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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-09-19 Daily Xml
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Regional South Australia

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (14:43): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Can the minister update the house on how the 2018-19 state budget is supporting our regional communities?

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE (Chaffey—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (14:44): I certainly can, and I thank the member for Hammond for his question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: Being a regional MP, he understands—

Ms Hildyard interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Reynell, are you interjecting?

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: —how important the regions are to South Australia, particularly to their economy. Leading up to this last election, we gave a commitment that regions mattered. We gave a commitment that we were going to recharge our regions and it was going to be a large part of our policy platform.

What I would say is that, under a Marshall Liberal government, we have assured and we will continue to assure that they are there to be counted. We are not going to take away funding from them. We are going to acknowledge that every regional community votes. The previous government forgot the regional communities because there were no votes in the regions—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: —so they were not going to fund them. That's what we heard from the previous premier.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Kaurna is on two warnings.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: What this government is going to do is we are going to recharge our regions.

The Hon. A. Piccolo interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Light is called to order.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: As you saw in the budget, the big winners in the budget were the regions—a $773 million commitment to the regions in South Australia.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is on two warnings.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: That's right, $773 million. What we have seen is that we are delivering on an election promise. We are delivering on an election commitment. What I am going to say that might disappoint those opposite—

Mr Hughes interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Giles is called to order.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: —is that we are actually also delivering on fixing up Labor's mess. Yes.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Reynell is still interjecting on two warnings.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: It includes $28.6 million of cuts to PIRSA.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting:

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: Ah, yes. So we are committed to initiatives to grow our economic opportunities—

The SPEAKER: Minister, please be seated for one moment. The member for Mawson is warned for a second and final time.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

The SPEAKER: You're welcome.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: We are going to deliver on these outcomes. We are going to make sure that regions get the support that they never had. The long-term commitment is $150 million in the Regional Growth Fund. We talk about $10 million on the Mobile Black Spot Program. We are talking about $315 million—

Mr Hughes interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Giles is warned.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: —to Regional Roads and Infrastructure Fund. There is $192 million for 10 years for health services that were sadly neglected while those opposite were messing around with Transforming Health. What a disaster that was. There is $20 million over four years for the health workforce strategy. The education minister has a great platform: $194 million to improve—

Mr Hughes interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Giles is warned for a second and final time.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: —country education. What I would say is that, on my visits around regional South Australia, I have visited 13 communities. I am out there visiting them all the time. While I am out there visiting the communities, other ministers are visiting those communities. It just goes to show that we are committed to regional South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: What I would say is that, for those 16 long years as a regional constituent myself, I had to put up with a government that just forgot what regions were all about.

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Playford is warned.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: They absolutely forgot what regions were all about. I do want to compare a little bit of commentary on measures delivered in last year's budget. In last year's budget there was not one thing under primary industries and regions—not one budget line, not one dollar. It is an absolute disgrace. We saw plenty of cuts in the Mid-Year Budget Review but not a dollar in the budget. What I would say is the bank—nothing; operating initiatives—nothing; investment initiatives—nothing; revenue measures—nothing. There was nothing in the budget for those regions.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Is the member for Lee interjecting?

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: I would like to—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: —quickly talk about some of the measures that we have seen are missing in the budget.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: What I would say is that this government is going to represent all of South Australia, including the regions, because hashtag #RegionsMatter.

Mr Hughes interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Is the member for Giles still interjecting or talking to himself?

Mr Hughes: No, of course not.

The SPEAKER: I didn't think so. The member for West Torrens has the call.

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