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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-10-27 Daily Xml
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Targeted Lead Abatement Program

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (14:21): My question is to the member for Stuart, the Minister for Energy and Mining. Can the minister please update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is investing in Port Pirie to provide a safer and stronger community?

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:21): I thank the member for Colton for this very important question. I know that he cares about his community in the electorate of Colton and he cares about the Housing SA tenants in his electorate, as we all do across government in Port Pirie. Port Pirie, as people would know, is challenged with decades and decades of lead pollution and our government is determined—absolutely determined—for the people of Port Pirie to make a very significant dent: short, medium and long-term improvements.

As the landlord essentially of the Housing SA properties, our government has identified 43 Housing SA properties in Port Pirie with children under five years old, and people would all know that lead in the air can lead to lead in blood, and lead in blood in infants is a very serious thing indeed. We are determined to address that, so we have allocated $2.5 million, as the landlord, to essentially support the tenants in these 43 homes to help clean up and improve their homes. We know that those tenants have been doing a very good job and doing the very best that they can, but they need some extra help, and we are doing that for them.

We are helping with ways to reduce the dust inside and outside of their homes. We are helping with regard to the sealing of doors and windows and things like that so that dust doesn't get into their house and helping with things like replacing carpet with linoleum so the flooring holds less dust and is easier to clean. We are absolutely determined that we will achieve far better results for the people of Port Pirie through the TLAP program and other measures like this than the previous government did.

We have done this in 13 of the 43 houses already, and we have already seen reductions in the results for testing for lead in infants' blood. There can be absolutely nothing more important that our government can look at than caring for the health and wellbeing of infants throughout the state, and we take this responsibility very seriously. We have announced already that the former 2IC of the environmental protection agency is now living in Port Pirie, has bought a house in Port Pirie and is working on leading this work on the ground.

We have announced already that the council and local community members will have a voice in the TLAP program in a way that they never have before. We have announced an additional 10 years of funding in partnership with the Nyrstar company for this work. The current funding runs out in 2024. While we are determined and already delivering results now, we know that this work needs to continue, so there is an extra 10 years of funding. We have also agreed with the company that any unspent funds in any year will be rolled over, another significant improvement on the previous government's work in this area. We are doing a lot to make sure that the TLAP program is more effective than it has ever been before.

Let me be very clear: I know that the member for Frome and the previous government had good intentions when they put this program together but, unfortunately—very unfortunately for the people of Port Pirie—the results have not materialised in the way that they said they would, when they said, for example, that lead would be a thing of the past.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: Minister, there is a point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Standing order 98: the minister is not answering the substance of the question. He is now debating the answer and he is attempting to take responsibility for other people's actions. He has no responsibility for the house, the member for Frome or any previous government policy.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I bring the minister to the substance of the question. There is a short time remaining for the answer.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: We are making it very clear that we are getting better results through better intent, through better funding, through better proactivity than the previous government ever did on this issue, and it is working already. We know that this is an issue that will be providing results in the short, medium and long term. There are things we can do already, and we are doing them. There are things that we are working on now which will deal with decades and decades of lead legacy in Port Pirie. We are determined to fix this. We are going to fix it. We are doing a much better job than the previous government.

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