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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-02-19 Daily Xml
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Address in Reply

Address in Reply

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

Ms MICHAELS (Enfield) (15:37): I am continuing my remarks that I commenced earlier in my Address in Reply. This morning, I was reflecting on the Weatherill Labor government's initiatives which have made South Australia a leader in this country in clean energy use. While South Australia has leapt ahead with wind and solar power generation, we also have South Australian experts continuing research into alternatives, such as hydrogen, geothermal and wave power. This places South Australia at the forefront to attract business and investment and to build on our manufacturing know-how to help develop future technologies to export to the world.

This Liberal government must provide support to start-up businesses looking to build a green future and to ensure they receive the funding they need to scale up and become world leaders in environmentally sustainable agriculture, recycling, solar, hydrogen and green transport. Without supporting individuals and small businesses in this space, we risk losing them interstate or, even worse, overseas. South Australia can become the green knowledge state, and now is the time that we must invest in and support our green entrepreneurs to ensure they develop and stay in South Australia. Green industry can become a major employer in South Australia in coming years.

I now turn to reflect on the government's initiatives outlined in the Governor's speech. We heard in His Excellency's speech about the government's grand plan for our state over the next two years. Unfortunately, there was a plan but, in my view, far from grand. The people of Enfield have had to bear the brunt of this government's so-called vision. The Governor stated that the government is delivering on its commitment made to South Australia at the 2018 election, and we all remember the Liberal Party's three-line slogan at that election: lower costs, more jobs, better services. Unfortunately, none of that has eventuated for the people of Enfield.

I have spoken in this place before about the government's failed promises. The government has committed itself to actually reducing services in Enfield with the closure of Prospect Service SA. The Prospect Service SA centre provides vital services to my constituents. Importantly, it provides services to my constituents who do not have access to the internet, or who are not able to use the internet, or who find it difficult to use a phone—for example, where their first language is not English—and those who are elderly.

We all know that the Prospect Service SA centre has in the past few years been the third busiest in the state. Usage has only increased at the centre over time, so Prospect Service SA is not being closed due to declining use. I am regularly at the Northpark Shopping Centre collecting signatures for the Save Service SA petition. I was only there on Monday collecting signatures, and I have never seen a petition that basically just signs itself.

Every morning, there is a long line of people waiting to get into Service SA, and during the day the waiting area is full of people sitting patiently ready to transact with the government of South Australia. The Minister for Transport claims that most transactions can be done online or by phone; however, he does not mention that of all the services that Service SA provides 40 per cent must be done in person.

If the minister is going to strongarm us into only interacting with Service SA online, I am very concerned about what that will mean for those people without an internet connection or who are unable to use the internet, because 17½ per cent of South Australian households do not have internet access at home and 15 per cent of South Australians do not understand the internet at all. Many of my constituents do not have internet access at home because they simply cannot afford it, or they do not know how to use it.

The minister, in his rush towards technological efficiencies, cannot afford to leave these people behind. They are the most vulnerable members of our community and we need to look after them. The most common question I get when I am down at Northpark is: why are they shutting down Service SA? I actually do not know the answer to this. There is no good reason for it to be closed. If this government closes down Prospect Service SA, where are my constituents going to go to apply for their driver's licences, to renew their car regos, to pay their bills?

If this government is going to close down one of the busiest Service SA centres in South Australia, what measures are going to be put in place for surrounding centres? That question has still not been answered. We have only just heard that the government is halving the size of the Adelaide Service SA centre, which is where they said my constituents would be able to go. When Prospect closes, how is a smaller Adelaide Service SA going to cope with the increased demand? And we have seen the results of the government's cuts to the Service SA call centre.

Call waiting times have dramatically increased, blowing out the average wait time for a call to eight minutes and four seconds, which is a doubling of the previous year's waiting time. What does the minister and the Premier want my constituents to do if they cannot ring Service SA, if they cannot visit the Service SA centre and do not have access to or knowledge of the internet? It appears that both the minister and the Premier are forgetting what is glaringly obvious about the name 'Service SA': it is there to provide a service to South Australians, but this government is leaving South Australians serviceless.

My constituents have been calling for the government to reverse its decision since this decision was first announced, and I stand with all those members in my community calling for the government to reverse its decision to close down Prospect Service SA. Unfortunately, this Marshall Liberal government has without doubt failed to provide the people of Enfield with better services. I now turn to jobs, and Prospect Service SA is an anchor tenant for the Northpark Shopping Centre.

Anger and frustration at the decision to close Service SA at Northpark are coming not only from my constituents but also from the small business owners at Northpark. Service SA is a major drawcard for the shopping centre, so naturally business owners are concerned that they are going to lose a huge percentage of their customer base when the government closes Service SA. That presumably will mean there will be fewer jobs, fewer shops and fewer services at the shopping centre.

Currently, Northpark has six bank branches, and we all know that Australian banks like to close branches, so if you remove Service SA from the shopping centre how long before the banks are going to close down those branches? Again, there will be fewer jobs, fewer branches and fewer services for the people of Enfield. It is as if the Premier has taken a leaf out of the big four banks' playbook and all we have from this Liberal government are higher fees and fewer services.

When in government, Labor was committed to growing jobs in our state. When the federal Liberal government dared General Motors to pull Holden out of Australia, Labor in South Australia doubled down on its efforts to build jobs and grow our economy. The closure of the Holden plant resulted in 2,900 jobs being lost from the northern suburbs, not to mention the loss of supply chain jobs and other jobs supporting that manufacturing industry and our economy.

Our premier at the time, Jay Weatherill, and his treasurer, the member for Torrens, made jobs their number one priority, rolling out programs and grants such as the Job Accelerator Grant Scheme and the Northern Economic Plan. These programs provided the boost our economy needed to weather the closure of the Holden factory in South Australia. In March 2018, at the election, South Australia's unemployment rate was 5.6 per cent. Upon its election, this Liberal government shut down these important job creation grants and programs. As a result, South Australia bears the unenviable title of having the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 6.2 per cent, 1.1 per cent above the national average.

When I made the choice to stand for the seat of Enfield, I did so in part to ensure that South Australia provided my children with the best opportunities to secure decent work here, yet this government's mismanagement of the state's economy is making that goal harder and harder every day. While this government claims that they will not be picking winners and losers, the one sure thing is that the losers are the jobseekers, the underemployed and the young people trying to break into the jobs market. While this government promised more jobs, all we have received is, again, more broken promises.

Unfortunately, in recent days we have heard that both the federal and state Liberal governments have failed to ensure local content for the Future Submarines program. The French submarine builder is slashing the amount of local work for the project. It is clear that both the federal and state Liberal governments are asleep at the wheel when it comes to protecting Australian jobs and, more importantly, South Australian jobs. As we know, when the project was first announced we were promised that 90 per cent of the work would be local. That would have had a hugely positive impact on the South Australian economy.

As this project progresses, we keep hearing that less and less of the production will be local. We were later told that 60 per cent of the work would be local. At one point, we were told $80 billion would be provided to the South Australian economy from this project. Now The Australian has reported that the Naval Group will give less than half of that to local firms. There are further reports suggesting that only 30 per cent of that work could flow to South Australia. We are talking about Australian taxpayer dollars that would have boosted the South Australian economy now being diverted overseas.

This government is already failing to meet its economic growth targets, and now it is just going to let this money flow off to Europe. South Australia has a proud history of naval shipbuilding and a proven track record of delivering on defence construction and maintenance projects. I am not entirely sure what the Premier has been doing while these local jobs continue to slip through his fingers. The Premier needs to stop twiddling his thumbs and stand up and fight for South Australia.

And while the Premier is twiddling his thumbs, risking local work in the Future Submarines project, the Western Australian government has been fighting to steal ongoing maintenance work for the Collins class submarines. The Western Australian government has spent half a million dollars on an advertising campaign to steal our jobs. Their bid to steal 700 maintenance jobs for the Collins class submarines has far wider consequences than just those 700 jobs. If the Premier lets WA take these jobs from under our noses, South Australians will actually lose a total of 3,000 direct and indirect jobs. With this government doing nothing to grow our jobs and our economy, WA may simply walk in and take these jobs from our state.

We secured the Future Submarines project because the former Labor government fought tooth and nail for that project, and now the Premier is too busy kowtowing to his federal colleagues to stand up for South Australian businesses and South Australian workers. The defence industry minister has refused to rule out sending the 700 maintenance jobs to WA, saying that splitting the labour forces across SA and WA would be a win-win for both states. I do not see it as a win-win at all.

The minister said that the arrangement would ensure we do not have a winner and a loser, but there are clear losers in that situation. Every one of those 3,000 South Australians employed directly or indirectly would be a loser under the minister's plan. So what has the Premier done about protecting our jobs? He has promised more jobs, but he will not even stand up to protect our existing jobs.

I now want to turn to the Premier's privatisation agenda. My electorate's western border is formed by the Gawler rail line, a rail line run by proud South Australian public servants. This government's perverse commitment to more jobs is to privatise our trains and trams. Privatising means taking good jobs from these hardworking shiftworkers and replacing them inevitably with fewer jobs and worse conditions. We all know the results of privatisation on rail services interstate and overseas. The Minister for Transport claims the privatisation of Melbourne's train network has provided him with a shining example of why he chose to privatise our trains and trams, yet Victoria recently reported a 30 per cent increase in complaints about their train network.

In Melbourne, more than 24,000 services have been cancelled and had stations skipped or bypassed in an attempt to run on time. Victorian trains have failed to meet punctuality targets for 10 out of 12 months in the 2018-19 financial year, so I question whether Victoria's privatisation experiment has saved Victorian taxpayers money, reduced fare prices or produced a better service. The answer to all three questions is a resounding no.

An RMIT report by Dr Paul Mees found that privatisations actually cost Victorian taxpayers an additional $2 billion, compared to the services staying in public hands. While the Victorian public are paying an extra $2 billion, they are also paying higher fees than South Australian public transport users. A full-fare 28-day pass costs Victorians almost $50 more than the same 28-day pass in South Australia. A full-fare two-hour ticket costs Victorians 18 per cent more than a South Australian two-hour ticket, and of course there is no better service, given the increase in complaints and skipped, missed or cancelled services.

Our government's own survey found that South Australian public transport users have an 87 per cent satisfaction rating for our trains, while Victorian transport users only have a satisfaction rating of 74 per cent. It is clear that the Victorian privatisation experiment is failing, yet that is the example that our minister is choosing to follow. That is his shining light and his vision for our trains and trams: hardly better services, no lower costs and definitely more broken promises.

What about lower energy costs? My constituents have been waiting since the 18 March election for the Premier's promised saving of $302 on their power bills. The Premier's much hyped South Australia-New South Wales interconnector now does not seem to be the golden egg-laying goose that he promised us. Following an independent review commissioned by the Australian Energy Regulator and done by Frontier Economics, we now know that the economic benefits of the interconnector will not provide the promised savings, instead providing savings of just $66 a year, compared with the election promise of $302.

The South Australian people have been sold a bill of goods by the Premier, based on what Frontier Economics has described as ElectraNet's overstated assumption of benefit. The Premier relied on faulty information to promise the world to South Australians and all he has done is continue to break his promises. Not only will the interconnector's promised savings not be as high as hoped but the benefits appear to be heavily weighted in favour of New South Wales.

South Australian consumers are going to be slugged an extra $9 on their bills, while New South Wales' consumers will only be required to pay an extra $5. The lion's share of jobs are going to flow heavily to New South Wales in favour of them, with 200 for South Australia and 800 for New South Wales during the construction phase and a similar ongoing disparity during the life of the project.

I cannot understand why the Premier is not fighting for a better deal for South Australia. Not only will South Australians see less benefit than those across the border but the interconnector will actually risk the future of South Australia's gas-fired power generation in favour of dirty coal energy coming from New South Wales.

The Frontier Economics report says that the Pelican Point, Osborne and Torrens Island gas-fired power stations will be at risk of early closure due to the flow of dirty coal coming from energy from New South Wales through the interconnector, so while South Australians will be sending clean energy sourced from our vast array of wind and solar projects to New South Wales we will be receiving their old-fashioned outdated coal-fired power, another loss for South Australian consumers.

Worse yet, as we seek to harness the benefits of excess clean energy through the production of hydrogen energy storage, we may lose that excess clean energy to New South Wales, reducing our ability to produce hydrogen for our clean energy future. The interconnector is potentially such a raw deal for South Australians that Frontier Economics has said that it may be preferable for the interconnector not to be built at all.

Instead of the Marshall Liberal government fighting for South Australians, all it has done is given us higher costs, fewer jobs and worse services. The people of Enfield and all South Australians deserve a better government than the one we currently have asleep at the wheel.

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:54): I thank the Governor for delivering his speech to open this Second Session of the Fifty-Fourth Parliament and thank Uncle Mickey for his Welcome to Country at the beginning of opening day proceedings. We start this new session at the halfway point of the parliamentary term. Now, two years since the last election and two years until the next, it is time to ask where we are and where we want to go. Sadly, this must now all happen through the prism of a terrible start to the bushfire season and aftermath of the arrival of the international threat of the COVID-19 virus.

Sadly, it is also a time when South Australians are telling me that 'politics as usual' is failing to deliver. So it is difficult to see how the Governor's speech on behalf of the current government delivers the basis of the promised new bold agenda. With state unemployment the highest in the nation, a health system on life support and cost-of-living pressures continuing to rise, we really do need to reset. It would not matter who was sitting on the treasury bench, they would be facing the same issues and the same need to tackle the challenges we face with bold ideas.

We need a government that behaves like a government, setting a vision and carrying the public debate by including the public; a government swapping a top-down agenda to learning from the community and an opposition that holds the government to account with its own agenda and bold ideas. That is what Australians want and deserve, what they ask of their democracy.

South Australians are not greedy; they just want the conditions and sometimes the help to make ends meet. They are capable of understanding the truth and the reality of our situation and contributing to the debate on new ideas, participating in decision-making and seeing why choices are made. They are tired of a parliamentary system where new ideas are frowned upon—and when I say 'they' I mean the people we represent—and they are tired of the same old stale politics. After all, we are supposed to be in a free-thinking contest of ideas.

As a crossbench member, I want to see this parliament living up to the expectations South Australians have of us and that is why I will be challenging the government and the opposition this year to lift the standard and to debate an alternative agenda of ideas for a better future for our state—an agenda designed to make sure transitions are smooth and to address pressing issues which, for one reason or another, are not being addressed, an agenda shaped with other members of the crossbench, which is particularly relevant to all: my north-east electorate of Florey, the north-east community as a whole, as well as across the state and the regions of the state.

The agenda I will pursue this year will be framed around four fundamental principles that my community has told me are important and are not being addressed to their satisfaction. They are helping to reduce pressure on household budgets by limiting rising costs; keeping our local services, especially keeping our health system healthy; acting to ensure their voice is heard and their rights protected; and standing up for a fair share for neighbourhoods in the north-east.

Living in the leafy beautiful north-east it can be just as hard as anywhere else to make ends meet, especially with ever-rising costs and flatlining wages. Despite best efforts and the polished spin, jobs are scarce. Big ribbon-cutting projects like Roxby and, dare I say it, submarines, are only part of the story. Unemployment and underemployment remain real concerns for many in the north-east area. In most parts of my electorate of Florey, average incomes are lower than the statewide average and, at 8.9 per cent at the last census, unemployment is a constant worry. All of this means that for the people of Florey, like many in the neglected north-east and across the state, rising prices for the essentials of life are a real and constant concern.

As a member of state parliament, I may not be able to increase people's wages or guarantee jobs, but I can try to make sure people are not being ripped off and protect their rights as consumers. I can help to support the truly local businesses that create local jobs. That is why I opposed the government's proposal in the last session for the deregulation of shop trading hours and I will do so again if or when the government decides to bring that bill back.

With a risk of retail oversupply in what is clearly a sluggish economy, loosening up trading hour laws would create an atmosphere for interstate big-box franchises to price out locally owned family businesses and the more local people they employ. The truth is there are already shopping centres and supermarkets across my electorate that are struggling. They do not welcome finding their business model under threat because of an ill-founded ideological crusade. Indeed, I will be acting after receiving feedback from retailers who tell me more needs to be done to protect small business from exploitation, and I will be looking to bring legislation forward that gives small traders in shopping centres a right to rent relief or an early exit if anchor tenants close up on site.

As other members would be aware, I have already given notice that I will be introducing a fuel watch bill in March to provide a 24-hour price guarantee in declared areas and for real-time price reporting everywhere else. In the past 12 months, fuel prices in South Australia have surged by up to $30 a tank according to the RAA, while the ACCC has found Adelaide motorists can save up to $300 a year by buying at the low point of our state's unusually erratic fuel cycles if they can find it. The fuel watch bill, which I am more than happy for the government to adopt as its own if it means it will be delivered sooner, will empower consumers to buy petrol when it is at its cheapest. Both major parties supported real-time price monitoring at the last election, so I look forward to seeing this legislation become law as soon as possible.

I will also be looking to develop legislation to improve taxpayers' rights to a wider range of payment options for government fees and charges and to ensure those who are unable to easily engage with the cashless economy are not forgotten while also looking out for those not ready to rely totally on access to online transaction systems. I will be looking to bring legislation forward to limit the constant fee hikes used by treasurers to gouge money out of citizens, the cost of fines and hospital car parking fee rises implemented by this government being amongst the most outrageous of recent examples, although there were a fair few examples coming from the other side when they were last in office.

When you need help, you should be able to depend on local services that are there when you need them. That is why I have always fought to make sure we keep local services open in the north-east rather than forcing local residents to take long trips into the city or to regional centres further afield. I have been a fiercely proud advocate of Modbury Hospital from the time I moved into the area some 40 years ago, firstly when its management was privatised by the Liberals and then when it was downgraded by Labor. I am pleased to see the government is acting on its commitment to restore acute care services, although I wish it would happen much faster than just in time for the next election and I would like to see assurances about staffing to keep all services in place and at an acceptable level. Unsurprisingly, I can advise you I will not stop advocating for Modbury Hospital and all the other services my community needs.

On the first sitting day of this session, I tabled a petition with over 12,000 signatures calling for the government to commit to keeping Service SA centres in Modbury, Mitcham and Prospect open beyond the promised two years, again just in time for the next election. I note recent media reports suggest the minister may still be open to closing these centres at some later stage, and I will be seeking assurances from the government, through the newly installed petitions response process that was legislated in my private member's bill last year.

Like many South Australians, residents in my electorate have been disgusted by further revelations of systemic maladministration in the health system. Sadly, however, we seem to have lost our capacity to be shocked against a backdrop where, for a number of reasons, it seems it is no longer possible to hope people will be in the circumstances to do their jobs properly or safely alert authorities when they see problems. After all, it is the workers on the ground who best know how a system works, when it is not working and how it might work better.

What is new, of course, in the most recent report of the ICAC commissioner, is a better understanding of the cost of the health rorts, waste and mismanagement that have been ongoing for years. My community in the north-east is looking for a much better government response to this report. Too often in recent years it has been cost-cutting imperatives rather than patient care driving health policy in this state, and South Australians can smell that sort of initiative a mile away. What is now clear is efforts to tackle the real cause of cost blowouts have been misconceived and misdirected.

Of course, the physical evidence of all these problems is there for us to see. Ramping of ambulances at hospitals across the metropolitan area has reached disastrous levels, such that, unforgivably, we have even seen some patients die before being admitted to emergency. It seems ramping is fast becoming the new normal, and I commend the work of the Ambulance Employees Association, who have been highlighting the problems of this practice for such a long time.

On an associated topic, my past efforts to deliver universal emergency ambulance cover such as exists in other states to ensure emergency ambulance costs are fully funded should be reconsidered. Such a measure will not see emergency cases increase. Our skilled paramedics can declare which cases are not or are emergencies when the cases present. The number of emergencies will not change because of universal emergency ambulance cover, but what will change is the burden of a huge financial cost at a time when a person or a family is least able to cope because of poor health and wage loss.

I have previously said as parliamentarians we may not be able to give people a wage rise but we can ensure they get the health care they deserve when it is needed. The continuing health crisis, the crisis that has been ongoing now for many years, offers the clearest evidence of a system that is not working. With a $300 million blowout reported in the budget of the Central Adelaide Local Health Network alone, it is clear we need to root out the waste that bedevils the health system. We need a governance structure that is focused on performance, integrity, patient care and meaningful engagement with consumers and clinicians.

KordaMentha is still at CALHN, but how long does this expensive reform measure have to stay for CALHN and what are KordaMentha really doing there now? While I was prepared to watch and see how the establishment of governing boards would improve outcomes in the health system, as I was with the Transforming Health initiative, it is now clear much more must be done. As highlighted in the ICAC report, the health system is the largest component of our state budget and the largest single spending agency, accounting for 38 per cent of all state government procurement. But I am not sure what that figure means to us using the public health system or how it is arrived at when I have been told for many years that health will soon consume the entire state budget.

There have been calls since the release of the ICAC report for a royal commission to be initiated. If the government were willing, this could be worthwhile, but we all know terms of reference can be drafted to deliver recommendations already decided. As we have seen with ongoing scandals in the banking sector and now in aged care, a royal commission is a long exercise with no guarantee of a long-term change. My own view is that a one-off inquiry is not the best approach. A budget of the size of health requires more than just the usual tools of oversight. It requires an ongoing system that monitors the integrity of public spending and administrative practice. We do not need to hire corporate liquidators. We need reform that is ongoing.

The range, scale and frequency of rorts, waste and mismanagement in the health system require culture change that will hopefully take fewer years to change than it did to entrench—another case of business as usual not passing the supermarket test anymore. I will, therefore, be looking to bring forward legislation to establish a new monitoring unit within the health portfolio with an oversight responsibility within the health system and a new unit headed by a statutory officer—a cost neutral initiative when you consider the savings that could be made.

I note also the government will be bringing back its health governance legislation and I intend to bring forward the amendments I filed last year. These will see the role of the Health Performance Council maintained and strengthened with a new systemwide health performance charter. The new charter made by the minister will set out policies, priorities and targets for the health system and guide the chief executive of the department in developing service agreements with governing boards and other health providers.

This will help ensure devolution of decision-making in the health system will not result in a lack of systemwide direction and it will ensure the Minister for Health and Wellbeing remains clearly accountable to the parliament for systemwide health policies and not able to deflect responsibilities or problems to governing boards.

I will also be moving separately to retain health advisory councils for each local health network, which the government has proposed to abolish in the metropolitan area, in a bid to provide greater transparency and restrict the ability of the government to dissolve incorporated hospitals and most importantly prevent the privatisation of public hospitals and public health services without parliamentary approval. With proper rigour in place, there will be no need to wait to find funds for important measures like universal ambulance cover. It is clear, if we root out the rorts and waste in the health system, we will be able to afford this and other important reforms. So I will again be introducing legislation to put this issue squarely on the parliamentary agenda.

When I was first re-elected as an Independent member, my new seat included suburbs I had not previously represented. The syndrome of the safe seat had taken its toll. I recall vividly the words of one former Labor voter at the local shopping centre who told me that he was voting for me but urged me not to forget Ingle Farm and Pooraka. These are two of the largest of the new suburbs I now represent, along with the suburb of Walkley Heights, and now also all the parts of Valley View and Para Vista and some parts of Northfield. These, along with the parts of Modbury and Modbury North I still represent, are all suburbs that have not been getting a fair go for far too long.

Despite high levels of public transport usage by residents of these suburbs, there have been no significant investments to increase services and support those commuters. Despite low incomes and higher than average unemployment, investment in local schools falls far short of what is needed. Despite clear need, local sporting clubs and community groups keep missing out on the grant funding they need to survive and grow. Little has been spent on infrastructure in these communities for years and more recently all we have seen is cuts to local services. Under the former government, it was the downgrading of Modbury Hospital. Now, under this government, we see nothing to stop the closure of our TAFE campus, the attempted closure of Service SA and the axing of the additional park-and-ride station to service the O-Bahn.

The constant threat to services in the north-east is not acceptable and is counterproductive. The more you axe services, the more you create problems in other areas of public policy. A recent study by Flinders University's Southgate Institute, headed by leading public health expert Professor Fran Baum, has reinforced my concern about how infrastructure funding and planning effort is being misdirected, to the disadvantage of some communities. In a detailed review, the institute's report found planning agendas, such as the 30-Year Plan for Greater Adelaide, with a focus on promoting livability, are in practice tending to favour inner city areas and draining outer suburbs of the investment and focus they need. I quote from the report:

Outer suburbs, which are disproportionately populated by people who are less well-off, have worse health status and would benefit most from more 'liveable' suburbs, but are not often afforded the same attention or potential resource investments into liveability.

The report goes on to make a direct connection between lack of services and poor health outcomes. Regrettably, this trend remains evident in the infrastructure pipeline, as we yet again see precious little being spent on suburbs in the neglected north-east.

I am the first to support an arts and culture strategy, but do we really need to locate everything in the city? Surely we can consider opening a new gallery or campus outside the square mile. When any side of politics starts to talk about big ticket items like building a new stadium, I really do begin to wonder about priorities. Surely, if we are spending billions on the north-south corridor, can we not invest a bit in renewing our public transport system? Think of what we could do with some of the $5 billion plus that project is estimated to be costing if we put some of it into public transport.

I congratulate the government on proceeding with electrification of the Gawler line, but there is room for improvement in public transport. Why not deliver a rail spur or light rail link to Ingle Farm or invest in urban renewal for Pooraka? These areas are ready for governments to give them some opportunity. I note the government indicated in the Governor's speech it will be continuing with its proposed privatisation of our trains and trams. I for one cannot see how this will do anything to improve public transport for South Australians or for the people of my electorate in the north-east. As Professor Baum's work suggests, the continued focus on ribbon-cutting projects centred around the inner city comes at a cost for quality of life, for health and for social equity in the outer suburbs.

The government makes much of its delivery of a new planning system, but nothing suggests the trend of investment in the more affluent inner city will help residents in the north-east. I am aware that the City of Salisbury has written to the minister about the draft Planning and Design Code noting the engagement process 'falls short of what would be reasonably expected for a major planning reform process'.

I see the government has at last listened to the overwhelming concern being raised by councils, communities and the development industry, who are all concerned about the poor quality and rushed consultation for the Planning and Design Code, by announcing that the process will be extended. That is a step in the right direction, but far more needs to be done, which is why I will be introducing legislation to rebalance the infrastructure agenda, planning legislation and public transport direction. Among other matters, after reviewing the work of the Expert Panel on Planning Reform, it is clear to me the legislation the former government introduced does not align with the legislation we now have.

In my view, if all the recommendations of the panel had been taken up, we probably would not be facing the problems we now are. I will be looking to work with my crossbench colleagues to bring forward amendments to address obvious faults. It might be worthwhile for the minister to note there is a growing movement of people who find what is happening far from what was originally promised. I will also be looking to engage with the government to talk about the needs of the north-east neighbourhoods, with a focus on how we can undertake community-led urban renewal that improves the quality of life for local residents.

The catastrophic fire season this year has been a stark reminder of life's priorities. There will of course be much more to say about the bushfires, particularly those that have devastated the Hills, Kangaroo Island and Keilira in the South-East. For now, I would like to thank and congratulate the South Australian community for what has been an outstanding response. It is an example of the slogan I have long stood under: community counts. I would also like to applaud the way members from government, opposition and crossbench have cooperated and acknowledge the work of local MPs whose electorates have been directly impacted, in contrast to the extraordinary lack of national leadership we have seen this summer.

Too often, residents in my electorate of Florey feel they are locked out of the political process, that their voice does not count and that, when they voice their concerns, all they get is lip service. Their feedback is reinforced by the recent Australian Election Study, which revealed that, in the wake of last year's federal election, the level of discontent with our political institutions is at its highest in half a century. It is incumbent on all of us as parliamentarians to consider carefully whether and how we might be contributing to this evident alienation and discontent and how we are working to reinforce the importance of democracy and the value of the vote.

Rebuilding trust in politics is far from easy when shortcuts backfire. Sadly, over the break, we have had some examples of this. Firstly, the outrageous moves demonstrated with GM crops continues with a new regulation made despite the evident will of parliament to take longer to debate the issue. In every other parliament, there are measures to ensure this would be an unacceptable way to change the law.

I will be moving a bill to amend the Subordinate Legislation Act so this cannot happen again. When parliament disallows regulations, no minister should be able to reintroduce them just because neither house is sitting. That is not good government; it is the type of political game-playing that brings government and parliament into contempt.

We have also missed an opportunity to lead societal change in workplace behaviour. Although the parliamentary workplace is unique, we must be models within society and make sure processes are in place so any incidents are better handled for all involved.

I will also be moving a bill to guarantee the rights of travellers to declare fruit to fruit fly inspectors at a quarantine station without penalty. Like many MPs, I have found the important zero tolerance policy implemented by the government to be well meaning yet fundamentally misguided and badly implemented. My bill will seek to address this.

In the Governor's speech, the government has recommitted to the privatisation of the remaining elements of our public transport system, another example of a cost-cutting ideology coming ahead of providing services to commuters. This comes off the back of the privatisation of the Remand Centre and the threatened privatisation of SA Pathology, and with the corporate liquidators running Health, who knows what will come next?

It is, of course, a shame the former government failed to close a loophole in the Passenger Transport Act that enables privatisation to occur. I have been proud to stand with workers, and in this particular case bus drivers, when their jobs and conditions are under attack and will do so again in the future. In my view, all significant privatisation should be subject to oversight by parliament and I will be moving legislation in due course to ensure this is the case.

Ideally, this measure would be brought in as part of a refined parliamentary committee structure, a topic which I note is being examined by a select committee initiated by my crossbench colleagues in the other place and to which I have made a submission. I look forward to seeing the outcomes of the inquiry and I hope to work with the crossbench and the government to deliver a vastly improved system of parliamentary committees as a result.

This has been my opportunity to promote my agenda. It is an agenda I will pursue on behalf of my community to the utmost, in conjunction with the measures I can support in the government's agenda, as outlined in the Governor's speech. I commend, for example, the Aboriginal arts and cultures gallery, which is a project of special interest to the Premier and many within the community who will, I hope, be part of the process of the establishment of this facility.

Also, the proposal to legislate to deal with single-use plastics is a great measure which will eventually stand beside container deposit legislation, and the removal of plastic bags in supermarkets is critical for the environment and truly groundbreaking leadership. I commend the government's continuing commitment to renewable energy, which should rightly set South Australia up to lead the nation and be a global pacesetter.

The space sector has an extraordinarily strong proponent in the Premier. With the observatory at The Heights School built on the work of parents of my vintage, we have an important STEM facility, which I hope will now be better utilised by all in the future. I commend the sentiment that no-one's future should be limited by the suburb, town, region or nation in which they reside.

I acknowledge the hard work of the staff of the Florey electorate office in serving the community and look forward to working with all members on ensuring the ideals in my reply speech are reflected in reality—if not in legislation when it comes into this place, then most certainly when it is on its way through.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (16:18): It is my pleasure to rise today in support of the member for Kavel's motion in reply to His Excellency the Governor's address to both houses of parliament on 5 February 2020. South Australians are very fortunate to have His Excellency, the Hon. Hieu Van Le, Companion of the Order of Australia, as our Governor—a wonderful man, a wonderful family and a great contributor to our society. His Excellency has served tirelessly as the South Australian Governor since 2014 and through his hard work and dedication continues to make our state a better place for all South Australians.

Before reflecting on His Excellency's speech, I also wish to recognise the hard work and dedication of the member for Kavel over the recent Christmas break through some of his community's darkest days. Indeed, I acknowledge the hard work and dedication of all members in this place whose communities were either directly or indirectly impacted by the recent bushfire disasters.

I would also like to take a moment to offer my sincere congratulations to my parliamentary colleague the Hon. Andrew McLachlan CSC from the other place on his recent election to a new place: the Senate of the parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia. I wish Senator McLachlan every success in his parliamentary career in the federal government. I also acknowledge and congratulate the Hon. Terry Stephens MLC on his election to the position of President of the Legislative Council.

Every day I am honoured to be here, and I am grateful to have the unique opportunity to serve the people of my electorate and, indeed, the entire state of South Australia. I think that is one thing that all members in this place would agree on. Over the past six years—or 2,167 days, to be specific—it has been a privilege to be a member of the South Australian parliament and to represent my wonderful community in the electorate of Gibson. Much has been achieved, but there is still plenty more to do.

In his speech to parliament, the Governor outlined the government's Growth State plan. As we heard from His Excellency, the Marshall Liberal government was elected on a mantra to create more jobs, improve services and reduce costs to households and businesses—and we are delivering. As the local member for Gibson and as a member of the Marshall team, I am continually focused on helping shape a better South Australia. In my electorate, I am proud to have worked on and delivered a number of fantastic initiatives for our local community, and what a wonderful community it is.

One of the great things about South Australia is that everyone talks about their different electorates and the features they have in their electorates, and I am at pains to point out in my electorate in particular—and I am sure all other MPs would say the same thing—that in South Australia we have wonderful places and wonderful spaces but, more importantly, we have wonderful people. That is the reason that I do this job in this place, and I am sure that many others have the same opinion. I must stress the point again that I believe that we have the best people here in South Australia, and I am very proud, privileged and honoured to be able to serve them.

When I am out and about, constituents often approach me and share the praise about the completed $174 million Oaklands crossing project. This has been a massive win for our community that has been four years in the making. There was a great community campaign. The people came together and mounted this campaign and we lobbied and fought, and again I thank the federal member for Boothby, Nicolle Flint, for initiating this program by putting money on the table. To be able to deliver this has been a wonderful win for our community—again, delivering what our community needs after such a long wait.

Since July 2019, motorists and surrounding residents have finally been able to reap the long-awaited benefits including, at the Oaklands crossing, improved road safety, eased traffic congestion and significantly reduced travel times during morning and afternoon peak hours and, equally as importantly, greater interconnectivity for that local community. The barrier is no longer there, and people can cross the train line, use the facilities on either side of the rail and enjoy one another's hospitality in that localised area.

The next major infrastructure project on my agenda is delivering a solution for the removal of the Hove level crossing. It is very important to work with the community and take them on this journey, as we did with Oaklands, and to have engagement with people on the Hove crossing to deliver good outcomes for everyone.

With an average of 37,000 vehicles travelling through this level crossing on Brighton Road each day, we need to look at developing long-term solutions, reducing these travel times for motorists, increasing freight productivity, ensuring reliability of buses using Brighton Road and the trains along the train line and improving connectivity and livability for surrounding residents—a vitally important facet. The completion of the Hove crossing will be another major win for our community, and I look forward to keeping the house updated on its progression as we work through this with our local community to get the best solution.

I thank the Governor for outlining in his speech the government's commitment to addressing the state's infrastructure challenges. For the first time in a long time, South Australians have a government that is committed to working with the federal government to support groundbreaking investment in major transport and road infrastructure projects. As we know, in the 2019-20 state budget, the Marshall government announced investment projects to improve the quality of South Australian roads and road safety to the tune of over $2 billion, including $1.1 billion on regional road projects and transport infrastructure upgrades, which is very important for road safety and very important for our regions.

That money is committed and those projects will be delivered—and they are quite long overdue. There is $834 million to improve road safety in metropolitan and regional areas. Again, that is something that was left to go to rack and ruin over a long period of time. We are very proud to be investing that money, that is, $402 million on level crossing upgrades, as I have already mentioned, and $305 million to upgrade metropolitan intersections. I commend the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure for his hard work in this space.

I also wish to note a number of major school upgrades across my electorate, supported by the Marshall government. As part of the Marshall Liberal government's Building Better Schools program, Seaview High School will receive $16.2 million, an injection to develop and evolve the high school into a world-class education hub. It is a wonderful school that has gone ahead in leaps and bounds over recent years. It is a school that people want to attend, that people are driving to attend. Their international student numbers are growing.

Some of their programs, including dance, are drawing people from right around our community and the wider community around South Australia and beyond because their programs are outstanding. I commend all the teachers and the leadership group involved with that school for the great work they have done. I also commend the Minister for Education, the member for Morialta, for his support and vision for this fantastic initiative. Again, to make that contribution of $16.2 million to Seaview High School is greatly appreciated by my community. More importantly, this funding injection brings our state's education system into the 21st century, in line with other states and territories.

Other schools in my electorate that will receive a boost from the Marshall government include Brighton Secondary School, which will receive $13.8 million, Brighton Primary School, which will receive $5 million and Warradale Primary School, which will receive $7.5 million. It is great to be injecting money into our local schools.

Aside from looking to the future, it would be remiss of me not to take this opportunity to note a number of commitments I have already delivered on the local front. Some of these things are big and some are small, but they are all appreciated by our local community. They include a wombat crossing and radar-operated flashing lights outside Brighton Surf Life Saving Club, a fantastic, long overdue initiative completed in December last year to improve pedestrian safety. We know the summer season continually draws a large crowd to Brighton beach, SA's best beach in my humble opinion, especially during the Brighton jetty sculptures and Brighton Jetty Classic.

I do get down to this beach quite a bit, as it is right in the heart of my local area. Speaking to a number of the people at the Brighton Surf Life Saving Club, it was raised with me on a number of occasions that having the club with the road between it and the beach always made it quite dangerous and quite hairy, if you like, for the people organising the surf club, especially with the juniors having to get across the road to get to the beach and do their activities to compete and, more importantly, to help save lives. The suggestion of this pedestrian crossing with flashing lights was put forward, and I thought it was a great idea. We acted on that and we have delivered that. I am very proud to have worked with the club to deliver that, and I think everyone in that local area sees the benefit of that commitment being fulfilled.

Another fantastic local initiative is the Brighton Oval redevelopment. Construction is still underway and due for completion in a few months' time. It will be a staged completion. I am sure you will hear much more about that in the near future. The rugby club is almost ready to be opened; that is nearest to Brighton Road. I know the club is working with a number of other key stakeholders to grow the impact they can have on our community by bringing in more community groups.

The football and cricket clubs are working to potentially develop a netball club there to get more people playing. We know numbers are growing in football and cricket, with women's football and cricket coming on board, so we need to make sure there is a facility there that can facilitate that, remembering, too, that looking to grow into netball is equally important. We want to make sure the facilities are there for the community to keep playing their sports and being active in our local area.

Another one is lacrosse. With their new facility, they are looking to bring in and engage more people in the local area, including other community groups that can utilise the facility. It is a wonderful facility that reaches over to the Brighton Primary School as well, and the interaction and the opportunities between those two groups are immense. I know the community is very happy with the outcome of that redevelopment, and we look forward to it being completed later this year.

I am also proud to have worked with the City of Holdfast Bay to secure Bowker Street Reserve as a recreational facility for the community for the long term. This contract was coming up, and I made sure, and I made a very firm commitment, that this space would be kept for the community. They play soccer there. Athletics is very strong there as well, but it is a great community space also. I know the local primary school play their school sports there, football and the like, during the school sports season. It is a great space that is used by the local community. Recently, they set up a community garden there as well with state government funded money to make that happen on council land. It is a great asset for the community to use going forward. I know the people who use it love it immensely.

Lastly, but by no means least, I also secured commitments for a $40,000 upgrade to facilities to install a three on three basketball court, working in conjunction with Marion council, at Crown Street Reserve in Dover Gardens. This has been a great boost for that local area, as this park was being allowed to run down. We are still working with the council to upgrade and improve the grass around there, making sure that it is getting watered and that the community has that wonderful aspect.

The extra basketball court, netball court and water drinking fountain are all encompassed in that. It gives young people, and older people for that matter, somewhere to go. I was caught having a few shots around there. It was not very impressive. I tried to land a few three pointers. It is a great community facility. A modern toilet facility has been put into Hamilton Park Reserve, and that has really kickstarted the upgrade of that park as well. They are some great results for our local community. If it sounds like we have been busy in my local electorate, that is because we have been delivering for the people in the electorate of Gibson and the suburbs within that community.

There is also plenty going on in my ministerial portfolios of police; correctional services; emergency services; road safety; and recreation, sport and racing. It is a busy portfolio area, but plenty of work has been happening there. It has been keeping us absolutely flat out because in police and road safety, in particular, at the last budget the Marshall Liberal government announced more than $52 million for building South Australia's security. Let me say that again: $52 million. That is a significant injection into making sure we are doing all we can to keep South Australians safe. So 2020 will be another year of delivery for community safety by the Marshall Liberal government.

We will shortly see the activation of SAPOL's security response section, also known as rapid response. I joined with the police commissioner at the SAPOL training facility in the Adelaide Hills last week to meet members of course 5 who are completing the training. It was very impressive, very impressive indeed. This $9 million investment from the Marshall government increases SAPOL's capacity to prevent and respond to terrorism-related incidents, domestic high-risk taskings and to safely manage major events in South Australia. The quality and the number of people within SAPOL who applied to try to get into this group was phenomenal. Every one of them looked outstanding through the training that I was lucky enough to see.

As I said last year, we promised South Australians that we would build them a safer state, and we are delivering on this pledge. Front-line policing will also be evolving, with the government's injection of $18.6 million for stage 2 of the commissioner's District Policing Teams. This will be happening very soon, and these teams will work alongside the new response teams to further improve the ability of SAPOL to position police in the local community more effectively. That is what we want to see: more police presence out there on the streets, making sure that we are keeping people safe. These initiatives will improve response times and increase focus on crime prevention and reducing recidivist offending.

Devastatingly, during 2019, 114 lives were lost on South Australian roads. This is entirely unacceptable to this government. Throughout 2020, police will be continuing to target dangerous road users and to remind people that road safety is the responsibility of everyone. There are a number of elements to road safety. I have talked about the significant infrastructure spend we are doing to catch up on what has been neglected on our roads over many, many years under the previous government, but we are also investing billions and billions of dollars to improve the road network.

In 2019, SAPOL took a greater role in promoting road safety, and the feedback to date has been overwhelmingly positive. These are the people who are on the front line. They know the issues that are happening. We talk about the fatal five all the time, and they are out there policing. If anyone is doing the wrong thing and they are pulled over by police, they only have themselves to blame.

What we are doing through our targeted messaging is urging road users to think—think about the actions when they hit the road and think about road safety because, as well as police doing their work and as well as improving the roads, which we are committed to doing and we have committed the funding for, it is the responsibility of every individual to make sure that they are doing the right thing when they get behind the wheel. They are responsible for themselves, they are responsible for those in their vehicle and they are responsible for those around them. We urge everyone to make sure that when they are behind the wheel they are thinking about everyone around them.

In response to the rising level of death and injury from motorcycle accidents, legislation will shortly be introduced to make significant changes to the motorcycle graduated licensing scheme. This will include raising the minimum age for obtaining a learner's permit from 16 to 18 and night-time restrictions on learner riders. Of course, this will take into account that the regions need to be treated differently. We look forward to bringing that into this parliament.

In Correctional Services, the government has committed to the largest infrastructure investment in our correctional system in a generation. An amount of $200 million has been allocated to the upgrade of the Yatala Labour Prison and the Adelaide Women's Prison. The expansion will include 270 high-security beds at Yatala and 40 new beds at the Women's Prison. At the Adelaide Remand Centre, 160 cells have been upgraded to a safe cell compliance standard following a four-month renovation project.

There has also been a big investment of dollars into iSafe, a new computer system that will better oversee people as they move throughout the custody system and go through their corrections journey, so that they can be monitored right the way through and we can do all we can to make sure that they do not return to our justice system and that they get back out into the community and contribute by getting a job, earning a wage and paying taxes, like everyone else.

In our emergency services space, support for volunteers and staff has never been stronger. All South Australians are in awe of the courage, dedication and commitment of our firefighters and other emergency services workers, volunteers and staff who stood side by side serving selflessly and tirelessly to help minimise loss of life and property. I was immensely grateful that, in recognition of their efforts, the Governor included representatives of the Country Fire Service, Metropolitan Fire Service, State Emergency Service and National Parks and Wildlife Service in the honour guard outside on the opening of parliament and in the gallery to hear His Excellency's speech. I thought it was a great touch, a great way to acknowledge people who have worked so incredibly hard over the summer to keep South Australians safe.

The government has provided funding for a long overdue new emergency services command centre to be established at Keswick. For the first time, executive and senior management teams of the Metropolitan Fire Service, the Country Fire Service, the State Emergency Service and the South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission will be co-located with more than 300 employees as well as volunteers. This is an exciting new facility. It is an earthquake-proof facility, one we have needed for a long time. It was ignored by the previous government, but we are delivering this for South Australians. It is great to see our emergency services all working in the same direction, and they all do an outstanding job.

This will considerably enhance our state's emergency response capability. During the last session of parliament, I introduced legislation to modernise the arrangements under which our fire and state emergency services operate. Many of these changes are long overdue, including incorporation of the Country Fire Service and State Emergency Service volunteer charters in the legislation we have delivered. The legislation was subject to widespread review and community engagement through a select committee of the House of Assembly. It has now been reintroduced in the Legislative Council, and it is my expectation that it will shortly be progressed by those in the other place.

On recreation, sport and racing, for 2020 the Marshall government has three priority projects to deliver in sport: (1) Game On, getting South Australia active, (2) the grants review, and (3) the South Australian sport and recreation infrastructure plan. Much has been reported of the Governor's comment that the government is actively planning additional major inner city sporting and entertainment infrastructure. There will be more to say once the state sport and recreation infrastructure plan is released.

This follows completion of the upgrade of the $10 million Memorial Drive roof at the tennis centre, which has delivered immediate economic and tourism benefits through the attraction of leading international tennis players to compete in Adelaide last month at the Adelaide International. Next month, of course, we have the Davis Cup tie between Australia and Brazil coming to Memorial Drive. This event was a huge success and a real credit to Tennis SA, Tennis Australia and the team at Memorial Drive for bringing this together.

The $10 million roof was an investment we made because we knew it could bring that event to South Australia. It could give South Australia and Adelaide its only covered tennis venue so that young tennis players, emerging tennis players and general tennis players could actually play undercover. It is quite unbelievable to think that Adelaide did not have an undercover tennis venue—a city that has produced the likes of Lleyton Hewitt, Alicia Molik, Mark Woodforde and other greats of South Australian tennis in more recent times. Not to have that covered facility meant that it was hard to develop players of the future.

This investment will develop more tennis stars of the future. It gives us the event, the Adelaide International, of course won by Ash Barty, an absolutely fantastic Australian winning on Australian soil, the first time a woman has won an event on Australian soil for some nine or 10 years, and it was great to see her do it. The men's event was a great success as well, but for me the women's event was absolutely outstanding. It was great to see so many international stars here enjoying South Australia, enjoying our new facility and making the most of our wonderful state.

In supporting a healthier South Australia, the government is continuing to provide funding to build grassroots sport and recreation facilities that encourage people of all ages to participate. This includes provision of family-friendly facilities and sports change rooms, catering for female and male teams, while clubs whose facilities have been damaged in the recent bushfires are receiving grants of up to $10,000 to kickstart the rebuilding process, so we are delivering for that grassroots program.

Our footy, cricket and netball program has been a huge success. By the end of this financial year, more than $24 million of projects will have been enacted right across South Australia, delivering the facilities that our local communities need. We know that the boom in women's football, and women's cricket in particular, is just fantastic and changing the way our community clubs are operating. It is making them more family friendly, and we are making sure we are delivering facilities that are family focused because we know we have dads coaching daughters, mums coaching sons and every other combination in between, and we want to make sure we have the facilities so families can utilise them.

Our grassroots footy, cricket and netball program has been a massive hit, and also our sports vouchers program has been absolutely phenomenal. We increased that; the previous government had no money put towards that program going forward. It used to be $50, but they did not even have a budget for that going forward to the next election. We put $100 on the table for families to help with the cost of living and to help pay for the cost of doing sport. We added dance to the program as well, which was a huge success, and we have now put swimming lessons in there as well.

We know that swimming lessons are not specifically a sport, but you cannot do the sport of swimming unless you learn how to swim, so we think that is a great initiative, and again it has been incredibly well received. The vouchers volume has increased by about 40 per cent, so more people are taking that up and more South Australians are getting active. In total, we have invested more than $100 million into sport across South Australia in the two years since we have been in government. I am incredibly proud of that. We are making sure we are delivering the facilities that people need and want.

Before I finish, I would like to reflect again on the outpouring of support for South Australians and on what we have received from across the state and the nation during the recent bushfire crisis. The outpouring of support to all South Australians has been just immense and absolutely wonderful. If I may, I would like to share an email forwarded to me by the CFS chief from a chap named Barry, and it reads as follows:

Hello,

I felt very proud as a South Australian and human being today to see a number of Fire fighters from the British Columbia brigade board a flight from Sydney to Adelaide and being greeted by Mark Jones [the CFS chief].

How lucky are we that we can stand shoulder to shoulder with other nations and call on the help and expertise to assist in a significant unfolding climate event in modern Australian history.

I hope that South Australians embrace their presence as heroes putting their lives at risk to help the greater good and preserve this great land.

I felt it was necessary to share this experience today with you. I wish all CFS members and international members the best of luck and bravery in this challenging time.

Warm regards

Barry

That pretty much sums up the sentiment of what happened over the summer period and of the people who came to help out, be they from overseas or interstate, bearing in mind that we look back at the summer and, in particular, at the fires in Cudlee Creek in the Adelaide Hills and on Kangaroo Island. They were the two most significant and prominent ones. We know there was also a significant fire in the South-East, and that certainly will not be forgotten, and the season sadly started in Yorketown, with a significant fire there and there were some other smaller ones.

As we identify those fires in our communities, we also need to be aware that before this all happened—and this probably gets overlooked a little bit—the fires in New South Wales had started as well. Up until Christmas, our state contributed more people hours to helping fight those fires than any other state. We are not the biggest state, and we know that. Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria are far bigger, but our state contributed the most people hours to help fight those fires, and that needs to be commended.

I spoke to a lot of those firefighters coming back at the airport. I just touched base and checked on how they were going and how they found it, helping out in New South Wales. They got a lot of experience out of it, they got to put their skills to the test and they said it was like a preseason. Because of the goodwill and the efforts they gave, they got a chance to really put themselves to the measure and make sure they were up for it. It turned out to be a great result because, sadly, when our fires did come, they were prepped, they were ready, they were primed and they had had that little refresher. It was a great win-win situation. We got to help out New South Wales. We got our CFS volunteers primed and they did an outstanding job; we all know and acknowledge that.

But what it also did was pay it forward for South Australia. By that I mean that New South Wales have some large air tankers, some of those big planes that drop the pink-coloured foam retardant and water and, because we had done so many hours helping out New South Wales, when we had some times of crisis and we needed some help, we called them up and said, 'Can we borrow one of your large air tankers?' Bear in mind that they are theirs and that they need them for their own purposes. But when the weather conditions were right and they could release it, they sent it over to help our firefighters do their thing. That was in no small part because of the great work our fireys had done in going over, helping out and paying it forward, and that is just how this system works.

I worked very hard with the Premier and the federal government when they injected some more money into bringing more of the large aerial tankers over. We managed to get one based out of South Australia that is here, and it is great to have that reassurance throughout the summer period. But I thought it should be noted how wonderfully the people who came to South Australia were greeted and welcomed and how wonderfully the people from South Australia who helped out right across the board were greeted and welcomed. It must be noticed and be a key part of our fabric.

I also want to flashback to the first fire that started the season at Yorketown. I went there with the member for Narungga and he was all over it. He was at every point supporting his community. I commend him immensely for that great work he did. I know his community appreciated what he did. I was standing with him and the mayor of the local community, and the mayor made a poignant point that, as we look back on the bushfire season, we will sit with everyone. The mayor looked around the oval of Yorketown football ground where there were trucks parked around as if it was a football grand final—the oval was full—he looked at the names on the side of some of those trucks and said, 'There are people here from places I did not know existed in South Australia.'

That was the great work that our community did, coming together to help out on that occasion in Yorketown. Having the Salvos on the oval delivering and serving food, keeping our troops fed, was just a sight to behold. If you stood back and looked up into the grandstand, there was the team, or the cheer squad, if you like, and they were clearly barracking for an orange/sooty grey team. It could have been the GWS Giants because they were all sitting there in their kits, all a bit dirty. They had their eyes washed out with the saline solutions from the SAAS and St John's volunteers, and they were eating some food and filling their tummies, and deservingly so. It was a great sight to see and it depicted what unfolded across the rest of the summer with our communities helping one another.

Acting Speaker, as the member for Hammond, I know you do a wonderful job in your community as well. I will take the last few seconds to point out that you did this and you flew under the radar. It has not been talked about much, but I would like it to go on record in this place that you, as a CFS volunteer, headed over to Kangaroo Island, suited up and contributed on the fire front. You did not go out of your way to blow your bags or tell too many people about it, but it was noted and it was greatly appreciated by the people of South Australia. So we thank you for your wonderful efforts as well. We thank all our volunteers.

We are in for a very big year again. The Marshall Liberal government is looking forward to continuing to deliver for South Australians, as we have done for two years and will continue to do well into the future.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson) (16:48): It is a great pleasure to stand here today to respond to the Governor's speech, obviously written by the government of the day. I want to thank our Governor, Hieu Van Le, and Mrs Le, and their sons, Don and Kim, for the wonderful service they give to South Australia. They are a beautiful family and are always overjoyed to be out and about in the South Australian community, playing a real leadership role in South Australia. I think we have been very well served by a long list of governors in South Australia. They have done a tremendous job and I wish them all the very best for 2020.

When we hear these speeches written by the government, particularly after the parliament has been prorogued and we have been told about a reset, you expect some big ticket items to come out, but what we heard were a lot of reannouncements, some of which were so old that we announced and funded them. Some of those had lost their funding and some had had a haircut and the projects had been shaved down a little bit. It is interesting to hear the government of the day trying to claim credit for things that we announced when we were in government up until two years ago.

Something that is particularly interesting to the people in the electorate of Mawson is what is happening with the duplication of Main South Road. In the 2017-18 state budget, when we were in government, we announced a two-stage duplication of Main South Road all the way from Seaford down to Sellicks to make that road safer and to answer the calls from the local community who said that that was their number one priority. We identified the number one priority in the area and we committed money to it. The then Liberal opposition was dragged kicking and screaming by a wonderful local group, the Main South Road Action Group, into a position where they finally admitted that they would match Labor's commitment.

The members of the Main South Road Action Group met with both sides. They presented us with petitions signed by hundreds and hundreds of local people who wanted it. When they pressed the then Liberal opposition, 'Are you going to stick to the same time line as Labor has promised?' they were told, 'Yes. Yes, of course we will. We will stick to what Labor has promised.' There was a commitment made by a frontbencher, the then shadow spokesperson for transport, that by the end of 2019 the bulldozers would be out working on the Main South Road duplication. We are now more than midway through February and no-one has seen a single bulldozer. In fact, the locals are telling me, 'It's all bulldust and no bulldozer,' because no work has started on the duplication of Main South Road between Seaford and Sellicks, despite these promises.

I do not know what this government has against Aldinga, but we also committed in the Mid-Year Budget Review $2 million to go to the soccer club at Aldinga via Onkaparinga council. The new government came in and that $2 million was taken away. That was not a promise: that was money that was in the Mid-Year Budget Review. That is the second strike: first of all, nothing has happened with the road that they promised they would match us by having the construction start by the end of 2019 and then there is the soccer club that had the $2 million taken away from it without any explanation.

We also gave $5 million to Aldinga Primary School. That $5 million was committed to—again, it was not a promise, it was in the budget—in October 2017. The local school was pretty happy that they were going to get $5 million. By the end of last year, that school community was doing fundraising for cleaning products to clean the toilets, which were meant to have been replaced with that $5 million. They were so outdated and not fit for purpose that I had parents contacting me to say that their kids were getting sick because of the unhygienic state of the school.

It is pretty upsetting for a school community—I am talking about the parents of children—when they had $5 million appropriated for their school for an upgrade in 2017. We had to write and write and write to the education minister to ask, 'What has happened with this $5 million?' Finally, in December, we were told, 'We are going to spend the $5 million.' The school is an excellent and very well-led school with great teachers, a great principal and great students. There is nothing wrong with the school. It is a tremendous school, except that the buildings that we identified as needing to be done up with the $5 million grant had not been done up, so I am glad that it is finally happening.

The government is also out there making a big deal and a big announcement of the B-12 school at Aldinga. Again, that was announced by us in 2017. We have a sign now, which is good, and hopefully work will start soon on the development of that school. It is being built where we indicated our preference was for it to be built, which is next door to the Aldinga sports complex.

The Aldinga sports complex is home to netball, football, cricket, equestrian, dressage, soccer, hockey, lawn bowls and croquet. It is a real hub for the local area in Aldinga, so it makes sense to build the school right next door to those sporting facilities. It would also be a really good idea if the government, before they went out to tender, actually engaged with those sporting clubs to find out what they needed.

What we know about the netball club is that, even before it burnt down last year, it was one of the worst physical facilities in the state. The people at the netball club used to have to carry an urn up the stairs to the football club, fill it with water and then bring it back downstairs to the tiny little netball club so that they could serve some tea and coffee and try to raise a little bit of money. A lot of money needs to be spent in Aldinga around sport and recreation, yet the $2 million that we put for that has been taken away.

There were no meaningful discussions before the tender was let to build the school to actually work everything in together in the planning and design phase. That is the easiest time to do things. How do we go for car parking? It is a pretty narrow road in front of where the recreation and sport precinct is and where the school will be built—it is really narrow. What we know about government schools is that they do not have to provide any parking for their students; they do for the staff but not for the students.

If everyone is to park along the road, which is already too narrow and is about to have a school that will be home to 1,600 students and their cars every day, plus a new development of about 700 homes with all the extra cars that they bring out the back of the new school, how are we going to fit everyone's cars in if adequate off-street parking is not provided for the sporting complex, for the school and for this new development?

It is a really big concern and it goes to the fact that the government is not interested in doing the consultation. In fact, I organised a meeting with all the sports clubs. We had the mayor and the CEO of Onkaparinga Council there, but there was an empty seat because the office for rec and sport decided not to turn up at the last minute. That did not go down too well with the people who were there, who, after months and months of trying, really wanted to engage with the state government.

The public transport sell-off is causing huge concern in the seat of Mawson. I was very grateful that last week the opposition leader and the member for Kaurna hosted a public transport forum with me. Of the people at that forum, 100 per cent were totally against the Marshall government's plan to sell off our train and tram services to put them into private hands. They applauded Labor's approach, which is, if we are successful in the 2022 election, to undo that sell-off if it goes ahead between now and the next election. We will also have an inquiry into whether it is possible to buy back or bring back our bus services into government hands.

I have to say that, as a regular user of our train system, in particular on the Seaford line and sometimes the bus from McLaren Vale over to Seaford, it is getting less and less safe every time I catch that train. Last year, I came as close as you can possibly come to being assaulted by someone who was literally out of their mind on drugs and being a nuisance to everyone, using foul language and intimidating everyone in our train carriage.

When I asked them to stop their behaviour, I was threatened with physical violence. That was a train at 6.03pm, so we are not talking a late-night train. I was on there with the rest of the commuting public of the south who were heading home. That is not good enough because every time people are subjected to violence, or they have felt intimidated or unsafe, then it is one more person who is less likely to want to use public transport.

The latest news that there is an even greater reduction in the number of guards on our public transport is a real backward step by a government that does not care for commuters in South Australia—and down south we have a lot of those commuters. They are looking forward to a change of government in 2022 so that things can be beefed up and improvements can be made.

We will stick with Aldinga for a while because on Sunday we finally had our office opening, an electorate office in our electorate of Mawson. Who would have thought that it would have taken 21 months? A big crowd turned up and every one of those people knew that the line the government had been spinning about why I did not have an electorate office was not right. They said it took 21 months for me to get a new electorate office because they could not find any vacant office space. We had the opening in the Aldinga Central mall, where there were at least four—

Mrs Power: Your government knew what the boundaries were and didn't do anything about it. You had how long?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: —empty offices in the Aldinga Central shopping centre, and this government had 21 months to get me in there. We should have been in, as the election was in March. You find out who wins the election, you go to whoever the winner is and you say, 'Where in the electorate would you like your office?' and within a few months, maybe three months max, you should be in there. If I were from the private sector and I wanted to move into the Aldinga Central shopping centre, I would have been in there probably in about seven or eight weeks because you do the deal and you get in there.

It was not a priority for these guys. It was not a priority for them to look after the people of Aldinga, Sellicks, Port Willunga, McLaren Vale, McLaren Flat, Willunga, Myponga, Yankalilla, Normanville, Rapid Bay, Cape Jervis, Inman Valley and Delamere. It was not a priority for this government to look after any of those people and to have an electorate office for the local member in the electorate, rather than 18 to 20 kilometres out of the electorate.

Aldinga has a lot of people who do not have a car or do not have a second car, so they cannot catch three buses to get to the old office in Hackham, nor should they be expected to. It was great to be there on Sunday with so many members of the Labor Party and for our leader, Peter Malinauskas, to officially open the new electorate office. Every time people walk past and they see my office, it will be a reminder to them of how uncaring this Liberal Marshall government is.

They took away the $2 million for the soccer club, they did not spend the $5 million that we had in the budget, they have not started the duplication of Main South Road, they have not discussed planning around the new school and how that would integrate with local traffic and the sports complex, and they have not started the work on the road. That all goes down as a big cross against the Liberal brand in the seat of Mawson and right throughout it because people know that that work has not been done.

When we look at the recreation and sport grants, we see cuts to lots of fantastic initiatives that we brought up, including the $24 million female change facilities. That was a hallmark of our time in government, looking after the girls and the women who want to play sport and want to have the same sorts of conditions as the men and the boys. That has been cut. What we have seen is a lot of novelty cheques being handed out by Liberal Party candidates with no due process.

The McLaren Football Club had the 13th highest ranked sporting proposal in Australia—the 13th highest ranked. Did they get their funding? No. But someone who was not even in the top 2,000 did because they happened to be mates with a Liberal candidate, the Liberal Prime Minister Scott Morrison or someone else in the Liberal Party. That is not fair and people know that is not fair. I have written to the Prime Minister and I have asked for that $50,000 to be sent into the bank account.

We do not need a novelty cheque. It just needs to be put straight into the bank account through an electronic funds transfer so that the good people—the volunteers, players and coaches, the kids—at McLaren Football Club can get the $50,000 because they deserve it because they were ranked as the 13th best proposal in Australia. Let's have more honesty, more money going to where it should be going and fewer novelty cheques.

I want to thank all the volunteers in the seat of Mawson and indeed across our state. I was at the Aldinga Christmas carols the week before Christmas talking to some of the wonderful volunteers from the Aldinga CFS station. They were preparing to shoot over to New South Wales for New Year's Eve. They were not going to be on the harbour watching the fireworks, I can tell you. They were going to be somewhere in New South Wales battling a blaze that had been burning for weeks and weeks. That was the plan. Some had already done at least one tour of duty and were lining up to go back for their second or third trip.

Those plans changed later that week, when we had the Cudlee Creek fire that swept through large chunks of the Hills and the fire on Kangaroo Island that burnt 48 per cent of the 4½ thousand square kilometre island. They did not end up going to New South Wales to fight those fires, but they stayed here and fought and fought and fought and fought. They do it because they love helping their fellow South Australians. They do not do it looking for a financial reward, but they do appreciate it when people in power, like members of parliament, acknowledge what they have done and just say thank you.

I have spoken to a few, some from Kangaroo Island, some from other parts of Mawson, who were all fighting fires an Kangaroo Island, and they were pretty upset that their Premier, the leader of their state, did not have time to just say a quick 'Thank you; well done. We appreciate you not being home at Christmas and in the new year period with your kids during the school holidays because you are over here fighting for your fellow South Australians.' It is not just our fireys. We have so many volunteers, people who put their hand up to help in some way the people who have been affected by fires.

There are people over there working for BlazeAid, and they are doing a tremendous job. It has been a real honour to get out and meet those people. A woman on the island I was speaking to last week said, 'I work in an office in Adelaide and I didn't really know whether I would be up for this or not, but I just wanted to do something, and here I am. They are putting me to work. You wouldn't want me necessarily making sure the posts are straight, but I am helping in other ways.' Some German backpackers spoke to me and said, 'Look, under the current rules, we can't get any credit for this because we are not working in agriculture; we are volunteering in agriculture.' So I was very pleased to see that the federal government changed those rules so that those German backpackers can now be acknowledged for the great volunteering they are doing.

There were also a lot of other volunteers involved in the fire who do not normally belong to any outfit but who are members of the community of Kangaroo Island. One person I want to mention is Mary-Lou Corcoran, who is the General Manager of the Ozone Hotel. I saw her pulling absolutely massive hours, as did many other volunteers, in the incident command centre on Kangaroo Island.

The incident command centre had to be evacuated itself from Parndana back to Kingscote on the really bad night of the terrible fires that burnt for 50 days. She had relatives who had lost everything staying with her at her house. She was still in that command centre at 2.30 or 3 o'clock in the morning. I said, 'Go home. I will take over and do a stint.' I only did a stint for about four or five hours, working the phones and trying to help out where I could, but people like Mary-Lou kept backing up day after day. We thank those people.

Shauna Black is over there as a director of Kangaroo Island Plantation Timbers, but she put on the logistics bib as well because these people know the island. They know people who can get things done. Alice Teasdale, another great member of our community, has a signwriting and printing business, Big Quince Print, in the main street. She was there at 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning, ringing up trying to get accommodation for people who had been evacuated. For all the stress and upset, these people behaved in an incredibly professional way.

Let's not forget that they were working in Parndana. They had to get out of there as the fire came through. Three times Parndana came under threat. Three times Parndana was evacuated and these people just kept going in a different building in a town 50 or 60 kilometres away from the town where they started their shift as volunteers, and it all just worked like absolute clockwork. That is a sign of a bunch of dedicated and professional community members.

I cannot go through and name every single one of the people who volunteered in some way, but through speeches in the past few weeks I have managed to mention a few. I want to put on the record that, for everyone who helped out a fellow South Australian in their time of need during the fires, we very much appreciate it.

When you work on these disasters, you form a bond with people that never ever goes away. I get the feeling when I go back to Port Lincoln that I have a kind of family over there. As the member for Flinders knows, that community went through so much pain and agony back in the Wangary fire on 5 January 2005. The way the community pulled together after that fire was the real sign of a strong community. There are people years later who are still hurting from that fire and the damage that it did and the lives that it took. It robbed families of family members.

There is still that pain there now, but the way I saw that community come together in a fire that ripped from one side of Eyre Peninsula to the other in record time was so commendable. Another thing that happened in that fire was that we saw leadership from the government of the day. That fire went through. It was the Black Tuesday fire. We had been up most of the night and all that afternoon in emergency cabinet meetings. Mike Rann, who was premier; Pat Conlon, who was chief of staff; myself; and Euan Ferguson, who was head of the CFS, all flew over on that Wednesday morning.

Mike Rann, as premier, made a commitment. He said, 'For the next six weeks, we are going to have a government minister on the ground day and night,' and then he dobbed me in. He said, 'Biggles is going to stay here for six weeks and he will be chief of staff to provide continuity, and the minister who is on the ground will have the power of cabinet.' So we did not even have to go back through cabinet.

Some of the examples I remember are things like national parks that had big trees where the roots were still burning underneath the ground or were hollowed out and still burning up the trunks, but they were significant trees, so the law did not allow us to go in and chop them down. Common sense told you that the safest thing to do, if the wind was going to flare up in a couple of days or if the trees could come down and kill someone or damage property, was to chop them down.

Having a minister on the ground—John Hill was environment minister then—he said, 'Of course, chop them down. People's lives come before native vegetation in a disaster.' But what I am seeing on Kangaroo Island is a total lack of leadership. I feel sorry for the public servants over there because they are telling me just how hard it is to try to look after people when there is no direction coming from cabinet level.

You cannot run a disaster recovery from hundreds of kilometres away, whether that is Port Lincoln, which is not that far to fly but a long way to drive, or Kangaroo Island. It is a remote place and a remote part of South Australia and you need to have a government minister on the ground to empower the public servants to do the right thing. I have had quarrelling departments talking to me about this clean-up that I have been complaining about.

It has taken over 50 days for the government to tell people, 'We will come in and clean up the crumpled burnt-out ruins of what was your house.' That should not go for 50 days. This is not the first time that we have had a disaster in South Australia. That should just be a given. They should have said, 'We don't know what it's going to look like, but we're going to pay for it, so rest assured there's one thing that you don't have to worry about in a world of pain where you're worrying about everything and you're stressed out about everything.' Take some of the pressure off.

What I am told by people on the ground is that the EPA were in there early and they worked with local contractors. They identified where pits could be dug and all this rubbish that was people's homes could be stored, and even the asbestos stuff could be stored or disposed of safely. They were working on that for a couple of weeks. They were at the point of being ready to deliver and then someone in government decided that a different arm of government, Green Industries, should be running the process. Of course, as we so often see in government, new people come in and they do not want to take over where the other ones left off, so they go back to zero and hit the reset clock and that is where you get delays.

If you have a minister on the ground who is actually seeing what is happening and listening to the people who are suffering, those poor home owners, then you get that. Other public servants have complained to me that they do not get to spend enough time on the ground over there. They are being rotated in and out so quickly that they just start to get their head around the situation, and just start to build up the trustful relationship that you need with victims of a fire, and then they are sent home and someone else comes in.

Again, it is not too late. I know it is day 61 of this bushfire emergency, but it is not too late for the Premier and cabinet to tell the people of Kangaroo Island—just like Mike Rann told the people of Eyre Peninsula—'We are going to have a minister on the ground day and night for the next six weeks, or as long as it takes, to help get people back on their feet.' What we know is, whether you pay for things or you do not pay for things, there is always a cost to society. The payment might be $5 million to clean up everything, but if you do not spend that $5 million what is the cost in the mental health damage that is done to a society?

Deputy Speaker, you will remember that people were saying, 'What are you guys doing here? We are never going to vote for you, you are the Labor Party.' We said, 'We are here to get you back on your feet as quickly as possible because the quicker you get back on your feet the quicker your mental health improves but, just as importantly, the quicker the economy improves.' We know that regional South Australia is the absolute powerhouse of our economy, whether it is tourism or agriculture. Again, I implore the government to do everything they can to help out all our areas that have been affected by bushfires this summer.

Mrs POWER (Elder) (17:18): I rise to give my Address in Reply to His Excellency Hieu Van Le's speech that marked the opening of the Second Session of the Fifty-Fourth South Australian Parliament. I would like to begin by echoing His Excellency's heartfelt thanks to all those who have been supporting the rescue, recovery and relief efforts after the devastating bushfires we recently experienced in both the Hills and Kangaroo Island.

I also acknowledge the impact of the bushfire crisis on our great nation and extend my deepest sympathies to those who have been directly impacted and faced loss of life, homes or livestock. It has been an horrific time. As the Governor outlined, as a state government we are working hard to support the rebuild and recovery effort and will continue to do so through this second session of parliament.

As His Excellency has also highlighted, we formed government with an unwavering commitment and plan for more jobs, lower costs and better services. It was clear from His Excellency's speech, that that is exactly what our government is delivering and it is what we will continue to deliver for all South Australians.

In relation to more jobs, as His Excellency highlighted, the Marshall Liberal government is helping to unlock business investment and job creation in a number of ways. We have slashed payroll tax, which is often described as a tax and a barrier for businesses to employ more people. We have established Infrastructure South Australia and the SA Productivity Commission to not only deliver the infrastructure that our state needs but ensure a continued pipeline of job opportunities.

We have also developed a clear map to growth in South Australia with our Growth State plan, which aims to lift South Australia's export performance for the long-term and generate more jobs. This plan provides a road map for government and industry to work together to ensure and to secure more economic opportunities for South Australia in the areas of defence, space, energy and minerals, food, wine and agribusiness, international education, tourism, high-tech, health and medical industries and, importantly, the creative industries.

My vision as the state member for Elder and as a member of the government is an abundance of meaningful jobs that create a state where people, businesses and companies want to establish roots and invest. I believe that jobs are about more than just statistics and figures; they are about giving South Australians the dignity of work and a chance for a better life. It is about creating opportunities where workers want to show up, dive in and stay at it. It is about unleashing talent and building reservoirs of skills and knowledge in our great state of South Australia. We as a government are working to create the right environment in our state that will see an abundance of jobs.

With regard to lower costs, we know that every little bit helps and that is why we are committed to easing cost-of-living pressures for all South Australians. As His Excellency detailed, our government is lowering costs for individuals, families and businesses. We have slashed the emergency services levy, with households saving $145 each on average—imagine what you can do with that. We have provided families with $100 sports vouchers for primary-age schoolchildren. The cost of car registration is coming down with reduced compulsory third party insurance. We have made screening checks for volunteers free, and we are reducing the cost of electricity and power bills.

Last week, two separate reports by electricity regulators showed how electricity prices in South Australia are set to fall further for households and businesses this year. The recent approval of the South Australian-New South Wales interconnector is a milestone in a project that will deliver cheaper, cleaner and more reliable electricity to South Australian households and businesses. It is key for our Marshall government's energy policy and will be the first interconnector built in Australia for 15 years.

In further savings ahead for households, new homebuyers in South Australia will now be able to have solar and battery systems installed for no additional cost during the construction phase. This latest development in the $100 million Home Battery Scheme aims to boost the take-up of home solar and battery systems to deliver huge savings in electricity bills for new home owners. Already thousands of South Australians have slashed their electricity bills by installing a home battery, so it is great news that the scheme is now accessible to people purchasing a new home.

The Marshall Liberal government is also delivering lower costs for low and fixed income South Australians with a number of concessions to help, including an energy concession, a cost-of-living concession and a water concession. We are encouraging low and fixed income South Australian households to find out whether they are eligible for water and sewerage concessions paid quarterly in SA Water bills as there may be more savings available to them and we want them to be able to access them.

In the 2019-20 financial year, approximately $54 million in water and sewerage concessions are anticipated to be issued to South Australians who need bill relief. For people living in the electorate of Elder, I know reducing cost-of-living expenses is very important for them and I also know that the inroads we have made with household bills have been very much welcomed.

In relation to better services, in his speech His Excellency outlined so many of our actions and achievements to date as a government that are delivering better services for South Australians. In my electorate, we provide South Australians with a clear, strong alternative to Labor's betrayal to close and sell the Repat. As a part of the Marshall Liberal government, I have worked alongside my colleagues to consult with residents, community leaders, clinicians and key stakeholders to develop a master plan for the Repat site that will see us deliver on our election promises and maximise the use of the site as a healthcare precinct.

We have already reopened the hydrotherapy pool. We have opened 40 beds—20 beds currently in the rehabilitation building and ensured that 20 beds are kept open in the ViTA precinct. They were originally planned for closure by Labor by the end of 2018. Last month, we began construction on an Australian first neurobehavioural unit for people living with the most extreme symptoms of dementia. This 18-bed unit construction will create dozens of local jobs and is part of a wider vision to complement the new dementia village. In partnership with HammondCare, the dementia village will include specialist care units and cottages. These services will also operate alongside a repurposed Ward 20, which will care for patients with both complex dementia and acute medical conditions.

Mr Deputy Speaker, the Repat is abuzz with activity. You would have heard just last week that we announced that construction has begun on Ward 20. I gave a very token effort of smashing down a wall as my contribution to the demolition. We are very excited. We know refurbishing and modifying Ward 20 will provide a 12-bed ward that will move these complex needs patients out of general hospital wards so that they can receive more appropriate care and support at the Repat.

There is still more we are delivering on this site. We are building a 26-bed care transition facility to create a South Australian hub for people living with dementia and transitioning to home or an aged-care facility following acute care treatment. As a part of returning the Repat to a thriving healthcare precinct, our Marshall Liberal government is also establishing a veterans wellbeing centre and refurbishing the SPF Hall, which I know for many people has come as very welcome news. We are ensuring the Repat chapel, Remembrance Garden, museum and SPF Hall will be protected and preserved for future generations.

We are also developing a town square community hub and outdoor flexible spaces in the heart of the Repat, including a new sports gymnasium. The Minister for Health and Wellbeing is also currently working to develop a plan for surgical procedures on the site. In total, the Marshall state government and the Morrison federal government have combined to commit almost $110 million so far to rejuvenate the much loved Repat site. We are improving South Australia's health services to ensure all patients receive the care they need in the most appropriate setting.

By saving the Repat, we have been able to provide additional capacity in the health system that was gutted by the former Labor government and its failed Transforming Health policy. In delivering better health care for my local residents and all South Australians, the Repat is just one piece of the puzzle. The Repat is integral to the government's $86 million Southern Health Expansion Plan. Moving patients with dementia and complex care needs from Noarlunga Hospital to the renovated Ward 20 will mean higher needs patients can receive end-to-end care at Noarlunga Hospital.

As part of the Southern Health Expansion Plan, the Flinders Medical Centre emergency department will be expanded by 30 more treatment spaces to become one of the largest emergency departments in South Australia. This plan is expected to prevent up to 1,000 ambulance transfers per year from Noarlunga Hospital to Flinders. The increased capacity within the Flinders emergency department will also ensure doctors, nurses and allied health professionals have more spaces to treat patients faster.

Some of the feedback I got when I was out doorknocking was how important it was for people to be able to access care close to home. For those who had family members who needed to access care, they wanted that to occur close to home so that they could visit them without having to spend hundreds of dollars on a taxi fare. This Southern Health Expansion Plan certainly comes as welcome news and will help ease pressure on emergency departments.

Further, our health system right across the whole state is being restored, with The Queen Elizabeth Hospital being redeveloped and Modbury Hospital being upgraded to increase surgical capability—something I know the member for Newland has been key in driving—and we have funded long-overdue maintenance and other work in our regional hospital network, which have been neglected for far too long. This means better health services for not just the residents of southern Adelaide but all South Australians.

His Excellency highlighted the work the government is doing to combat domestic and family violence, which will see more cohesive services to better respond to the feedback from the sector and, most importantly, the needs of people experiencing domestic and family violence. The Premier demonstrated from the very beginning that he is committed to reducing the prevalence and impact of domestic and family violence when he created the state's first-ever Assistant Minister for Domestic and Family Violence Prevention immediately after forming government. This is a role that I am honoured to serve in.

Our government committed $11.9 million over four years to help deliver vital initiatives in our very first budget to combat domestic and family violence. We expanded the operation of our specialist Domestic Violence Crisis Line to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The line had been operating for 30 years, but unfortunately only during business hours Monday to Friday. We know that domestic violence does not just happen during business hours Monday to Friday. People need to be able to access that line 24 hours, seven days a week when they need it, and that is exactly what we have done.

We have also introduced a new women's safety app. With the Minister for Human Services in the other place, we have held six round tables for domestic, family and sexual violence stakeholders around South Australia, which included a focus on our regional areas and their unique needs. Our election commitment was for just one round table, but we recognised the significant value of this consultation and expanded our plan to include six round tables to ensure that we implemented our policies in the best way possible to maximise the impact and to work alongside the sector both here in metropolitan Adelaide and out in our regions.

Our regional round tables significantly informed the planned establishment of our commitment to nine safety hubs throughout South Australia. Each hub will be tailored to the different needs of each region. Two are already open and operating in Murray Bridge and Berri. Safety hubs are designed to support women and communities with advice and connections to specialist support services, such as counselling, police, housing, drug and alcohol services, legal aid, financial counselling, mental health support and/or health services.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the organisations to date that have attended our round tables, shared their expertise and wisdom with us, helped shape the implementation of our policies and, importantly, formed partnerships with the government and enabled the improved delivery of our policies and the delivery of holistic support for women through these safety hubs.

Our Marshall Liberal government has also provided funding to the South Australian coalition of women's domestic and family violence services so that they are now able to function as a fully supported peak body. With this funding, the first of its kind, they have recently undergone rebranding and review of their purpose and are now known as Embolden. In the two short years we have been in government, we have also rolled out a statewide trial of the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme.

The scheme enables a person who may be at risk of domestic violence or experiencing domestic violence to get information about their partner or a former partner to help them make informed decisions about their safety and the future of their relationship. A request for information can be made by either the person who is feeling unsafe in their relationship or a person concerned about the welfare of someone they know, maybe their daughter, their sister, their friend. If there is relevant information to disclose, it is normally disclosed in a meeting by police to the person in the relationship.

In the first 14 months of operation, the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme received 316 applications and 17 people were assessed as being at imminent risk of harm. The disclosure meetings were held urgently. Importantly, the disclosure scheme is also an avenue to connect people experiencing or at risk of experiencing domestic violence with specialist support services. After all, even if there is no information to disclose regarding one's history, the application has been made due to some concern.

I believe that this is one of the greatest strengths of our trial, and the data confirms this, showing that 60 per cent of people accessing the scheme had never received support from a domestic and family violence service. As an early intervention tool, the scheme works to change the trajectory of a potentially violent relationship and provide better services to enable people to stay safe.

We have been leading the way and working with the Office for Women as well as a number of other organisations to deliver our domestic violence initiatives, including our commitment of 40 new crisis beds. People fleeing domestic and family violence will be safe with these crisis accommodation beds and connected with support services. Of these beds, 17 will be located in the regions because we listen to our regions, we act and, as the Minister for Regional Development often says, #RegionsMatter.

We have also put in place plans for trialling something truly innovative. Following direct feedback from the community and from the sector, a total of nine beds will be used for a state first—and we think potentially one of Australia's first—perpetrator intervention pilot programs. This pilot will allow women and families to remain in their family home if it is safe to do so, causing them less disruption at what is already a very stressful and traumatic time. As you can imagine, experiencing domestic and family violence is traumatic enough without having to then relocate from your family home and from your local community. We want to prevent that trauma in cases where it is safe to do so.

Instead, the perpetrator will be removed and housed in the accommodation. Oversight of the perpetrator by support services will ensure the safety of women and their children. This trial is an opportunity to explore what interventions work best, with perpetrators having the opportunity to engage with services to help them change their behaviour. This is very important. As the Assistant Minister for Domestic and Family Violence Prevention, I have a very clear focus when it comes to domestic and family violence and that is, of course, preventing it from occurring in the first place.

That is why I am proud our Marshall Liberal government recently announced $1.86 million from South Australia towards two national primary prevention campaigns. This is part of the Fourth Action Plan of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, including a new campaign that focuses on preventing sexual violence. We are delivering on our commitments and we are taking them further.

Last year, we released a new policy framework to ensure the work to combat domestic violence continues, called Committed to Safety. This framework shapes an across-government, safety-driven approach to tackle domestic, family and sexual violence. It sets out clear commitments with short, medium and long-term time frames to implement change. It is built around three key focus areas: primary prevention, service and support, and justice. This framework is a working, living document.

As a government, will continue to be flexible and agile to respond to issues and new ideas and ways of thinking as we go forward. Working to prevent violence against women and providing suitable support may look different for different population groups, so it is vital that we continue to provide tailored responses and support, and this new framework will do just that. One of the key actions in the Committed to Safety framework relates to women's participation and employment.

This year, consultation with our business sector has been underway so that we can finalise a new women's employment and leadership strategy. Ensuring that women are financially secure and active in our society is crucial in the prevention of violence. Another key element of prevention, of course, is education. It is vital in changing attitudes and norms that lead to violence. As mentioned, we are delivering on our promises to address domestic and family violence, but there is more to be done and there is more we will do.

In replying to the Governor's speech, I want to acknowledge that there was a strong focus on the environment, and that is because our government is working hard to address the challenges of climate change, going beyond activism to developing and delivering practical solutions. Last year, we released our Directions for a Climate Smart South Australia, which will guide South Australia to reduce emissions by more than 50 per cent by 2030 from 2005 levels, potentially contributing twice as much to the national target as other states.

His Excellency also highlighted our focus as a government on the environment in terms of pursuing unique opportunities to harness the potential of our precious natural environment to grow the economy by reinvigorating our parks system. We are also implementing a Blue Carbon Strategy and a Hydrogen Action Plan. Our Marshall Liberal government is indeed focused on pushing further ahead with our national leadership in renewable energy. Households within my electorate will be the first residents to be serviced with hydrogen-blended gas.

This is a more environmentally friendly gas supply, and it is being produced at the Tonsley Innovation District, which is also in the great electorate of Elder, with no change to costs for customers. This hydrogen project received a $4.9 million grant from the Renewable Technology Fund and, while there are several hydrogen projects in planning right across Australia, this is the first of its kind to supply residential customers—around 700—in households in Mitchell Park. What an achievement for our state. Another important initiative for our state includes Green Adelaide.

Green Adelaide offers an integrated approach to managing our urban environment. Our Marshall Liberal government is focusing on increased efforts to green and cool our backyards, streets and neighbourhoods, enhance biodiversity and create open and healthy green spaces for everyone, particularly in metropolitan Adelaide. Our government has been providing greener neighbourhood grants to metropolitan councils for focus on street planting and water-sensitive urban design to help create greener and cooler neighbourhoods. I have been encouraging the City of Mitcham and the City of Marion, the two councils in my electorate, to apply for one of these greener neighbourhood grants.

Open, public and green spaces are so important to the fabric and identity of a local community, whether it is in metropolitan Adelaide or a regional town. This funding targets projects that provide a diverse range of open spaces with both active and passive opportunities, and it promotes urban greening and climate change resilience. The creation of Glenthorne National Park is a once in a lifetime opportunity to preserve and revitalise a large area of existing open space in our southern suburbs and turn it into a thriving environmental and recreational precinct for the whole community. Certainly, for those residents living in my electorate, Glenthorne National Park is right in our backyard.

The new park will demonstrate the importance of access to open green space for the health and wellbeing of the community so that it can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all South Australians. We envisage picnic areas, heritage buildings, walking and cycling trails and 200 hectares of native revegetation, creating an urban forest that will be enjoyed for generations to come.

I am proud of the work our government is doing to protect, nurture and care for our environment. I believe in our natural environment to restore, refresh, soothe, heal and enliven us. We need sustainable and stunning environments that will endure, nurture a sense of adventure and create joy. Such futureproofed environments will add to the livability of our suburbs and preserve our natural heritage.

A number of people commented on the Governor's speech and how long it went for. Someone suggested that it might be the longest speech a Governor has given to mark the opening of parliament. Given how much has been achieved in the last two years of the Marshall Liberal government, I can understand why it was one of the longest speeches. We have hit the ground running since we formed government after the election. We have delivered on our election promises and we are continuing to look ahead to the future.

We are a government that is delivering more jobs, lower costs and better services for all South Australians. As the member for Elder, I look forward to continuing to work with my local residents to ensure that our local community and state are the best they can be.

Debate adjourned on motion of Dr Harvey.


At 17:47 the house adjourned until Thursday 20 February 2020 at 11:00.


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