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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-06-02 Daily Xml
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Bills

Supply Bill 2022

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 1 June 2022.)

Ms THOMPSON (Davenport) (11:01): I rise to offer my support to the Supply Bill presently before the house. I am excited to be part of a team that is putting people at the centre of everything that we do, a team that will never stop fighting for what is important: a better health system, better schools, opportunities for local businesses and jobs, much-needed protection for our environment and, overall, a better future for South Australia.

This government is prioritising what is important for South Australians. I know our communities will be excited to see a record investment in our health system and I am particularly pleased that partnering with the Albanese government will see $400 million spent on the Flinders Medical Centre, including 136 extra beds, an upgraded intensive care unit and an expansion of dedicated mental health and older persons' facilities.

Whilst like many other areas the Davenport electorate has an aging population, the demographic is changing and there are lots of families with little kids, just like mine. Parents in Davenport or anywhere should not have to worry about moving into the catchment of a particular school. All our schools should have the resources they need to be great schools, and kids who need a little extra help with their learning should not be left behind because of limited resources.

We know that building a fantastic education system is the best way to set up our state for a strong future. That is why we are making investment in education and skills a priority. A notable component of this funding that I am particularly excited about is the $50 million we are investing towards 100 extra speech pathologists, occupational therapists, psychologists and counsellors in schools for our kids who need a little extra help.

This is something that is raised with me time and time again by local parents, carers and teachers. Kids are often identified as needing a little extra help in these areas, but then they wait months, sometimes longer, to get the support that they need. Just imagine the learning and relationships that they miss out on in that time. I cannot wait to see this delivered and benefiting the kids and families across our state.

Earlier this week the parliament finally acknowledged the real threat of climate change, and with important words like that of declaring a climate emergency comes the need for real action. It is vital that this government invests in clean jobs and clean energy with the construction of a new hydrogen power station, and that we abandon the former government's electric vehicle tax. Now is the time to incentivise no and low emissions transport, not scare people away with new taxes.

People have gone through two of the hardest years in this state's history and the pressures of the cost of living grow every day. No matter what point of life we are at, we are all feeling it. It especially broke my heart when my own children started noticing their own classmates' struggles. In our own neighbourhoods, kids are going to school without anything in their lunchbox or with very little for breakfast, so I am extremely proud to be part of a government that has committed $1 million to boost the school breakfast programs over the next four years so that no child has to start the school day hungry.

I am pleased to be part of a team that recognises how important a leg-up can be, a team that has committed to doubling the Cost of Living Concession for pensioners and low-income earners because people should not have to choose between turning their heater on when they get home from work or a hot meal for dinner. I hope and trust that this increase is of much-needed assistance to the 185,000 or so people it is designed to help because no-one deserves to be left behind.

I am particularly proud that as a member of this Labor team I have been able to secure some great wins from my electorate of Davenport. A key priority for my community is road safety. That is why we have committed to funding safety improvements at three local school crossings, including Aberfoyle Hub Primary School, Craigburn Primary School and Pilgrim Campus School.

We have also committed $10 million to the much-needed upgrade of Main Road, Cherry Gardens. Despite a tragic fatality in 2018 and being listed as SA's fourth riskiest road by the RAA, it was never made a priority by the former government, so I know that the community are particularly relieved to know this government's commitment will see the road widened and resurfaced and roadside hazards removed and guardrails installed.

Supporting grassroots sport is also a big priority for both my community and this government. We have committed $1 million to upgrade the Happy Valley Sports Park, which includes improvements for footy, cricket, netball and lawn bowls. There is also a $3 million commitment to upgrade the Paul Murray Recreation Centre to support Hub Gymnastics, the largest gymnastics centre in the south.

That will help them to expand their facilities and not just support the 700 strong membership they have now but also support the 500 on the waitlist. There is $300,000 for Serpentine Reserve at O'Halloran Hill. This will see the refurbishment and reconfiguration of cricket nets, the addition of lighting to the car park and some other upgrades around that space.

The Happy Valley/Flagstaff Hill area is becoming extremely well-known for its beautiful open space and trails, so I am pleased to commit $1 million to complete the final stage of the Minkarra link trail, linking the northern and southern trails and promoting healthy communities. And, of course, our furry friends want to enjoy our beautiful open spaces too, so we have committed $150,000 to expand the Minkarra dog park to include a separate section just for the little dogs so they can play safely and socialise in a smaller setting.

The Hub Library at Aberfoyle Park will benefit from a $250,000 upgrade to improve pram and wheelchair access, an upgrade for which locals have advocated passionately for some time. The Aberfoyle Hub Community Centre will receive $1.5 million to expand the centre and its incredible services, as well as an additional $40,000 for a much-needed men's shed.

Finally, located in the electorate of Davenport but set to bring benefit to many, particularly those down the hill in the electorate of Gibson, is the joint state and federal commitment to build an on/off ramp onto the Southern Expressway at Majors Road. This project aims to reduce drive times and make the south more accessible as well as reduce traffic flow to Brighton Road.

We are a government that wants to deliver for all South Australians but, importantly, we are also government that has a handle on managing the economy and that supports an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. I commend this bill to the house.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (11:08): It gives me pleasure to be able to rise as Leader of the Opposition to make an address today in relation to the Supply Bill. There is no doubt that we do live in unusual times, challenging times, times of great uncertainty. These times, while characterised most acutely by our last couple of years moving through the COVID-19 pandemic, are now going to be built on by the great economic challenges which we feel are headed our way. That is what the experts tell us. That is what we are seeing across the world in western economies. South Australians and Australians will need to steel themselves for difficult challenges ahead.

We know that interest rates are on an upward trajectory. Predictions about very significant rises in interest rates by the Reserve Bank are likely in the coming weeks and months, as inflation gives us something to worry about and as a whole range of other challenges, including housing shortages, skill shortages and global circumstances with regard to our relationships with traditional international trading partners, have question marks over them.

This is a time for South Australia to be agile. It is a time for South Australians to innovate. It is a time for governments of all persuasions and at all levels to respond to this exceptional uncertainty which, if not managed effectively, could create very significant problems for the most vulnerable South Australians and for South Australian small and family businesses in particular, leading to increased unemployment, uncertainty as to whether rent and mortgage payments can be covered and great uncertainty as to whether government priorities can be fulfilled.

It is in this very difficult set of circumstances that we find the Labor government presenting a budget later today and managing a state to which they made a whole range of commitments during the most recent election process, which we believe they have an election mandate for. Of course, as an opposition, while always presenting our alternative vision for the state, we will be working exceptionally hard to make sure that their mandate is fulfilled by the completion and the delivery of election commitments.

There is no doubt that in the face of very challenging economic times with great global uncertainty, and with issues such as housing and skill shortages in the mix in South Australia, perhaps more pronounced in South Australia than anywhere else, delivery of the government's election promises will be considerably more difficult. Our job will be to keep them honest. Our job will be to keep an exceptionally close eye on what they have promised and on the delivery time frames around that. That is the role of an opposition.

So it was with great concern that Her Majesty's Opposition has seen in recent days and weeks the government retreat from a whole range of their election promises. They used weasel words and policy documents released with the 'For the future' logo on them in the lead-up to the election. We saw those glossies, those that were printed and those that were PDFs online. We saw the continual presentation of very lofty commitments, but if you dig a bit deeper into both the policy documents and the most recent rhetoric from the Premier and particularly the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, we see a retreat from those commitments.

One of the most concerning retreats that we have seen in recent days has been around the north-south corridor. We know that the north-south corridor is a nation-building piece of infrastructure. In South Australia, its impact is multiplied many times over in terms of the capacity to move around our capital city and to move freight, commuters, tradies and people going about life in Adelaide and South Australia, moving them around our city. We do not have a north-south highway in this city. That is the fault of planners going back many years. It is the fault of many governments making decisions that did not see that developed.

Long before my time, there was something called the MATS plan, which had particular ambitions around a north-south corridor. That land was then sold off. The commitment to create a north-south corridor dates back some 20 years in terms of recent history. It started with the Gallipoli Underpass at South Road and Anzac Highway, which began when I was a teenager, and we are now seeing that this project will not be finished until, depressingly, almost my 50th birthday.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: I know.

Ms Pratt: It's a long way off.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: It is a long way off. My entire adult life has been taken up with—not personally but in terms of infrastructure planning in this state—the delivery of this project.

The most difficult part of the north-south corridor is the section between Torrens and Darlington, or Darlington and Torrens as I see it as someone who lives in the southern suburbs. That is the hardest bit, it is the trickiest bit, it is the bit with the most property acquisitions, it is the bit with the most impact on the day-to-day lives of South Australians. It is also the bit that will have the greatest productivity uplift when it is completed and, because it is the area that has the most productivity uplift when completed, it is the area, the section, which must continue at pace.

We know that when we came to office in 2018 there was not so much as a business plan for the completion of the Darlington to Torrens section of South Road—not so much as a business case—so we had to develop that. We had to seek international expertise as to how this project could be fulfilled, and we went about our business doing exactly that. It is a difficult project. It does involve a huge number of property acquisitions, and that in itself comes with complexities, emotions and challenges to individuals and businesses, but we got on and we did that. There were difficulties associated with aspects of that, but we committed to it.

Now we see the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport back to his same old ways. Every project he touches seems to turn into a particular form of disaster, and we see this situation unfolding with the South Road north-south corridor. The idea of pushing this project out by a year and knocking off a component of the expenditure beyond the forward estimates has very significant consequences. On one hand, you could say that it has positive budgetary consequences for the government, freeing up revenue to spend on election commitments, but this project, this state-building project, this nation-building project, if delayed, has substantial productivity loss associated with it.

We have not seen a figure from the government in terms of what that productivity loss will be. Will it be tens of millions? Will it be hundreds of millions of dollars as we prevent and put barriers in front of people getting to and from work and moving freight around South Australia and beyond? If you cannot move seamlessly through the capital city, that will have significant consequences for the bottom line of many businesses, particularly businesses that spend significant amounts of time on the road and those that move goods and services around our city.

We have the productivity angle of this, but we also have the great uncertainty that is created for businesses and residents along South Road. They have had a cloud of uncertainty hanging over them for the best part of two decades, and now that will be extended into the future as well. We see the design thrown up in the air. We know that designing these roads is exceptionally complicated, so there will be potentially delays, I believe, beyond just one year if we are looking at a redesign, particularly the areas that are found within the member for West Torrens' electorate in the northern part of the Darlington to Torrens section of this significant project.

This is a project the alarm bells are sounding on. We have had a senior executive sacked from the Department for Infrastructure and Transport who was personally involved. She was a critical staff member in terms of the involvement in this. We have seen public servants change their advice midway through this project. A change of government has, for whatever reason—and I likely would attribute it to a change in political masters—seen a 180 in terms of the advice from reports that went to Infrastructure Australia and Infrastructure South Australia just months ago saying that this project was ready to go.

Now, for a range of reasons, and we will find out more as the weeks and months progress, this project has been assessed in a 495-word briefing as being not ready to go ahead. There are major question marks over that advice. There are major question marks over the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport's personal involvement in these decisions. There are answers that this house and this parliament will need to hear in due course.

We saw a retreat on a commitment around providing early childhood education for three year olds, an election commitment that that would be completed by 2026. Now we have seen a retreat and a question mark put over that. We have seen a question mark put over the Adelaide Aquatic Centre, and we all know about that press conference, we know too much about that press conference back during the election campaign and we saw too much during that press conference. Now we have the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport contradicting his Premier and saying that this project is an aspiration to be completed by 2026.

We look forward to seeing what the government have to say about this in the budget today, but there is question mark after question mark after question mark over these lofty election commitments that were pitched forward during the election campaign. Of course, then that brings us to their commitment to fix the ramping crisis. Now the words have changed and the weasel words have emerged. Now they are saying that this is all about helping to fix the ramping crisis.

The rhetoric during the election campaign was all about the silver bullet—elect the Labor government, they are the silver bullet, they will fix ramping—and now it is about helping to fix ramping. How much more will that rhetoric recede in the coming weeks as we enter what we worry will a be very difficult flu season, overlaid by the remaining challenges of COVID-19 and the challenges facing our frontline responders in this state. Ramping is going to get worse. We know that and we see that, and the anecdotal evidence from the paramedics who are speaking to us is very much that ramping is amongst the worst that it has ever been right now in June 2022.

Will it get worse into the future? The projections are that, yes, it will. We are now hearing about possible cancellations to elective surgery and the uncertainty that creates for people who are living with pain and suffering every single day, and now that might seem not critical surgery, but very important surgery to individuals and families, delayed for an uncertain period of time. This is all because the government have failed to deal with ramping as they said they would on coming to office and created unwieldy expectations around this matter.

Changing tack a little, I am only the Leader of the Opposition because, first and foremost, I am a local member. I would speak for everyone in this house, no matter what position they hold, when I say that I am sure the emphasis and the commitment to our local electorates is something we always have at the very forefront of our mind as community leaders, as people who have been elected to the South Australian parliament to represent a particular geographical area.

In my case, I am exceptionally proud to be able to represent the electorate of Black, the area I have always called home since moving to Australia just short of 20 years ago. Suburbs like Hallett Cove, Trott Park, Sheidow Park, Seaview Downs, Seacliff Park (now that I have started to name them, I have to name them all) South Brighton, Seacliff, Kingston Park and Marino—I have done it. I am always quite grateful that there are only nine or 10 suburbs in my electorate.

I wonder if the member for Heysen could name all the localities and little communities in his electorate or the member for Frome or Flinders. It is much easier for me to work around the map in my head, starting in Hallett Cove and circling round them. Anyway, I digress. It is an incredible honour to be able to represent that community, my friends, my family and the people I have associated with for the last two decades. To be able to stand here and represent them, that job for me comes first. It comes before being the leader of the Liberal Party, and it comes before being the Leader of the Opposition, simply because I could not be the 44th Leader of the Opposition if those people did not back me on election day in 2014, 2018 and 2022.

I take that job as a local representative very seriously and I was so pleased during my time as a cabinet minister and as Minister for Environment and Water to see so many projects associated with livability and quality of life delivered in the electorate that I represent, none more so than Glenthorne National Park, which is a project that will change the DNA of the southern suburbs forever. It is a generational environmental project that will not only enhance livability and people's access to the great outdoors, which of course benefits physical and mental wellbeing in countless different ways, but also cool the city in the face of a changing climate. It will create habitat within our urban environs: in the same way that Belair National Park does in the foothills within the urban environment, this will do at the very heart of the southern suburbs.

Technically, Glenthorne National Park sits in the suburb of O'Halloran Hill, a very small suburb by population but a very large suburb by area. We now have this project unfolding where trees and shrubs are being planted, and wildlife is returning to these areas and enjoying this immense open space which connects from Happy Valley Reservoir in the east through to the beach and the protected areas around Marino Conservation Park, with its remnant coastal heath, and Hallett Cove Conservation Park, with the incredible geological heritage that is present there.

Seeing Glenthorne National Park unfold in recent years has been hugely satisfying for me and many members of the community—the members of the community who have fought so hard to stop the suburb of Glenthorne being created. We know at least half of that property would have been lost under early versions of Labor's plan for that place. We said that if we took power in 2018 we would save it from Labor's housing plan and the uncertainty that sat around it and that we would turn it into a truly thriving urban national park.

Last winter, 93,000 trees and shrubs were planted on that site and today there are walking trails, car parks, picnic areas, access points, a wetland area and stormwater treatment facilities in terms of natural swells are moving through that property. The state's largest nature playground, a partnership between the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the City of Marion, is unfolding. In the coming weeks, that project will be completed, welcoming families and young people into that place to connect with nature, to get into the great outdoors.

It is a great project but we must keep the momentum on it. I have seen positive signs from the Labor Party, but we need to make sure that spite—because it was not their idea—does not see the rug pulled out from under that project. We do not want to see rangers who now serve the whole southern suburbs, and all the parks in the south, from that site. We do not want to see numbers cut, because we know that when Labor were in office from 2002 to 2018 ranger numbers fell from 300 to 93. The frontline workforce for our environment—the people who passionately care for it, who build up expertise, who welcome visitors to our parks and protected areas, who support friends groups—we cannot risk seeing their numbers catastrophically cut again.

I hope that that will not occur in this budget. I am hopeful because the government have made some overtures that conservation will be quarantined from cuts. I have said the whole department ought to be quarantined from cuts because this is an important department. It is a small department. It is a department that punches above its weight. It is a department responsible for managing about 23 per cent of the landmass of our state on a budget of little more than $300 million per year.

So let's hope that it is respected and given increased capacity, not less capacity, in the upcoming budget, because we know that in the face of a changing climate and in the face of a decline in biodiversity and in the face of more people wanting to access the great outdoors for physical and mental wellbeing purposes, we need to create these safe opportunities for South Australians and visitors to do so.

Another component of the vision for Glenthorne National Park is the Field River valley, an area of land that extends behind the suburbs of Trott Park, Sheidow Park and Hallett Cove Heights and follows a river that is largely unchanged from the course that it followed—not quite, but largely unchanged—since European settlement here in South Australia. This is a wilderness within suburbia, and it connects Glenthorne directly to the coast to the south. There is an opportunity to turn that into another section of Glenthorne National Park, potentially the Field River Recreation Park or similar.

Just before the election we were able to secure the Field River valley, a highly degraded environment but with huge potential, for the people of South Australia by buying it from its private owners. That project will see hundreds of hectares of once inaccessible and degraded open space come into the park system and ensure that that area is there for nature and there for people. We have a vision to see that area cleansed of weeds, for the river course to be rehabilitated, for native species of plants and animals to be rewilded into that area and for access through a linear trail of sorts following the river behind those suburbs through to Hallett Cove Beach.

This is a project that requires bipartisan energy and bipartisan focus. It requires community engagement and involvement, and I hope the government will join me in working with Green Adelaide, the organisation which has a relentless focus on creating a cooler, greener, wilder, more climate-resilient capital city. I hope that the strategic imperative around protecting the Field River valley, bringing it to life and maximising its environmental potential, will be realised under this term of government. I will continue to talk about the Field River valley and a bigger vision forward, but I need to be able to partner with the government of the day to be able to fulfil that. This has to be bigger than politics.

To the east of Glenthorne is Happy Valley Reservoir, a hugely successful project that has seen that once locked away body of water now opened to the public for recreation and enjoyment—and how successful it has been. We have seen hundreds and hundreds of people every day, up to 2,000 people a day in summer, visit the Happy Valley Reservoir precinct, circumnavigate the 11 or so kilometres around it and enjoy kayaking, fishing, picnicking, birdwatching, running, just spending time with family and friends in this really beautiful and unique place for nature and people within suburbia.

The project is not quite finished, though. We have plans to put another car park off Happy Valley Drive, create more opportunity for seating and shelter, barbecue areas and accessible access to the water. Stage 1 has been completed. It opened in December 2021, but I do hope the government continues with that project and continues to provide the service and amenity with that reservoir on the eastern side. That will be important to provide people with safe access to the reservoir and keep that commitment alive.

I know that Labor were so hostile to the opening of reservoirs, so anti it—opposition for the sake of opposition. Hopefully, they can see the benefit of this project now and they will continue to invest in the amenity of that place and welcome more people into that environment.

It is a great honour to be a local member, whether it is seeing projects like the Hallett Cove R-12 School have a significant construction project leading to renewal through new classrooms, new learning spaces and new administrative spaces; whether it is the upcoming upgrade of Woodend Primary School in the south of Sheidow Park, a fantastic school; or the school with the best view, potentially in the world, which is Seaview Downs Primary School, which is getting a $15 million rebuild. I really hope that the government commits to that one and keeps that project on track. That school is entirely—apart from the hall that was built in about 2010—made up of transportables. The roofs are leaking, the plumbing is broken and the stormwater is dodgy.

The rebuild we announced last year to completely renew every building apart from the recreation centre is critically needed for the Seaview Downs community. I will be watching very closely that now that the Labor Party are in power they do not cut that project. The community I represent in Seaview Downs, in the north of my electorate, desperately wants to see that project go ahead.

One project they do not want to see go ahead, though, are these on/off ramps at Majors Road. This is a project that at first glance is a good idea but, when you dig into the feasibility study, when you see how much it costs, when you see the design that will run a concrete and asphalt track through Glenthorne National Park, you realise quite quickly that this project is not worth doing. It is not worth the money and it is not worth the environmental destruction. Woodland birds, echidnas, kangaroos and koalas will see their homes wiped out by a track of highway that is more than a kilometre long driven through this national park.

We declared a climate emergency here just a couple of days ago, yet this government is contemplating concreting a national park. When you talk to the people in the community I represent, this is a project they do not want. In question time yesterday, the member for West Torrens quoted swings to the Labor Party in surrounding booths. Kingston, the closest booth to the on/off ramp, had one of the smallest swings to the Labor Party. There was clearly a swing to the Labor Party across that seat. It was minimised at the area closest to this on/off ramp.

Not only that but, while Labor were touting this on/off ramp in the seat of Boothby to the north and claiming this furphy that it will reduce traffic on Brighton Road—which, by the way, to the residents of the seat of Gibson, it will not; the modelling suggests it will not because Brighton Road and the north-south corridor take people to different destinations—Amanda Rishworth (and I congratulate her on her elevation to federal cabinet yesterday) was not touting it in Trott Park, Sheidow Park and Hallett Cove because she knows this project is not that popular locally.

If the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport wants to overrule the environment department and their advice, overrule the Deputy Premier and her feelings and concrete a national park, he will have a very significant fight on his hands because we do not want to see thousands of trees in our community cut down to save people a couple of minutes on their commute.

It would be far better to put that money into advancing the north-south corridor, which has just been delayed by at least a year to do some shonky smoke and mirrors business with the budget, and far better to put the Majors Road on/off ramp money into that to advance the project further north than creating even more chaos with these on/off ramps. It is a foolhardy project, and it is an arrogant project, and I have no doubt it will be pushed on by the most arrogant minister in this government.

I do not want to end on an arrogant note, so I will stop speaking about the member for West Torrens. I want to thank every single person on my side of the house for their contribution to the recent Address in Reply and also now to this Supply Bill as they give those speeches over the coming hours.

Our side of the house is absolutely committed to keeping this government honest. We will watch their every move, we will challenge the arrogance and we will pitch an alternative vision for the state of South Australia. We will start that today with our analysis and our contributions to their inaugural state budget as a new government, and we will continue that relentlessly into the future.

Ms HUTCHESSON (Waite) (11:39): I rise in support of the Supply Bill. The safety of motorists and CFS volunteers has been under threat in Upper Sturt for some time. The sweeping bend on which the CFS station is located encourages drivers to increase speed as it is in the decline of the hill. For several years, the volunteers lobbied the previous Marshall government to install an emergency warning light to warn oncoming traffic that a fire truck may be leaving the station.

Fire trucks are upwards of three tonnes when fully loaded and are slow to take off. It is only a matter of time before a motorist on a cold and foggy evening, like it was last night, will pull up too late and collide with a fire truck, injuring both the driver and, likely, the volunteers. When the issue was constantly raised with the then Marshall government, the only offering was a small sign saying 'fire station', not exactly an adequate warning that you may be coming across a fire truck pulling out in front of you.

Towards the end of the term of the previous Labor government, an emergency light sign was installed on the eastern approach. It works well, and so it should have been something that was an easy approval for the Marshall government; however, there was no appetite to provide the light. In fact, I am still waiting for a response from the then emergency services minister to a letter I wrote to him about the issue on 23 September last year.

Fortunately, earlier this year I invited the then shadow emergency services minister, Lee Odenwalder, to the station, and it did not take long for him to see the inherent danger and commit funds to install the emergency warning light if Labor was to form a government. Now, thankfully, the appropriate emergency sign will be installed and, as such, it is important that the funds are released to be able to help and protect our local volunteers and community.

The Blackwood Recreation Centre has been an important community sporting hub in Waite for many years. It often sees more than 4,000 people use it every week, be it basketball, gymnastics, netball, fitness centre usage, taekwondo, etc. The centre has been in limbo, as it has been trying to negotiate a lease with the Mitcham council. Mitcham council in turn has been trying to negotiate with the education department.

During the election campaign, Liberal candidate Alexander Hyde was quick to announce he had fixed the issue himself, even after parachuting in some time after I had met with the centre and with the help of Emily Bourke MLC, who had been applying pressure on the then education minister, now shadow education minister. The community had also been begging for a resolution. It was interesting that the government waited for their own candidate to be announced before announcing there had been any movement on the lease agreements.

On 23 January, the centre was very excited to hear that, according to Minister Wingard, 'Alex had already hit the ground running' and had managed to solve the long outstanding issue regarding the lease between the education department and the Blackwood Recreation Association. To the surprise of no-one here, the lease arrangements were not resolved and are currently ongoing, leaving the most patronised leisure facility in my electorate in limbo.

With the assistance of the Minister for Education, the rec centre are hoping that the lease will be finalised soon so they can get on with doing what they do best—serving our community. The rec centre is eager to expand their site, to increase the size of the fitness centre and other improvements. I was pleased, along with the now sports minister, the member for Reynell, to commit $40,000 toward a master plan for the centre, so that they can finally begin the necessary planning for expansion once the lease is signed. The centre will then be able to provide expanded services and continue to be an important part of the Waite community.

For many years now, the Belview Heights Oval has been in a poor state. Tony Greig himself would have lost his keys and quite likely his whole hand in the cracks that open up there over summer.

Mr Telfer interjecting:

Ms HUTCHESSON: Yes. The oval is adjacent to the Belview Heights Primary School and is utilised by several local sport teams. The local community also benefits from the oval, as it is a council asset. I was pleased to be able to work with council to realise the need for the oval to be upgraded to have better drainage, turf, car parking, landscaping and to commit the necessary funds. The Belview Heights community will now have an oval that they can be proud of, and cricket and soccer players will not be in fear of falling over due to the cracks.

During our election campaign, it was clear that the community was very concerned about the state of our health system, so much so that they overwhelmingly voted to fix it. Whether it is 300 more beds, 100 more doctors, 300 more nurses and ambulance drivers, stations and vehicles, the need has never been more urgent. Many in my electorate rely on the Flinders Medical Centre both for treatment and as an employer. It urgently needs an upgrade, as it is old and tired. Several community members spoke to me about their experiences. They always say that the Flinders Medical Centre staff, the doctors and nurses, take incredible care of them but that the environment they need to stay in whilst at their lowest is very sad.

I was pleased to let them know that the state and federal Labor governments will be going into partnership to upgrade the hospital. With a bad flu season upon us, many are already succumbing and COVID is still rampant in the community. Any delay in being able to fund our commitments to the health system will be an indictment on those voting against the passage of this bill.

The electorate of Waite has one of the oldest national parks in the state, Belair National Park. We also have other conservation parks, such as Waite Conservation Reserve, Shepherds Hill Recreation Park, Blackwood Forest and many more. These are well maintained by an incredible group of volunteers known as the 'friends of' groups. They work tirelessly, this year alone racking up over 5,000 hours of volunteer work across the state, clearing weeds, caring for native vegetation, collecting seeds, etc.

Labor has made a commitment to increase funding to these groups to help them continue their work. On the weekend, I was fortunate to attend their presentation day and was able to thank the volunteers for the work they do. They are always wanting to do the best they can, and this funding will assist them to do the important work that they do.

The cost of living is impacting many across our state, especially our seniors. Allowing seniors to travel for free on public transport will bring some relief. Whilst it is currently free between 9am and 3pm, this leaves seniors scrambling to get back on the bus before or just near 2pm so that they are not caught short without a valid ticket. Seniors in my community applaud this initiative, as they will now be able to enjoy a full day out rather than having to get home by 3pm. They are also excited to hear that if they want to take their bikes, they will not have to pay for those either.

There are many other policies that benefit the members of our community of Waite, and I hope to be able to let our community groups know that these projects can start sooner rather than later. As such, I move to support the bill.

Mr TELFER (Flinders) (11:46): It is my privilege to be able to rise to speak on this Supply Bill and to recognise that it is indeed a very important bill when it comes to not just the present but the future of our state. The way this place and the government make their decisions around expenditure is a really important aspect. I really want to highlight today in my words how important it is for the people of Flinders in particular.

We have seen significant expenditure on our infrastructure and roads under the previous Liberal government, working in conjunction with a federal government that was actually willing to invest into its regions. We have seen upgrade works on the Eyre Peninsula highways, which have changed the standard of life for people who travel those highways. There are hundreds of kilometres between destinations. I note the opposition leader was talking about the few suburbs within his electorate; there are many different localities with many kilometres in between them over my way.

We have seen significant investment into shoulder sealing along the Tod Highway, which is the highway that goes through the middle of Eyre Peninsula, delivering people, freight and visitors as well from Port Lincoln through the centre all the way to the Eyre Highway at Kyancutta. The shoulder sealing work that has been done on the Tod Highway has meant that there is actually opportunity for safe passage not just for people but, as I said, for the freight that travels that road. This simple yet so effective investment into our regional infrastructure is so important.

We have also seen shoulder sealing happening on the Birdseye Highway, making that a safer freight route for those using it. We have seen overtaking lanes and intersection upgrades on the Lincoln Highway and Tod Highway. This is all investment that adds to the livability and safety of our communities. We need to be considering, as we are working through, where the next priorities are for investment into our communities, making sure that these sorts of things are taken into account.

For me, the priorities on Eyre Peninsula and in the seat of Flinders for the next step are on the Flinders Highway, which is on the western side of Eyre Peninsula and is now getting significant freight and significant visitor numbers. The caravans that are traversing those roads from Ceduna through to Streaky Bay, Elliston and all the way down to Port Lincoln have been too numerous to count over the last few years, especially as people have taken the opportunity to explore their state and explore our country.

Some of those sections of road cannot physically handle two caravans passing each other, so the shoulder sealing work that is necessary, especially for my mind between Streaky Bay and Ceduna and south of Elliston, is really important. We see drops of a number of centimetres off the edge of the road, which ends up being a pretty unsafe way for people to be travelling. I really encourage the government to make sure that it continues to invest into regional road networks, especially in the seat of Flinders.

There is also opportunity to be investing money into the streets of Port Lincoln. The design and structure of those streets were built for a time when there was a lot fewer vehicle movements and a lot fewer freight movements, and those freight movements were in trucks of eight tonne rather than the 100 plus that now traverse those streets. There is a real opportunity for the state government to work with the City of Port Lincoln to make sure that the design for the future of this thoroughfare through Port Lincoln is done well and done appropriately for the future needs of those communities.

I am talking particularly around Mortlock Terrace, which comes in from the western side into Port Lincoln and Liverpool Street, which goes through the middle of the commercial area in Port Lincoln. Currently, we are having significant domestic residential users, including some 2,000 schoolkid movements, through that time every single school day interacting with those AB-triple road trains I speak of. This is a situation that is untenable, and unfortunately the time will come when there will be an accident in those areas. As the member for Flinders, I want to make sure that investment happens before such a terrible accident occurs.

I have been really encouraged by the way the previous Liberal government invested into all parts of our state, not just key marginal seats trying to win over voters that tend to swing government but actually in the whole of the state. I really want to commend the previous government's State Local Government Infrastructure Partnership program, which delivered projects for councils in conjunction with state government across the whole state.

In my electorate, we have seen projects such as the City of Port Lincoln's Foreshore Redevelopment project get a funding of over $3½ million, which council is matching fifty-fifty. We have seen the District Council of Ceduna put in a council-wide public amenities improvement project—base infrastructure, which is so vital for communities and which has been enabled by state government investment.

We see the District Council of Tumby Bay with its investment in the Graham Smelt Causeway culvert. We have seen the District Council of Elliston invest $850,000 for its stormwater upgrade. Once again, these are basic community infrastructures enabled with strategic state government investment. That strategic state government investment can then unlock councils that are willing to make partnership programs work and actually be proactive in bringing forward projects from their long-term financial plans. This is wise and strategic investment across our whole state—as I said, not just in marginal seats to swing voters.

We have also seen significant education investment, especially within my electorate of Flinders over the last four years. It was my pleasure to be in attendance at the opening of the Port Lincoln High School upgrade and the Cummins Area School upgrade. We have also seen significant funds put into the Ceduna Area School. These are the basic foundations for community within our regions. If we do not get the basics right, we cannot keep our people there.

Investment into our education is really key in our rural communities so that we can give the kids the depth of education they need to be able to invest back into our community and to make sure they have the skills to make our community sustainable into the future. I really encourage the government to be considering that breadth of investment going forward. Two education projects in particular I want to highlight within the electorate of Flinders are really front of mind for me. The first one is the Ceduna Area School's special education class.

As I said, we have already seen significant investment into the Ceduna Area School, and the next crucial step is to get this special education class in place. At the moment, the need is growing exponentially in Ceduna for a custom, properly built special education class. The need is growing, and it is in a low socio-economic and Indigenous population that really is crying out for attention from state government. As the member for Flinders, I will be very proactive in working with the government to make sure that this opportunity is realised.

It is a two-fold opportunity. If this special education class is funded, then the opportunity for the space that has been slowly been taken away from the school community library will be able to be reinstated, and school community libraries within my region, within my electorate, are really crucial to be able to provide for communities that cannot afford have a standalone library.

It also produces the opportunity for collaboration between generations. We see people of all ages coming to the school community library, engaging with programs that build those bridges between generations. That is something I am a strong supporter of, and I have always been a strong supporter of the school community library scheme.

Health is the number one challenge for us in regional communities and investment into our health network really needs to be constant and ongoing. I was really encouraged when the previous government invested into the Rural Generalist Program in recognition that it is a real challenge to be able to, firstly, recruit GPs into our regional communities and, secondly, to ensure that they have the breadth of knowledge and understanding of the broad expectation that there is for GPs in our community.

There is no opportunity for specialised areas when you are a GP in regional areas. You are dealing with people from the very start of their life to the end of their life and everyone in between. That is why that Rural Generalist Program was really key to making sure that the knowledge and expertise which are taught to our students who are looking at going into general practice suit the need for our regional communities. We need a health system in our regions that is suitable for our needs, not just now but into the future.

I was encouraged to listen to the member for Giles when he was making his Address in Reply speech to mention the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme, or PATS for those of us who actually know the scheme who are out of the town. PATS arrangements are a recognition that the level of medical service delivered within our regions is not equivalent to that of our cousins in the metropolitan area. There is always a need for people from my region, from the member for Mount Gambier's region, from the member for Frome's region, from the member for Giles' region, those of us further away to actually have to travel into Adelaide or into the major centres to get that medical care.

This was a scheme that actually subsidises some of that travel and accommodation, and I encourage the government to consider mirroring the commitment the previous government made coming into the election, to double the fuel subsidy within the PAT scheme. The fuel subsidy obviously is very pertinent now. The cost of living and the cost of fuel have been rising exponentially, and that fuel subsidy has not changed in its base number for way too long.

That is why that scheme going forward needs to be invested in continuously and I will be encouraging the Minister for Health to look at that PAT scheme as something that is a base foundation for what we in regional communities need to have sustainable communities. We need to be ensuring the quality and sustainability of our regions going into the future because they do give so much to us in our state. In my Address in Reply, I did mention the number of $29 billion. That is the amount our regions pump into the state's economy.

The regions are adding so much depth and quality and dollars into our economy, and we need to make sure that is mirrored back with investment from the government, especially into investment into our regional industry. We have seen the previous Liberal government invest in our industry, especially in the primary production industry. We have seen a real focus from previous members and ministers for agriculture into agtech and the opportunities we have to maximise the potential of our agricultural industry.

Farmers are at the cutting edge of technology and, as we are dealing with a challenging changing climate, there is always the opportunity for us to do things better. The product, both the quality and the quantity, that is produced by our farming communities continues to grow because those practices, which government can enable through the development of ag technology, continue to get better and better. The crops that have been produced on the rainfall that is coming continue to astound me.

The previous government also invested into the fishing and aquaculture industry, one which I highlighted previously in this place as so important to my community in Flinders. The last government invested in the South Australian Seafood Growth Strategy, something which actually brings together industry across different fisheries, the many different vast, diverse fisheries with the different individuals who are involved in it to actually look at where we are as a state with our fishing aquaculture industry, our seafood strategy and where can we be next.

What do we need to be investing in to maximise the opportunity that we have in these key primary production areas? Once again, it is the investment into the foundations of our community, especially into our regions, which is really important. I have been excited by the development of potential hydrogen industry opportunities, especially over on Eyre Peninsula, and I will be working closely with the member for Giles, my neighbouring electorate, to maximise that opportunity for us on Eyre Peninsula. There are also exciting mining opportunities and export port facilities. As a state government, we need to be investing into our accompanying and enabling infrastructure such as roads to maximise these opportunities. It is government's role to enable industry to reach its full potential.

A project that is close to the heart of all people from Eyre Peninsula is water. The project that has been advanced by the previous Minister for Environment and the previous member for Flinders is the Eyre Peninsula desal project. I encourage the government to make sure they continue on and invest into the opportunities that that will open up. A quality water supply is really important for those of us on Eyre Peninsula. We do not rely on the vast litres that come from the River Murray. There is a small section of my electorate that is serviced by River Murray water, but the vast majority is serviced by water which is sourced from underground aquifers in the southern part of Flinders.

This aquifer system source has been under pressure from the growing need of my community. In recognition of that, many years ago it was recognised that a desalination plant was really key to having a climate-independent water supply for Eyre Peninsula. When the previous government made a significant commitment of funds to make sure that that project would be delivered, the whole Eyre Peninsula was happy.

The process has been challenging, and getting the locations and the arrangements right is key. The previous member for Flinders, Peter Treloar, is now chairing a community committee that is tasked with making sure that the location and the arrangements for the Eyre Peninsula desalination plant are in place and are going to suit our needs—not just now, but for the future as well.

Having reliable water, reliable electricity, reliable health care and reliable education are the key foundations for community. We need to get these right for electorates such as Flinders in our regions to make sure we are sustainable into the future. Something that has also been prominent is the shortage of housing within our regions. There is a real role for government to play in investing in incentives and programs that actually enable regions and our state as a whole to thrive.

The state government, using the levers that they have to maximise the opportunities for this growth, making sure they are investing in things like child care and regional development, enabling private industry to come in, and not putting barriers in place but actually removing barriers and making it easier has a real key role. When we are looking at the Supply Bill and the funds which are distributed, these are really key focus areas for me and my people in Flinders. I trust that the Premier will stick to one of his Confucius-like quotes which I noted on Twitter: 'Your prospects in life shouldn't be determined by your postcode.'

Ms SAVVAS (Newland) (12:03): I thank the house for the indulgence to speak today, not only in support of the Supply Bill but about the wonderful Newland electorate. There were a number of election commitments that will have an impact on our community in the north-eastern suburbs, and today I would like to outline my priorities and our government's priorities for the community that we all know as the Gully.

Every day, I hear stories from residents in Modbury and Hope Valley about the decision they made to purchase houses or enrol their kids at local schools near Modbury Hospital: residents like Dave Bock, who lives within five minutes of Modbury Hospital with his wife and three young girls. I had the great pleasure of introducing the Premier and the Minister for Health to Dave and his family earlier this year, when he bravely shared with us the story of waiting for an ambulance for his toddler Milly when she was struggling to breathe. Stories like Dave's are why the Labor Party came to the 2022 election with a focus on health.

We have prioritised our health system, not only for patients but for frontline workers, over an inner-city Riverbank arena. The health system has been overloaded and under-resourced across the state, and that is no exception in the north-east. In the lead-up to the 2022 election, the provision of services at our local hospital, Modbury Hospital, was under attack. We know on our side that a key component to fixing the ramping crisis is better triage and treatment of patients presenting with mental health concerns.

The previous government, instead of committing to Modbury Hospital, spent the campaign period claiming the previous Weatherill government's $91 million commitment as their own and standing by a decision to remove mental health services from Modbury Hospital. They stood by their decision to demolish Woodleigh House at Modbury under the guise of an expansion of a different service at the Lyell McEwin.

We listened to our community, and we committed not only to keep the service but to rebuild it and to expand mental health services at Modbury Hospital by 24 beds. We also committed to build an extra 48 subacute beds to relieve pressure on the emergency department and will build a cancer centre with 12 treatment spaces at Modbury, providing cancer treatment services in the north-eastern suburbs for the very first time.

In addition, we have committed to an extra ambulance station at Golden Grove to relieve pressure on the Redwood Park station currently servicing the entire Tea Tree Gully area and beyond. We are also supporting grassroots mental health support by committing $100,000 to the local Talk Out Loud suicide prevention service at Ridgehaven, and to early learning and development by increasing funding at the Tea Tree Gully Toy Library.

We also know in the Labor Party that the best way to invest in the future of health for South Australia is by raising strong, healthy kids. Across the state we are committing to local sports clubs, particularly those with strong junior programs to support fitness, mental health and community. In the Newland electorate we have not one but three competitive football and cricket clubs. We have committed $150,000 for a master plan of the Tea Tree Gully football and cricket clubs for an eventual upgrade of their clubrooms, as well as better car parking and wayfinding across the Banksia Park sports area.

On the same site, we have committed to a $3.5 million rebuild and upgrade of Tea Tree Gully Gymsports, an incredible sports club on Elizabeth Street represented by not one but seven separate gym sports including competitive artistic gymnastics, trampolining and tumbling. Right next door, we have committed $2.7 million to brand-new clubrooms and a pro shop at the Tea Tree Gully Tennis Club. I am particularly excited to see the changing face of the Banksia Park sports area and the long-term benefits for our junior athletes in particular.

Further, we have committed $1.2 million to the Hope Valley football and cricket clubs for a facility upgrade including a deck extension, storage sheds and renewed cricket training facilities. We have committed $2.5 million to the Mighty Modbury Hawks for a full new clubroom facility which will include four unisex change rooms, umpire rooms and a function space.

We have also committed $167,000 to the vital work at Pathway Community Centre and Clovercrest Baptist Church. Pathway Community Centre is an incredibly vital service for residents in the north-eastern suburbs and beyond. They offer financial support as well as counselling support and partner with a number of organisations to provide food hampers for those in need. Earlier this year I was truly humbled to spend the day at Pathway helping to prepare food hampers with Fatima in the kitchen and serve their food hampers out the front with Kaye and John Flack.

Our commitment will allow Pathway to have a permanent pergola so that those seeking assistance can not only wait under cover for their hampers but sit together and eat together in an inclusive and warm environment. I thank Pastor Mike Stevens for his continued work at both Clovercrest and Pathway and look forward to seeing our commitment come to fruition.

Last but certainly not least, after 40 long years we are transitioning 4,700 houses from the outdated Tea Tree Gully Community Wastewater Scheme to SA Water mains. We are bringing the residents in Tea Tree Gully not into the 21st century but the 20th century, and I am incredibly proud.

In our council area, where I was formerly a Tea Tree Gully councillor, there are approximately 4,700 septic tanks affecting over 8,000 residents in the suburbs of Modbury, Hope Valley, St Agnes, Fairview Park, Banksia Park, Yatala Vale, Ridgehaven, Surrey Downs, Redwood Park, Vista and Highbury. Of the 4,700 tanks, 4,000 or so are in the seat of Newland, with others spattered across the seats of Morialta and Wright.

On 3 June 2020, before even having a candidate for the seat of Newland, the Labor Party announced a $92 million plan to scrap the CWMS and connect residents to SA Water sewerage after more than 40 years on the system. It was the Labor Party who first committed and fully committed to bring those residents into the 21st century. On 10 June, exactly a week later, the Liberal Party committed only $65 million to a transition project, leaving residents and the Tea Tree Gully council with uncertainty about how and who would be paying for the third stage of the project.

We held a significant period of community consultation. In January 2022, we announced that not only would our government convert residents to SA Water mains but we would scrap the $745 CWMS levy to the council from 1 July this year. That means that our residents, no matter what stage they are in the transition plan, will no longer pay hundreds of dollars more than those residents on SA Water mains. Some of those residents are on the same streets. There is a particular street that I think of often—Elizabeth Street in Tea Tree Gully—where there is in fact only one house on septic tanks, and then another 50 or so houses of SA Water mains before it returns to the tank system.

There are 76 separate systems of septic underground in Tea Tree Gully, combined with a really complex design of soakage trenches, standalone tanks and SA Water pumping stations as well. It was our commitment that all residents would become SA Water customers for their sewerage services from 1 July, no matter what stage of the transition they were in. This will provide immediate savings to the average household of hundreds of dollars per year.

Residents under our plan will also pay no remediation costs as a result of converting their property to the SA Water sewerage network, which means they will not have to pay for ripping up their driveways and swimming pools. Labor will also create a dedicated customer service unit within SA Water to provide information and clear time frames to Tea Tree Gully CWMS residents. I am incredibly proud of these commitments, and I thank the Treasurer for prioritising the residents of the north-eastern suburbs in the Supply Bill today.

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (12:12): I rise to speak in support of the Supply Bill. It is an important bill for the people of South Australia. It ensures that our communities can keep ticking and our state can keep ticking, and of course I offer my support of this second reading. Even as a new member to this place, I understand that the passing of this bill is a somewhat standard, uncontroversial practice.

I was reflecting on the remarks of our shadow treasurer, the member for Colton, who summarised this bill quite well, which was that, for lack of a better comparison, we are essentially providing a blank cheque to government—a $6.6 billion blank cheque no less. In speaking on the Supply Bill, it is a great opportunity for me to reflect on some of the achievements of the former government and some of the enormous investments that were made into my community.

For the first time in decades, regional communities like mine within Schubert were back in the spotlight and valued again, seeing unprecedented levels of investment and opportunity flow into our community. In the four years under the former government, there was a seismic shift from a city-focused government to a true recognition of how a flourishing regional South Australia means a flourishing state economy and, indeed, a much stronger state. It made me enormously proud to see the former government investing in the regions through our local sporting clubs, through schools, through open spaces and, indeed, into our regional roads.

We also made a firm commitment to build a new Barossa hospital after 16 years of Labor inaction with real money on the table for the first time in many decades—a point that I will soon come back to. We invested millions of dollars into local job-creating infrastructure, whether that be schools from Paracombe to Keyneton, sporting clubs from Gumeracha to Angaston, tourism facilities in Eden Valley and everywhere in between or even opening up our reservoirs in the southern Barossa for families and tourists alike.

It is a move that is significantly boosting pride and job opportunities in Williamstown, Lyndoch and Kersbrook. It was such a simple idea with incredible benefits. That is just the tip of the iceberg. Millions upon millions of dollars were being invested in our community, and there is an opportunity in today's state budget to continue this money flowing into the regions.

What we saw from the former government was a great working relationship with the regions, working with our regions and with our communities and not against them. Enormous progress was made on a number of issues but, of course, there is always more work to be done and there are always many more challenges to rise to, whether it be the impact of trade sanctions by China on our exports, delivering a water security solution for this generation and the next, strengthening our regional workforce or continuing to protect and preserve the character and heritage of our community.

I do hope that the passage of this bill will see better health services and facilities for our region so that our loved ones can get the care and treatment that they deserve closer to home. This brings me back to a topic very dear to my heart and to the residents of the Barossa, and that is the Barossa hospital. Our community has been extraordinarily patient when it comes to the delivery of this hospital. It has been spoken about for decades, for well over 30 years and, frankly, it is time to get on with it. It has been spoken about for many decades.

My first piece of correspondence was to the new health minister seeking an urgent guarantee that the new government would continue with the progress of the former Marshall government to build that hospital. It will not surprise you that I have had no reply as yet, but, luckily, the diligent and very hardworking paper, The Leader, has followed up and we have secured a commitment to continue with the hard work done by the former government.

The Labor government have a shocking track record of sitting on their hands when it comes to the Barossa hospital and, indeed, many other projects right across regional South Australia. They sat on their hands for 16 years in office—from 2002 to 2018—and left the cupboard absolutely bare. Contrast that with the action of the four years of the Liberal government and not only was there a commitment to build the hospital but, for the very first time, there was cold, hard money in the state budget towards its delivery. The money was for the finalisation of the detailed plans, for the land purchase and for the start of early works.

Clinical service experts are already in the field working diligently and planning what services will be in that hospital. This work will confirm the final capital and the ongoing cost of the project, which of course will need to be in future budgets. That is how advanced this project was under the former government. More than that, there was a significant body of work already done for site selection, with the purchase imminent. Every day I am in this place, I will fight for the delivery of this project on behalf of the people of Schubert. Their passion is my passion, and I genuinely believe that this is an issue that is above politics.

In closing, it would be remiss of me to miss this opportunity to reflect on the hardworking people in our Public Service, not just those in my electorate of Schubert but indeed those people across our state: our frontline, our doctors, our nurses, our paramedics, our police officers, our emergency services personnel and our biosecurity staff, just to name a few. These people do a remarkable job in keeping the community safe and our economy strong, and we thank them for all their work.

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (12:18): Labor went to the election with a plan, a plan for the future, a plan for not just now but for the next generation. Now, as the Malinauskas Labor government, we get to put the plan in motion. As I am sure was missed by no-one, a core component of our plan was to improve our health system and fix the ramping crisis. Ramping increased by more than 400 per cent under the former Liberal government and saw response times blow out. Instead of pretending the problem did not exist or opening new beds at Flinders while actually closing the same number of beds in another part of the hospital, we committed to addressing the problem because South Australians want to know that if they need an ambulance they will get one as quickly as possible.

Labor committed to an additional 300 beds across the hospital system to help move patients out of emergency departments, reducing the bed block that is the cause of much of the ramping. Of course, we know beds are not much good without staff, which is why we also committed to recruiting an additional 300 nurses and 100 doctors as well as 350 more ambos. That recruitment work began in the first few weeks of our government. Doctors, nurses, midwives and ambos are being targeted through a recruitment drive to get extra healthcare workers to fill vacancies across the health system.

South Australian graduates are included in this recruitment drive, with up to 1,200 nurses graduating from South Australian universities, and we will offer more than 100 internships for graduate paramedics across the SA Ambulance Service every year, more than doubling the standard rate of 48 per year. This will help to ensure our nurses and our ambos stay in South Australia and deliver care in our health system. As well as focusing on local graduates, the recruitment drive will target healthcare workers across the nation and overseas.

We also know that if we want to address the ramping crisis, we need to improve mental health services. The need for more mental health services is raised with me consistently across our community, and it is clear that the mental health of many declined over the last couple of years with COVID lockdowns, increased isolation and additional pressures in workplaces, schools and universities. The pressure on our mental health system is real, and Labor is committed to addressing it.

The 300 extra beds for our hospital system include the biggest investment in mental health in more than a decade, with $182 million for 98 additional mental health beds. The former Liberal government closed 30 mental health beds near the end of their term and ripped funding from community health services, services that are aimed at keeping people out of hospital. Our plan for mental health support also includes 20 additional mental health community Hospital in the Home beds, helping people to recover and reducing the chance of them needing to be readmitted to an emergency department.

We also have a focus on the mental health of young people. When working at Headspace, the National Youth Mental Health Foundation, it was very clear to me how in need services for young people are and how beneficial early intervention can be. We are opening 10 new beds at the new Women's and Children's Hospital dedicated to mental health treatment for children. We are recruiting more child psychiatrists and psychologists, and we are boosting mental health care in the community.

People in Elder have also raised concerns with me about the support available in schools for young people, which is why we will also be delivering a team of 100 specialists into SA schools to ensure children get the specialist support they need. Isn't it wonderful all the things you can achieve when you do not spend $662 million on a stadium?

I am also very happy about our plans to support three pharmacies across Adelaide to open their doors overnight. This means they can provide medication and care when South Australians and their families most need it while also helping to reduce pressure on our hospitals. When our little one's fever shot up to 40.8° in the middle of the night recently and she was refusing to take liquid Panadol or Nurofen because it turns out COVID made them both taste extra bad, I was frantically trying to find other options.

If I had not found a supermarket open at 2am that happened to have chewable tablets and if I had needed additional advice and support, we would have taken her to the emergency room. These 24-hour pharmacies will make such a difference. With one in the northern suburbs, one in the southern suburbs and one in central Adelaide, people can get what they need when they need it and, as in our circumstance, reduce pressure on our emergency departments.

These are just parts of our extensive plans for the health system. We are committed to giving the SA Ambulance Service what it needs to respond to urgent cases on time. By providing more ambulances, more staff and state-of-the-art infrastructure, our ambos will have what they need to provide emergency care to South Australians when we need it.

I am very pleased that for Elder this includes an upgrade to the Marion station in Mitchell Park and a new station in Edwardstown. Our ambos are the people we look to for help in the most difficult times. They are the people who work in incredibly challenging and stressful environments, and they have been put under so much additional pressure over the last few years. We must support them in any way we can.

While health was the primary concern for many in my electorate, there were a number of local issues also raised with me. Whether I was standing at someone's doorstep, talking to them on the phone or chatting at a train station, school or shopping centre, I listened to our community and advocated for commitments to projects that were raised with me time and time again. One such project is a redevelopment of CC Hood Reserve in Panorama.

In March 2021, the now Premier and I announced that a Labor government would deliver $1 million for an upgrade of this reserve. It is such a big, green, beautiful open space surrounded by homes, and we want to make sure that it is as good as it can possibly be and truly meets the community's needs. Some of the ideas that were floated with me included a new playground, better lighting, more benches to sit on, a netball and/or basketball ring and a skate park. Now we get to drill down into these ideas—and more—and start our planning.

The council is currently holding consultations, which I encourage members of our community to get involved in. We want this redevelopment to reflect our community’s views, needs and wants, so the council needs to hear from them. While CC Hood Reserve has the potential to become a wonderful outdoor hub for the community, we have also committed to developing a more sheltered, all-year-round kind of community hub in Pasadena.

Late last year, the City of Mitcham purchased the old Sea Scouts hall in Pasadena with the intention of it becoming a community centre. Our Malinauskas Labor government will be providing $500,000 towards this project, and I cannot wait to see it come to fruition. I attended a drop-in consultation event a couple of months ago and there was just so much excitement for what this centre will mean for our community. Lots of ideas are being thrown around, from a book club, to a community garden, to a playgroup, many different card games (like bridge and 500) and much more, and I am so happy to be a part of a project that is focussed on bringing our community together.

A hop, skip and a jump away from there is the Kenilworth Football Club. The Kenilworth Football Club is such a special part of our community made up of committed volunteers. When I visited a few months ago to meet with John Schulz and Ric Bowyer, I heard how much blood, sweat and tears they and others have put in. For example, when they heard of a pub in town getting a new kitchen they went to the pub and carried the old commercial ovens down all the stairs to put them in their club. I suspect that quite literally blood, sweat and tears went into that one.

I also joined them for one working bee, where we needed to move a heap of pavers from one part of the complex to another, and there was definitely a heap of sweat that day. Knowing how committed the volunteers, players and families are to the club makes it extra exciting to know that they will be receiving $540,000 for upgrades from our Labor government. This upgrade will go towards a playground, an outdoor kitchen, landscaping, a Tesla battery, ice baths (which a lot of the footy players are superexcited about), nets behind the goals and an electronic scoreboard.

I now know from experience just how important this electronic scoreboard is. On Saturday afternoon, I volunteered to manage the scoreboard. Never have I focused so intensely on a game in my life. The Kooks did so well that there were a number of times where I had finished taking off the numbers and getting the new ones up that there would be roars of cheers and I would have to quickly re-do all the numbers again, and I kept practising and making sure that I got my six times table right.

I got very, very lucky on Saturday. It was bucketing down for most of the day, but about 30 minutes before the game started the sun came out. Whilst I did need to go up that ladder and stand exposed to the elements on that high platform, I was only exposed to some beautiful warming sunshine. It is a pretty tough job on a sweltering day, a windy day or a rainy day for volunteers, so I really look forward to getting that new scoreboard as soon as possible.

From more hospital beds to a new scoreboard at the Kenilworth Football Club and everything in between, I am so proud of our plans for our state and our upcoming projects in Elder, and I look forward to sharing more of them over the coming weeks and months as I continue working for our community.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Hon L.W.K. Bignell): Thank you, member for Elder. Great work on the scoreboard. You might not know the answer to this quiz, but there are two scores that are the same goals and points equals totals as if you multiple the two numbers: 7.7 (49) and 2.12 (24).

An honourable member interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Hon L.W.K. Bignell): You're welcome. Now we will go to the member for Frome.

Ms PRATT (Frome) (12:28): I happily rise to speak in support of the Supply Bill, and I am grateful for this opportunity to bring a focus to the beautiful electorate of Frome.

For the 2022-23 financial year, the government is seeking $6.6 billion for agencies to carry out their functions and duties until the Appropriation Bill is introduced and passed through both houses of parliament. The amount covers all departments and agencies that receive appropriation to ensure that the government can continue working during a set supply period, which will be from 1 July 2022 until 31 October 2022, or until the Appropriation Bill is passed. As the house would appreciate, the amount is calculated based on four months of actual appropriation during the previous year.

The Supply Bill does not include funding for new projects. It keeps things running in the public sector, where moneys are appropriated from the Consolidated Account for the Public Service of the state until the Appropriation Bill comes into effect. I have enormous respect for the expertise and corporate knowledge of our Public Service, and I thank them for their dedication to serving all governments according to their own code of ethics as issued in accordance with the Public Sector Act 2009. Their professionalism and service to government are modelled by the Commissioner of Public Sector Employment, Erma Ranieri, and I thank her for her leadership.

I also recognise the work of those in the public sector who support the Mid North region and the residents of Frome. In my own shadow portfolio areas of regional health, aging, preventative health and wellbeing, I commend those professionals who work hard to deliver services that are vital and often limited the further from the city one travels.

In the lower house, I am also the pair for human services and note that the minister made mention in her own reply of the urgent need to address housing supply issues. I welcome immediate solutions on this chronic national problem from both state and federal Labor governments. Every member has the responsibility in speaking to the Supply Bill to highlight their priorities for their residents and, in Frome, I speak often with locals about housing, workforce, roads and health.

I hope today that we see a commitment from the Malinauskas Labor government to match our Liberal commitment to regional helipads, which ensure that when country people need an urgent medivac to a city hospital, they get it. I hope today that we see a commitment from the Malinauskas Labor government to match our Liberal commitment to increase funding to the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme, as was so passionately argued by the Labor member for Giles and the member for Flinders in this house yesterday. It has been well ventilated, and I am sure that members on this side will come back to that scheme many times over.

I hope today that we see a commitment from the Malinauskas Labor government to match our Liberal commitment of ongoing funding in regional roads. We know we were left with a backlog of $750 million of road maintenance and repairs. In partnership with the Coalition federal government, we had achieved so much, but there was a lot more to do. Roads connect us all and ensure we get safely to work, to visit family, to move stock and to get to our health appointments whether they be local or city side.

Sadly, where these issues of roads, workforce recruitment, housing and access to services cannot be resolved, my conversations with locals quickly turned to mental health. It lurks in every corner of our society and, in my opinion, no family is untouched by it. Many speeches have been given in this place laying claim to moral imperatives, but none has a higher claim to the definitive term than the spectre of a looming mental health crisis.

'Moral imperative' is a term that was first fashioned by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who described this imperative as 'the link between pure reason and acting correctly'. Surely it means doing the right thing. A failure to address the need for services, funding and investment into wellbeing, mental health and suicide awareness will guarantee the decline of every other aspect of our community.

I note today that we anticipate more details from our state Labor government on much-needed funding for mental health across the whole state. I welcome any investment in this space, including into our second biggest city of Mount Gambier on the Limestone Coast, but our state is vast and our needs are many, so I will continue to call for ongoing funding into more rural and remote areas of our state. Mental health and wellbeing impact every corner of our society and my passion for, and interest in, this space goes back many years to the beginning of my teaching career.

I held a role for many years as a primary school counsellor, and it was an honour and a privilege in that role to explore for my professional self as well as for the school community what it means to teach and to support students to understand resilience, to teach antibullying programs, to invest in and learn more about restorative practice, which I note sits across the curriculum of many schools in South Australia but has also been a framework used by OARS, an offender rehabilitation program.

I note that in this space there is much to do, but I certainly commend the former Marshall Liberal government for its legacy. The legacy of that government is evident across regional South Australia, and in the electorate of Frome I was proud to extol the virtues and the commitment to regional South Australia, where investment into new Frome alone was over $100 million in those four years.

I also commend the former Minister for Education, the member for Morialta, and his department at the time, the Department for Education, for its commitment to investing in mental health services in schools. I note in particular a pilot program that is ongoing across the state and in the region of the Mid North. Mental health practitioners are currently on site at some high schools, notably Clare High School, Balaklava High School and John Pirie High School.

Through this trial, they will be providing support to students through early intervention and referrals to external agencies, as well as developing onsite mental health literacy for a whole school community. I cannot commend that highly enough. In my hometown of Clare, I also note that Clare High School, through its own initiative, is working with the extraordinary Kade MacDonald Foundation and running a program in this space.

A personal experience I have as a volunteer in Clare is a commitment to the Broken Hill Country to Coast Lifeline initiative. Clare is the only town in South Australia that currently hosts a model that I continue to celebrate. We have two fantastic social workers who are allocated to this service, and it is one of a kind in South Australia. We understand the pressures that people can be experiencing through anxiety or depression, including certainly the delay that comes from waiting for an appointment with a local GP or the referral to a specialist.

Members of the Clare and Gilbert Valley townships—and in fact anyone across the state if they were in our fantastic town of Clare—can just walk in. This is separate to the Lifeline phone support; this is a bricks-and-mortar centre that allows people who are having a bad day, looking for a chat or experiencing anxiety with technology and filling out forms—and we have all been there—that early intervention aspect so vital in the space of mental health services.

This same institution in Clare supports one of 50 suicide prevention networks across the state, an initiative of Wellbeing SA. In Clare, I am a proud member and volunteer of our own suicide prevention network, an SPN that we have proudly called Trailblazers. I think its name speaks for itself, but it recognises that the Clare and Gilbert Valley is synonymous with the Riesling Trail, the Heysen Trail, the Rattler Trail, the Lavender Trail and, most importantly, a new addition that I am sure every member will appreciate, the Wine and Wilderness Trail. We are a region of trailblazers. Certainly for the residents of Frome, or the Clare and Gilbert Valley, we noted a couple of weeks ago National Volunteer Week. It is organisations like this where volunteers are crucial.

I mentioned Wellbeing SA, and I want to come back to that just briefly in celebrating the Marshall Liberal government's work supporting, through the member in the other place, the former Minister for Health Stephen Wade and his diligence, commitment to Wellbeing SA.

As COVID had its impact on our planet, we all had to explore what it meant to be living with COVID and how even through lockdowns we could support our own mental health and open our world, so the Marshall Liberal government did just that. I note that in the leader's own address the member for Black touched on some very important initiatives of the former Marshall Liberal government, one of them being that the Marshall Liberal government was a government of opening things, for want of a better word, rather than closing them down.

We established the national park in the member for Black's own electorate, Glenthorne National Park. He made reference to the fact that over 20,000 trees have already been planted, and I make special note of the fact that I planted six of them. I would hate to see them concreted over. But in the context of mental health and opening our world, I think it is really important in my response to the house today that we continue to explore what it means to support and encourage people to exercise, to get out into their natural environment and to receive the benefits back through their own mental wellbeing through those activities.

In the electorate of Frome, I note that through the former Liberal government's commitment to opening reservoirs the Bundaleer Reservoir near the neighbouring town of Jamestown has been a fantastic initiative. The local Youth Advisory Council in late December, through the Goyder council, offered a come-and-try kayaking day. I relish the opportunity to continue to support the reservoir in all the wonderful ways it can contribute to positive wellbeing activities for locals.

Continuing on the theme of the former Marshall Liberal government and positive initiatives around mental health, I note the important role of the Premier's Advocate for Suicide Prevention. Notably, those roles were held by the former President in the other place, John Dawkins, the member for Heysen and the member for Kavel, our current Speaker. I recognise their contribution where they were committed to shining a light on early intervention and awareness.

During that same term, in December 2021 the Legislative Council passed important legislation in the Suicide Prevention Bill, which was a national first. I am sure that frontline workers in this space will watch the progress of that bill, and act when it becomes operative, with great interest.

I really am labouring the point that I have a strong passion for investment in mental health and its connection and importance to people who live in rural and remote South Australia. It is not just a moral imperative; there is a productivity and an economic consequence for governments that ignore this space. It is priority funding from birth to death, in my view. I am sure that everyone in the house can relate to the broad demographic that has been impacted by mental ill health and the benefits that we all share when we are feeling well.

With no preference to the following cohorts, I want to draw the house's attention to the vulnerabilities that we might see with prenatal mums and anxious new dads, with preschoolers who sadly are coming into their educational environment with anxieties that perhaps were never identified in the past, or with students, whether it is through bullying or pressure through the curriculum or just through the nature of becoming teenagers and young adults. There is an aspect of anxiety and depression that we see within our professional cohort.

Certainly, public housing tenants and anyone vulnerable as a renter at the moment would be concerned about their current status. I note a particular commitment to our aging through my shadow portfolio. There are too often stories of our elderly experiencing abuse, a financial burden or impact by family members sometimes.

I begin to conclude my theme of welcoming any investment that governments can make in the space of mental health. As the member for Frome, I certainly am sensitive to the remoteness and isolation felt by country people suffering mental ill health.

All the issues and priorities I have raised today contain two common links. Firstly, improvements and investments in these areas of roads, health, mental health, housing and workforce recruitment would genuinely improve the everyday lives of people within the electorate of Frome and more broadly across regional South Australia. Secondly, it is now for the state Labor government to fund those improvements and services and, when it comes to ignoring regional South Australia, they have form.

I strongly urge the Labor government to genuinely engage with my community of Frome, as I will endeavour to engage with the government, and to raise issues with ministers so that we may all deliver outcomes for regional South Australia. I remind the house again that across at least five old electorates or in the formation of the new Frome, the Marshall Liberal government funded $100 million of initiatives across pools, schools and clubs, and that is the standard that has been set.

As ever, I am eternally grateful to the electors of Frome for the opportunity to represent, advocate, negotiate and celebrate their endeavours, concerns and innovation and I support this bill.

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (12:46): I rise to indicate my support for the Supply Bill presently before the house. This is an important bill designed to allow the continued provision of public services in South Australia. It also provides me with an opportunity as the member for Adelaide to outline the commitments made to our community during the recent state election.

The state election in March was about which party had the right priorities for our state and a plan for the future. There was no greater illustration of this than on the front page of the Sunday Mail on 27 February this year, which read, and I quote, 'Labor pledges $120m for an ambo HQ as Libs promise zoo upgrade'.

The Labor leader, now Premier, announced Labor's plans to address the ramping crisis by investing in a new CBD ambulance headquarters and the recruitment of 350 extra ambulance officers and paramedics. The then Liberal government—now led by the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Black—announced plans for a giraffe enclosure and fishing in the River Torrens. As much as I like fishing, I do not believe we were going to have a carp-led recovery of our health system.

When ambulance ramping increased by more than 480 per cent during the term of the former Marshall Liberal government, I knew which policy was the right priority and so did the people of South Australia. It is why, in its very first cabinet meeting, the Malinauskas Labor government scrapped the $662 million basketball stadium and directed every single dollar to our health system instead—because that is the right priority.

A Malinauskas Labor government is investing in more ambos, more nurses, more doctors and more hospital beds. My family knows the importance of a strong healthcare system than a lot of other families in my community, which makes it so important, and I am so proud to be speaking on these commitments today. But you should never forget where you come from, and my regional community made me who I am, what I value and what I fight for for my own beautiful community today. It is why I am proud our investment in health also includes $100 million for country health, in particular an $8 million upgrade of Naracoorte hospital, where my three brothers and I were born.

We are also investing in a new Women's and Children's Hospital and in more resources for the current Women's and Children's Hospital, where I gave birth to my beautiful daughter, Audrey Scarlet, six years ago. As a parent who has joined so many others in the emergency room of the women's and kids' with a sick child, I know Labor's plan to invest in both a new hospital and more resources for the current hospital is welcomed by so many families in my community. It was a privilege to join the Premier, the Minister for Health and the Treasurer at the hospital this week to announce our investment in more doctors and nurses for the current women's and kids.

As well as hearing directly from midwives and nurses, like Julie and Carolyn, about the positive impact this investment will have on staff and patients, another highlight was definitely meeting brand-new babies, Charlotte and Amelia, and their proud parents. Meeting our next generation really highlighted the importance of prioritising the long-term health of our state too, because the Malinauskas Labor government understands that the best way of keeping people out of hospital is preventing them from having to go there in the first place.

As an extension of our health commitments, we are committed to investing in community infrastructure that builds stronger communities by keeping people local, keeping people healthy and keeping people connected, with commitments like bringing back a sport, rec and community hub at the former Walkerville YMCA site and investing in a new state-owned aquatic centre. We need to get our kids and grandkids as interested in gymnastics and netball, in swimming lessons and in water play as they are about iPad screens, YouTube and TikTok.

The former Walkerville YMCA site was a bustling community hub visited by 60,000 visitors every year until its lease was not renewed and the INEA YMCA had to move out in December 2020. Having knocked on almost every door in Walkerville, everyone had a story to tell or had a connection with the Walkerville YMCA site. The closure was devastating for the community. To this day, the site sits empty for no good reason, but not for long.

As the Labor candidate for Adelaide, I committed $5 million to upgrade the site and work with the Town of Walkerville to ensure sport, rec and community services are returned to our community at this site. As the member for Adelaide, I cannot wait to hear the sound of sneakers squeaking on the floorboards, the bouncing of basketballs and children's laughter at the centre once more.

Under the Marshall Liberal government, we almost saw the same fate of the Walkerville YMCA befall our Adelaide Aquatic Centre. Early into my candidacy for the seat of Adelaide, I recognised that the Adelaide Aquatic Centre had become somewhat of a political football, from the Crows' bid to the band-aid solutions and squabbles over operational funding. This, along with a patchwork bit by bit approach of the current centre, put it in a state of decline and at risk of closure.

I am proud a Malinauskas Labor government will end the blame game and invest in a new Adelaide Aquatic Centre that recognises the centre for what it truly is—a regional facility, largely serving the north, north-east and west. A purpose-built aquatic centre will keep people of all ages—from babies through to seniors—fit, active and connected to community, improving their physical and mental wellbeing. We will take the Adelaide Aquatic Centre off the Adelaide City Council's hands to establish a state-run regional facility because this is the right priority.

I am often heard proudly speaking about growing up on a farm in a regional community, where we were brought up to value our natural and built heritage and never take for granted our open green spaces. It is why we will be restoring protection to Helen Mayo Park on the Riverbank, the site of the Marshall Liberal government's $662 million basketball stadium. Helen Mayo Park was part of the former Marshall Liberal government's proposed rezoning of the Riverbank, which was described at the time as the biggest attack on our Parklands in their history.

We will also invest in open green space opposite Scotty's Corner and an upgrade to Pash Park in Nailsworth and Collingswood. A Malinauskas Labor government will guarantee the ongoing tenure of the National Trust in Ayres House and enshrine in legislation the Ayres House act. Our Deputy Premier made it a priority within our first three weeks of office to cancel contracts signed under the former Marshall Liberal government to construct government offices in Ayres House.

I have always wanted to live in a community where it takes around two hours just go down to the main street to buy a carton of milk or a loaf of bread, and I found that in my beautiful local community of Prospect. Some of our iconic main streets, though, like Hutt Street and Melbourne Street, have been doing it tough in recent years. Banks have left and there has been a decline in foot traffic. It is why I am stepping in with a $4 million main street reactivation fund for Melbourne Street and Hutt Street. I am working with locals, traders and the City Council to reactivate these iconic main streets and support local small businesses. I would like to thank the City of Adelaide and the Rt Hon. Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor for her counsel and her work in this space.

Our investment in main streets is designed to give confidence to existing small businesses and new small businesses looking to invest or establish their own bricks-and-mortar presence. We also want to make it easier for commuters and visitors to visit these iconic main streets by better promoting the free City Connector bus. We will create art on wheels by wrapping the Connector Bus in local artists' work, allowing visitors and commuters to more easily identify the free service and hop on to explore our city.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my community because it was locals' voices I listened to at the doors, at street-corner meetings, while visiting our local small businesses and at forums and town hall meetings that helped shape the local commitments that I proudly speak of today and that I look forward to seeing funded in today's state budget. I support this bill.

Bill read a second time.

Third Reading

The Hon. N.F. COOK (Hurtle Vale—Minister for Human Services) (12:56): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.

Sitting suspended from 12:57 to 14:00.

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