacturing, because in my region they are important, or potentially important, when it comes to significant job generation and also ensuring we take care of our future generations. There are other opportunities for my region and many opportunities for our state if we focus on research and development, innovation and collaboration. If as a state we are going to make the most of our opportunities, providing decent early childhood services and education for all our children is essential.

There is an attainment gap between educational outcomes in the metropolitan area and country South Australia. It partly reflects socioeconomic factors, factors which are also clearly at work within the metropolitan area. Australia lags behind a number of countries when it comes to ensuring that a person's postcode should not determine, to a significant degree, educational attainment. Needs-based funding is essential, but a comprehensive review of the specific factors influencing educational outcomes in regional South Australia might assist in the development of policy and the allocation of resources to close the gap.

There is also a gap when it comes to health outcomes in both morbidity and mortality between the metropolitan area and regional South Australia. Once again, socioeconomic determinants play a role, as does access to timely diagnostic procedures and treatment. On that note, I welcome the commitment to overhaul the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme and the 30 per cent increase in budget allocation. Labor acted on the review of the scheme and will deliver. I acknowledge the role played by the Minister for Health and also the work done by the member for Frome and now Minister for Regional Development, Geoff Brock.

Once the changes to the scheme are bedded down, it would be advisable to undertake regular incremental adjustments to ensure the scheme reflects changing conditions, such as transport and accommodation costs, so that regional South Australians are not disadvantaged. Access to treatment in Adelaide is important for a whole range of procedures and it makes medical sense, but where possible we should deliver services closer to where people live. I welcome the work that is being done to deliver a greater range of medical services through our major regional hospitals.

The $69 million upgrade of the Whyalla Hospital is a good example of Labor's commitment to improve health services in regional South Australia, which was carried out in partnership with the previous federal Labor government. I point out that the upgrade was opposed by the Liberal Party, at least in Canberra. The upgrade and enhanced services will benefit not just Whyalla but also the surrounding regions. Part of the upgrade includes the provision of accommodation for patients and families. Many of the people from my region suffering from cancer will now be able to access treatment at Whyalla through the new cancer centre.

Mental health services will be upgraded, with six dedicated beds, and negotiations to secure a residential psychiatrist look as though they will bear fruit. Residential psychiatrists in regional South Australia are as rare as hen's teeth. Like hen's teeth, I do not think there are any at the moment, despite the disproportionately higher rate of mental ill health in the country. Attracting specialists to actually live in the country is a difficult, challenging and complex problem. Regional South Australia's first MRI machine will be installed at the hospital in the near future, preventing many trips to Adelaide.

When talking about the gap in health and education, the most profound challenge we face as a state and a nation is addressing, in collaboration, the problems experienced by Australia's first people. There is much that can be celebrated. There are positives but, while the gap continues, it reflects badly on our state and our nation. However, that is nothing compared to the effect that it has on many lives.

In a previous occupation I spent many hours conducting interviews with Aboriginals who were either in gaol or awaiting sentencing. We all know that Aboriginals are over-represented in our gaol population. The interviews provided some insight into the circumstances, both near and long term, that led to appearing before courts.

Faced with similar circumstances, there but for the grace of God, nearly all of us would be in a similar position. The obligation to work together to address the causes of Aboriginal disadvantage is a deep one, and it is only working collaboratively with our First People that problems will be addressed.

There are many distinct communities in Giles and to talk about them all today would not give them the justice they deserve. The different communities have much in common, but they also have their own particular needs, opportunities and challenges. I know my own community of Whyalla well, but even there my knowledge is partial, and that is why I have always maintained that as an elected member, whether at a local or a state level, we need to involve people.

The knowledge, experience and passion in our communities and in our state will always outweigh that which is contained in the elected body. We always need to reach out and involve people.

[Sitting extended beyond 17:00 on motion of Hon. J.W. Weatherill]

Mr HUGHES: I look forward to working with the people and the communities of Giles to improve our lot and to help our state prosper. I also look forward to working with the elected members on both sides of the house in the interest of all South Australians. To my neighbouring electorates: we have much in common, and I look forward to what I hope will be a constructive relationship with the member for Flinders and the member for Stuart. I especially look forward to working with the member for Frome (the Minister for Regional Development) so that we can advance the interests of regional South Australia and by so doing advance the interests of the whole of our state.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

Mr GRIFFITHS (Goyder) (16:58): I apologise to the member for Giles for not shaking his hand, but I had to stand ready to speak. Can I also tender the apology of many of the members of the opposition who would have been here for the remainder of your speech but had been called to the Upper House for a speech by the Hon. Andrew McLachlan. Many members were quite impressed by a lot of the words that you said.

Deputy Speaker, can I also pay my compliments to the Governor on the speech he gave on Tuesday, and indeed the way in which His Excellency and Mrs Scarce have performed a very challenging role for all South Australians over a seven-year period. I hope that in the last few months they have in the role that they continue to enjoy it and continue to enjoy the interaction that they have with so many communities in South Australia, and that good health and a wonderful time with their family follows them into retirement; they certainly deserve it.

Firstly, it is important that I express my great appreciation to the people of Goyder for allowing me to have the honour of representing them in parliament. A bit over eight years ago, when I first had the opportunity to stand in this place and to speak, I was very humbled by the confidence that our community showed in me. In the time since then, many experiences have happened to us, there is no doubt about that—some good, some bad, some challenging, and some absolutely wonderful—but it is still an absolute pleasure to have the opportunity to be a member of parliament. It is an honour that I never expected, but an honour that I will continue to respect enormously, and one which I will do my absolute best to undertake for as long as I have the confidence of the community and the people that put me here.

Deputy Speaker, can I congratulate you on your appointment, too. In the political world in which I lived prior to the election I was supporting the opposition candidate against you, Damian Wyld for Florey. I think the respect that he held for you in understanding what you had done since 1997 made him believe there was a great challenge to try and take Florey away from you. I do commend him on everything that he did. He worked very hard, had wonderful support from his wife and family, parents and grandparents, and some wonderfully dedicated supporters in the electorate, too, who put an enormous amount behind him and worked an amazing number of hours to make him—

Mr Gardner interjecting:

Mr GRIFFITHS: Yes—to make him a worthwhile candidate against you, but there is no doubt the incumbency that you brought and the level of representation you have had in the community in 16 years held you in good stead, so well done on that. I also congratulate the member for Croydon on his continued appointment as Speaker of this house. I have enjoyed my discussions with the Speaker and respect the way in which he attempts to control this place from time to time and the need for it to actually be controlled, and I am sure he will do well.

Goyder actually had some interesting challenges. From a level of support point of view, my margin was reduced, and I readily understand that, from an (I thought) ridiculously high 17.7 per cent on the two-party preferred vote to now 12.5 per cent, for which I am still very grateful—

The Hon. S.W. Key interjecting:

Mr GRIFFITHS: I don't think I'm that good. The member for Ashford says that she still wishes—what was that?

The Hon. S.W. Key: Seventeen would be lovely but 12 is good, too.

Mr GRIFFITHS: It is wonderful. It's very humbling, actually.

The Hon. S.W. Key: I got 1.9 per cent.

Mr GRIFFITHS: 1.9—the member for Ashford confirms that it is. In my case, actually, some boundary changes created some interesting challenges for me. Balaklava had been part of Goyder for some time, but transferred to the seat of Frome, so the Minister for Regional Development has the great honour of representing that community. A lot of Liberal voters actually transferred with that boundary change, which I hoped would have created a different result in Frome, but Kendall Jackson was not quite as successful as I would have liked. But I commend her on what she did, too—a very committed person who, with a lot of family support, put an enormous amount into it. That is what politics about: it is about good people standing up. We have been lucky that in all political parties we have good people prepared to stand up.

So, in losing Balaklava and the sadness of not being part of that actual community all the time but still representing the area to its west, south and east—I am saddened by that, but I am excited by the opportunity that the transfer of Two Wells into Goyder from Taylor represents. I readily admit that I have to get to know that community and the key issues for them, and to have a sort of visual impression in my mind of what all the streets are like and the people so that when I meet them in the street I remember their names, and to try and do as much as I can for them. I have enjoyed my relationship with the member for Taylor. I know in speaking to the community that there was a level of respect for the member for Taylor and what she had done for Two Wells, and I hope that I can gain that same support from that community.

It is very humbling for any person who has the great opportunity to stand in this chamber that they do recognise that it is not just their own efforts that get them here. Normally, it is the support of a particular political party. For those who are Independents, it is still the support of a lot of people that makes it possible. I will put on the record my eternal appreciation for the Liberal members in Goyder who in their vast numbers, even though (as in many political parties) they are becoming a little bit older, accepted the challenge of assisting me in so many ways, not just in fundraising support but the physical and emotional support that comes with it, too, sometimes.

The corflutes going up, but predominantly the amount of effort that went into working on polling day, is something that was very humbling to me. I think my head count was about 105 people who supported me, and for those I am very grateful. We had probably about 55 people in my home on election night with a great level of optimism, I must say, at the very start of it in the belief that some of the poll results in the days beforehand were going to show a result that was somewhat different to what the eventual situation was.

The mood swing did occur during the evening, there is no doubt. The uncertainty that was created with such a fine, delicate balance, and the position that it put the member for Fisher and the member for Frome into, caused one lady who was in my house to cry. She is a business operator—and I am grateful for her support, too—but she was quite tearful, not, I think, for my personal situation, but for what the impact would be on South Australia. She is not normally a politically biased person that much either, so it was interesting to see that.

In the days that followed, there were very mixed emotions for me. There was still a significant level of optimism that existed but also the recognition that, within 10 minutes seemingly, a decision could have been made that would have a result that I did not want to see occur.

On the Sunday, when the press conference was called and the member for Frome and the now, as we understand, the Premier jointly presented the fact that the member for Frome had chosen to support the Labor Party, I was actually driving to a community event at Dublin from my home, so I was about one hour and 10 minutes away. I got to Port Wakefield, and it was on the radio, and I just had to stop, turn around and go home because I needed a hug from someone who loved me.

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon: It wasn't going to be anyone in your car.

Mr GRIFFITHS: And I was by myself, member for Newland.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Phone a friend.

Mr GRIFFITHS: Well, I did do that. I did phone a friend, Deputy Speaker.

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon: I was on the Yorke Peninsula that weekend. I could have given you a hug.

Mr GRIFFITHS: You had better reason than I, member for Newland. My wife and I had been speaking while we were listening to the radio. She was watching it on television, and I just had to turn around. I just walked in the door and had to have a hug because what I had hoped to have been an opportunity to do for South Australians what I had been desperate to do for a long time was lost.

I recognise the member for Frome is in here, and I am respectful of the fact that he was put in an extremely difficult situation—I understand that—but I have to say that the events of that day had a profound impact upon me and made me, indeed, think about what the future is going to be for all of us.

For those on the right-hand side of your chair, Deputy Speaker, it was probably an unexpected result to some degree. I can understand the sense of jubilation that existed with them and the opportunity that it presented to them, but, wow, it shows that the competitive nature that exists in politics can bring out the best and the worst in people, just in the emotions they go through in what they want to do, the challenges presented to them and the capacity for them to achieve. So I, sadly, as it stands, have to be to your left side, Deputy Speaker, while I am in this chamber.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Left is good.

Mr GRIFFITHS: Yes. While it is a great honour to do what we do as an opposition member of parliament, it is still not a patch on the opportunity that presents itself if you sit on the other side. So, that is what I still believe in. It will be achieved one day. You have to be an optimist otherwise you would go out and do terrible things to yourself, I think.

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon: Some people do.

Mr GRIFFITHS: Sadly, they do. Again, I just want to confirm the fact that I have been extremely grateful for a long time for the tremendous support from the Liberal members in the Goyder electorate.

I also recognise what has occurred to the member for Fisher and the emotion that existed on the opening day. Seeing him in a quite tearful situation, I think, when he first came into the chamber, and respecting the fact that he has been here since 1989 and has committed 25 years of his life to this place and the people of South Australia, and to know what he and his family are going through and the continuing challenges that presents, I commend him on the fact that he was here for that day, commend him for the strength of character that he shows and commend him on all that he has done when he has been in this parliament.

I think he is a bit of a doyen of a man who, in so many areas, has stood up for what he believes in, has consulted with his community and has tried to ensure that the outcomes are positive all the time. It is an example that all of us should observe and try to replicate.

I am pleased that the member for Frome, now as the minister for regional development and local government, has continuously put the fact that he will be there for the regions. It is interesting that the member for Giles in his speech also focused on the metrocentric attitude of, to quote him, both Liberal and Labor when it came to governance.

I think there is a great opportunity to respect the fact that 20 per cent of our population, but 50 per cent of our revenue opportunity for this state, comes from regional South Australia, and I hope in the shadow portfolio that I have with the two areas that the minister has that there is a great chance to work together for positive outcomes.

There is a bipartisan opportunity that presents itself in a rather unique place now where there is due consideration to be given to every issue. It puts the member for Frome in a very challenging role, it is fair to say, where you would focus on your portfolio areas, but now there will be a demand from people all around the state for you to have an involvement in everything, absolutely everything, far beyond and removed from your portfolio, that exists in a regional community, and they will want you to actually have an active involvement.

It will be a very delicate balancing of time and your capacity to actually understand all these issues and to have an impact upon the decisions that are made regarding them. I have known the member for some time. I believe him in my heart to be an honest man with integrity and I hope that the relationship that we have and that he has with all members of this place—all 68 other members of parliament—will be a positive one.

I am pleased indeed that the member for Frome, as part of the arrangement that he has with the Premier, has picked up on quite a few of the policies that we took very strongly to the last election too, with regional development funding and additional dollars for infrastructure and that he will continue to work on the $10 million for the accelerator that he talks about and the $39 million package in the first year. I am so pleased about that.

I must say that listening to the maiden speeches of new members has been very humbling also, because the level of capacity that exists within those people is outstanding, absolutely outstanding. They are all articulate and come from very diverse backgrounds; there is no doubt about that, but they have a capacity to craft their story. Now, I do not know if they have been working on their maiden speeches for months, but it appears that way. It is not just a rushed job for these people. They have actually thought very seriously about why they wanted to get here, what they intend to do while they are here, and the communities in which they have been given the honour to represent, so I commend all of them.

It is enlightening to sit here and, while you have a perspective on someone else who seeks the opportunity to be a member of parliament and you hear stories about them, it is not until you have the opportunity to sit down here and listen to the 25 to 44 minute speeches that are occurring that you do truly understand what makes up that person. I have learnt a lot and I am looking forward to hearing the other maiden speeches that are about to be presented too, because in some ways it has changed my thoughts on what sort of people they were.

I do respect that there is a particular bent in some of the statements that are made, but in the absolute majority of them there is a complete focus on what they want to do for their people, and that is why we should all be here, because parliament should attract the absolute best. I have had a frustration for a long time that, instead of the yelling and screaming that occurs, there should be the opportunity to debate stuff, and I hope that is the way that the Minister for Regional Development and I will do things.

Yes, there will be questions that are asked in parliament and yes, there will be a desire to try and get a question up that the minister does not actually have an answer for, but there is an opportunity to sit down rationally, talk about things, and come up with a solution and that is what all of us should try to do. So, future generations who have got the opportunity to be in this place, please focus on that. I want to commend the member for Dunstan on his performance as Leader of the Opposition.

Mr Gardner: Hear, hear!

Mr GRIFFITHS: It might have only had a relatively small level of support there, because most of my colleagues are listening to a member in another house give a maiden speech.

Mr Picton: I supported the mention of the Leader of the Opposition.

Mr GRIFFITHS: Well done! If I may use his name, Steven Marshall I think was outstanding in his first term, being elected in 2010. I spoke at a fundraising event in early 2010 when he was seeking to get the resources he needed to be elected for the first time, and I said with all sincerity that I was glad that I came in early, but he has just leapfrogged over everybody because of the work commitment that he has, the capacity that he has, the networking that he does, and his ability to understand an issue really quickly and to just articulate it so well.

Political times represent great challenges, no doubt, but I commend the member for Dunstan on everything that he did. No person is perfect, but God I am glad it was him and not me anyway, I have got to say that. He will be an excellent leader, and has proven that—

Mr Gardner: And an excellent premier.

Mr GRIFFITHS: Indeed, and I believe he will be a premier one day. There is no doubt about it. He has the persona not of a man who was born to it, but of one who has worked for it. I truly believe that. Through what he has done in his private life, with his family situation, and in his professional life he has developed the skillset that I believe will put South Australia in a great place.

There is no doubt that economic challenges for South Australia are rather high. Indeed, a lot of the policy work that the Liberal Party announced prior to the 2014 election was focused on cost of living pressures, and that has to be what we have to try to address. I am sure that the community contacts all members in this place on a very regular basis expressing concern about their capacity to pay the next bill. It is not being able to give them an answer for that, even though you can provide them with the history of it and the reasons for it in some cases, and be sympathetic towards them. They walk out of your office or finish the telephone conversation with you and you know that they still have to go through the same dilemma of where they will get the cash from to pay the bill.

That is what we have to try to govern for, what we have to try to fix. We have to try to ensure that we have a vibrant economy that provides the capacity for well-paid work and a level of servicing that allows our families to live comfortably. They will still work hard, absolutely, but work hard with a reward opportunity for the effort they put in. I think that will be a driver of policy work for a long time. Yes, there are great ideas out there and you can spend an enormous amount of money, but you have to pay for it, and paying for it comes out of the pockets of the 1.6 million people who live in South Australia. That will be the challenge for us, not just over the next three years and 10 months but in the long term for South Australians.

I listened quite intently to the member for Bright's maiden speech yesterday. I thought he did a great job, and I was particularly interested in his comments about the Public Service. I know it is 100,000 people or thereabouts in number, and that represents about one in every eight people who work in South Australia. They work for us, for all South Australians. There are great people, there is absolutely no doubt about that, but when the member focused on words about some low levels of morale, concerns about political interference, and that they need greater leadership in there, it really brought it home to me. That is someone who has worked at the coalface up until election day, basically.

I think there is an important message that can be delivered from the member for Bright's contribution on that aspect, and it is one that I hope all sides of parliament listen to. I have long held the belief that the Public Service has to be there with a positive attitude; it has to work out how it can say yes instead of saying no, and it has to challenge itself. That is at all levels, including local government that I used to work in and that I now have portfolio responsibility for from a shadow perspective.

From a Public Service point of view, there are great demands upon them, absolutely, and I understand that. There is a very high level of community expectation, and I do not retract from that either, because people deserve the best, but it has to be positiveness that comes from it. I look forward to what the member for Port Adelaide, who has portfolio responsibility for Public Service areas, will be able to do. It will be a challenge for her, but good luck with that.

I want to sincerely thank my staff who work for me in the Goyder electoral office. None of us in this place can do what we would like to do unless we have people who work extremely hard behind us. In my case I am blessed with the fact that they are loyal to me. I hope I am friends with all of them, and I respect them as individuals, and what they do collectively as individuals, enormously. I hope to have their support for a long time, and I am sure that will be the case. I would like to put on the record my sincere thanks for what they have done for me in the last eight years. Of the variety of people who have worked for me, some have gone on to other opportunities, but those who are with me now and those who will be with me in the future, thank you very much.

I listened intently to the member for Davenport and his comments about electoral reform. I know that the member for Colton had some concerns about that. It puts a very interesting perspective on it. When I was elected to this place I shook my head in frustration at the fact that I had joined a political party and become a member of parliament for the Liberal party when it had only won three elections out of the last 12, I think. The situation has not improved since, sadly.

The member for Davenport, by virtue of his experience and, indeed, the research he has done in this area, presents, I think, a very valid argument that needs to be listened to. I listened to part of it on radio this morning and have read some of the papers that he has produced on it. It is worthy of consideration because I truly believe that it reflects the questions that are posed to us about the seemingly inconsistent level of total support that exists versus the eventual result. I understand the numbers and I understand it is dependent upon who wins the majority of the 47 seats—I completely appreciate that. But I have tried to rationalise the member for Davenport's argument down to the fact that it is based upon the level of support that exists from all South Australians. So, it will be an interesting debate that occurs in future years about that and to see what occurs.

I want to sincerely thank my family. I mentioned at the very start that eight days after the election I needed to go home and get a hug from Donna because I was desperate to be with someone I loved—but they have always been there for me. Indeed, a lot of sacrifices have been made too. Anybody who is in here appreciates the fact that you are often separated from your family at times that you do not want to be, but to have this opportunity is a sacrifice that has to be made. I am blessed, indeed, that in April of this year, Donna and I celebrated 26 years of wedded bliss (I hope)—much better than last year when I could not be with her because parliament was sitting. So, being a regional member creates that problem.

The Hon. P. Caica: We would have given you a pair, Steven!

Mr GRIFFITHS: The member for Colton mentions he would have given me a pair. We made an agreement—

Mr Gardner: Through me!

Mr GRIFFITHS: Through the member for Morialta, of course! But it is the level of support that I am grateful for, predominantly from my wife, my son and my daughter, but also the extended family support me and to them I say a sincere 'thank you'.

I will shamelessly advertise the fact that there is a great day of pride for my family next year when my son, Tyler, will marry his wonderful fiancée, Katie. They have been together for nine years and 10½ months. They will be married on their 10th anniversary of starting to go out. Tyler was 15 and Katie was 17 when the romance started, but gee they are good people. We all want to be proud of our kids, but I am so proud of both my son and daughter and indeed the partners that they have in life. I know they have made great choices and I know their lives together will be wonderful and I hope that I live long enough to actually see the fulfilment of that and have the opportunity to hold grandchildren—that's for sure.

I want to pay respect to the candidates who stood against me in Goyder too, particularly Elyse Ramsay. I think we have worked out that Elyse is a third cousin to my wife and is from a farming family in Warooka where my wife's family is from too. So, there was a bit of shock-horror amongst us that a very nice young girl was running for the Labor Party. I have never actually met Elyse, though I have met her dad, but can I say that I was so pleased that on election night, when the result was known locally, Elyse rang me. In 2006 and 2010 that level of contact did not occur.

I think Elyse is a great kid and I do not mean that disrespectfully—she is younger, but I wish her well in the future and I sincerely did appreciate the telephone call from her. I also recognise that Goyder had five or six candidates—one of the highest numbers in the state. We had a National Party candidate and an Independent, and it is interesting that the Independent—

Mr Gardner: All vanquished.

Mr GRIFFITHS: Yes, all vanquished! The Independent who, it is fair to say, campaigned at a very low level and was not of a major political party, did not put up corflutes, did not have anyone handing out how-to-vote cards on the Saturday, yet got 5.1 per cent of the vote. He is 64 and I do not think he intends to run again (which makes me glad, I must admit) but it shows that for all political parties there is an increasing number of people who actually want something different.

So, either we have to demonstrate something different, if we represent one of the major parties, or we run the risk of somebody coming up through the middle all the time. For me it was a bit of an eye opener of what could potentially occur in the future. It shows, as with the member of Frome when he stood as an Independent with a public profile—particularly with a public profile and a level of very strong support from the largest communities in the Frome electorate—that anything can happen.

For all those candidates in the Goyder electorate, I commend them on the fact that they were prepared to be involved in democracy. As much as I get frustrated by the results of democracy, sometimes, I have to rationalise my saneness against the fact that the people get it right. Without that, I think I would turn my toes up. Well done to all of them, and I hope that Elyse has a great future, too.

Goyder is a wonderful part of South Australia, and I have lived there for 40 of my 52 years. It is part of my DNA and it is where I hope to live out my last days. It is where my home will always be and it is where I intend to spend the majority of my time holidaying, too, because I just love being there. Goyder has some particular challenges occurring at the moment. The member for Giles referred to alternative energy systems. A 197-turbine wind farm was approved three days before the writs were issued and over the last 18 months it is fair to say that has created enormous divisions within sections of the community.

It saddens me immensely that, particularly in the Curramulka area—a small town with a great past and, I hope, a very strong future—it has created tensions within lifelong friendships that I do not think will ever be repaired. There are those who are for it and, in some cases, hosting turbines, and those who are against it, and there will never be any movement in the position they hold. So we wait with bated breath about what will occur as a result of that approval. I hope, for the long-term future of the community, that there is a return to the connection that they have felt forever with people.

Mining, which the member for Giles also referred to, is very strongly at the forefront in Goyder at the moment. Just south-west of Ardrossan is the Rex Minerals proposal. If approval is granted and it is developed to what is envisaged, it will cover 3,000 hectares in the mine site and the overburden pits that will be established. That is 3,000 hectares in what is one of the best agricultural areas in the state and, certainly, in Australia, and that has caused a lot of concern for not only people who live close but also those who holiday close or have holiday homes and the people concerned about the impact it will have on those around it.

It has been a very delicate, not balancing act but, time of trying to demonstrate that there are two sides. There is a development opportunity that provides 600 mining jobs in the long-term and there is a concern for the operations of those who live and work close by to it. A decision does need to be made. I do believe that Rex Minerals has been quite a responsible corporate citizen when it came to community engagement.

A consultation group has existed for some time and, indeed, the consultation group has been quite independent when forming its positions. It has not been biased around what Rex Minerals the company has said: it has been biased around what the community has been asking it to say and what the evidence has proven. It will be a challenging time and a decision will probably be made in the next two or three weeks or month, and it will be interesting to see how it goes.

Deputy Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity and wish all of us here the best of times until March of 2018. I know the relationship will be challenging sometimes. There will be good times and bad times, there will be emotional times and exciting times. No doubt, the debate across the chamber will be spirited. I hope it is in the best of ways, though, where the focus is on what the people of South Australia truly need. Long live the rights of South Australians and long may they be preserved in this place and be the focus of every good thing that occurs here and the future of this great state.

Time expired.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. T.R. Kenyon.

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