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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-06-15 Daily Xml
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Appropriation Bill 2022

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 14 June 2022.)

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: I draw your attention to the state of the house, sir.

A quorum having been formed:

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (19:42): I rise to contribute to the debate on the Appropriation Bill. I will refer in a moment to some of the more particular local measures that are contained in the budget which, so far as they concern the Hills, I will just advert to in terms of welcoming what appears to be commitments to continue the work in particular in relation to much-needed infrastructure improvement on the South Eastern Freeway and on some important local roads. I will come back to that in a moment.

It is important to note some context at the outset. We have a new government that has been elected, having made what are really very significant capital commitments in the course of the election campaign—more than $3 billion in all—really very ambitious capital commitments. We will watch carefully to see that not only are those commitments expressed in the budget as the government has been quick to proceed to express, but that they are in fact carried out.

We have already seen at least four significant examples of what might provide South Australians with really quite significant concerns about the translation from election commitment to budget provision to delivery. Firstly, we have seen in the lead-up to the budget—on 26 May, as I understand it—what became an announcement in relation to the north-south corridor: the completion of the north-south corridor and the most significant capital commitment in the state.

It is hugely important to infrastructure in this state. On 26 May, we had an indication that there would be a delay in the delivery of the completion of the north-south corridor. So that we are clear, on 26 May was the now oft referred to 495-word preliminary advice obtained from departmental staff with a proviso that more was to come, and on 27 May there was a decision about the delay of that project.

South Australians will be right to be concerned about the linkage between an early decision to delay a significant project. We know it is not controversial. The result is that there is a billion dollars not spent in the course of the forward estimates—$500 million on the state side and we are not drawing the $500 million co-contribution from the federal government.

The flimsy, as I would characterise it, justification for that delay will lead a reasonable South Australian to be, at the very least, put on notice that, hang on, is this a budget repair mechanism under the guise of a project re-evaluation? I think 'reprofiling' is the word that has been used. So doubts about the delivery of the north-south corridor emerge even before the budget is announced on 2 June.

Secondly, and of significant importance, I am sure, to those who were considering how to cast their vote in March, we heard much about the commitment of the Labor opposition to a program to deliver early childhood education to three year olds and to do so in the course of this first term. We have seen only in the time since the election an endeavour to provide a context, to moderate, to lower expectations and to perhaps prepare the groundwork for what may or may not resemble some sort of early childhood arrangement for three year olds.

The budget, we know, provides in this case—and in fairly glossy terms; it is there in the overview contained in Budget Paper 1—just $2 million for a royal commission into early childhood education and care. We have heard and we know that it is a fair observation to make that it is the job of political parties in opposition and then coming into government to develop policy and then to take that to the electors.

It is already insufficient to say, 'We've got a bright idea about three year olds and early childhood education, but we're going to outsource how that might be delivered to a royal commission process. We'll fund that and at the same time we'll lower expectations about what might ultimately be delivered.'

South Australians might compare and contrast that with the commitment the Marshall Liberal team in opposition took to the 2018 election to bring year 7 into high school—perhaps in many ways a significantly more ambitious agenda in terms of school education—which was a commitment to achieve a particular outcome based on having done the policy work. It was a commitment that was delivered, and we see that that has now come into practice. We see year 7s going into high school now, which is an example of the Marshall Liberal government having made good on what was fully formed policy delivered in the course of the Marshall Liberal government.

By contrast, what we see here is a shining promise and glossy photographs of early childhood education, but the rubber is hitting the road in the budget only in terms of a $2 million commitment to a royal commission that might or might not make some recommendations that might lower expectations. In the meantime, the rhetoric has been dialled back. That is the second one that might provide doubts to South Australians in relation to the government's capacity to deliver.

The third, and it is unsurprising that I would raise this in the context of where we are in terms of assessing the early days of this new government, is the Adelaide Aquatic Centre. We have heard a lot of talk about the commitment—indeed, the splash was both metaphorical and literal. As is true of so many of the commitments made by the Malinauskas Labor opposition ahead of the election, there was a significant dollar figure attached to a description of a project, often in circumstances where a relatively fully formed solution was either in train or in some form in prospect.

Here we had the Malinauskas opposition coming along and saying, 'Never mind what the Adelaide City Council thinks, never mind what contributions might come from the feds, never mind what work the state has already done and never mind the potential for overreaching and overcommitting the state. We're going to commit to this Adelaide aquatic project and the state will bear the whole cost and on we go.' We do not see the proof in the pudding in the budget. Again, South Australians will do well to be sceptical about the capacity for delivery, in circumstances where there was a big announcement, but not an appreciation for the context in which the delivery might occur.

The fourth example, and really the most significant, is the campaign waged by the Malinauskas opposition with respect to fixing ramping in South Australia. We saw, even in the course of the campaign, an attempt to make the great big claim and commitment and then to couch that in more modest terms, to provide a great big message to the public of South Australia but, on the other hand, attempt to introduce some fine print in promising that there will be some solving of what was built up to be a crisis that Malinauskas Labor, if elected, could resolve.

Unfortunately, we saw some indications about the mischaracterisation of the problem prior to the election. The Electoral Commissioner of South Australia found that the campaign was inaccurate in terms of its claims and belled the cat on the Malinauskas campaign, albeit in the final days. What we have seen since that time, ever since ramping commenced under the previous Labor government, is that ramping has in fact continued to get worse. The recovery that was underway has not improved in these early months and South Australians will be keeping a very close eye on measures that are said to fix ramping.

Nothing in the budget commends itself to addressing what is, with no doubt at all, a symptom of the need to restore and to deploy funding in the health space across the board, so I welcome commitments, such as they might be effectively deployed, to provide additional resources for our hardworking ambulance officers. I certainly wish the government well, in terms of measures that might be applied to ramping, but I will understand if South Australians are keeping a very close eye indeed on the actual results that are delivered as the result of this work.

The budget that we have seen handed down early is a budget that provides a consistent set of messages in relation to headline items. It is consistent in terms of identifying a desired outcome and giving it a tag, attaching a dollar figure to that desired outcome and then providing us with not a great deal more. As has been observed in the health space, as recently as earlier today, the success or failure of measures in government is going to be a great deal more complex than simply announcing an attractive sounding topic, attaching an amount of money to it and then expecting that an outcome will be delivered as a result.

In the short time available to me, I adverted to measures in the Adelaide Hills. I am pleased to see that $10 million has been allocated to improvement at Main Road, Cherry Gardens. It is a very important improvement that needs to be done and I commend the previous member for Davenport, my colleague Steve Murray, for his advocacy over the course of the last term in that regard. Cherry Gardens has come into Heysen with the redistribution, and I will certainly be most interested to see that those works are done expeditiously and to work with the new member for Davenport in that regard, who, as mayor, was certainly aware of the issue. That work is very important to be done.

I note also that there is further capital provision for the continued extension of the managed motorway projects on the South Eastern Freeway. The South Eastern Freeway works that were completed in the course of the Marshall Liberal government were generational. They were significant indeed. To have conducted a complete rebuild of the freeway from the tollgate through to Stirling, together with the third lane between Stirling and Crafers, was much needed, was overdue and was a significant capital investment. The works that will continue the subject of the budget are also much needed. I would be pleased if they were brought forward, but I will be very interested to see them deployed over the course of these coming years, over each year of the forward estimates as provided for.

Just a word further in relation to the energy debate and the provision in the budget for the investment of in the order of $593 million towards a state-owned hydrogen plant. I may take opportunities to reflect further in that regard. This, to me, is at risk of yet further virtue signalling. It is a parallel amount of capital investment that we saw in relation to the leasing and then the accelerated purchase of the diesel generators towards the end of the last Labor government, which was characterised on review as having been an ill-judged endeavour.

The hydrogen plan that was put in place by the Marshall Liberal government was significant indeed. I certainly will continue to argue for the promotion of private investment in that space, and I would encourage the government to rethink the hydrogen plant. It is a topic that I will come back to. With those words, I conclude my remarks.

Ms HUTCHESSON (Waite) (20:02): I rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill, in support and with excitement about the commitments the Malinauskas government has made to the people of South Australia, and I congratulate the Treasurer and his staff on this budget. It is clear that the now government spent a lot of time listening to the community. Our commitments are designed to help, to support and to fix the issues. The last few years have been difficult to navigate, there is no denying that, but we need a plan for the future to set South Australia on the road to recovery and we have delivered that.

The electorate of Waite is blessed to have many parks and private land that is richly populated with native vegetation. It is important to my community that we as a government do all we can to protect it, not just for our own enjoyment but for the importance of biodiversity. I am pleased that the government will move to introduce a biodiversity act. This act will ensure that we fully integrate conservation into how we live sustainably and indeed prosper in the long term.

I am glad that we will be establishing a $3 million biodiversity coordination unit to help tackle pests, weeds and abundant species, as well as creating a register of past, ongoing and planned revegetation and biodiversity restoration projects. Our parks have major problems with wild olives and woody weed, among other pest species, and it is important that we act now to get on top of things before it is too late.

We are fortunate to have many volunteer groups in my electorate that care about our natural environment and work hard to maintain and improve it, groups like the Friends of Belair National Park, the Friends of Waite Conservation Reserve, the Friends of Shepherds Hill Recreation Park, Friends of Sturt Gorge, and the list goes on. These groups will benefit from our government's investment into Friends groups of $3 million to help continue their work going forward.

Investing in our environment is a key Labor policy. We are committed to listening to the community when decisions affecting the environment are being made. I am pleased that we will be increasing funding to the Conservation Council of South Australia by $1 million. The Waite electorate is proud to be the home of the Chief Executive of the Conservation Council, Craig Wilkins. I was fortunate to doorknock Mr Wilkins and recently met with him to discuss local environmental concerns and opportunities to educate our electorate to better think about their own gardens, and also the protection of our natural environment. I look forward to working with Craig going forward.

My own suburb of Upper Sturt sits at the top of Belair National Park and as such many of our local properties are rich with native vegetation. Heritage agreements on private land has been a longstanding mechanism for protecting the natural environment. I know these residents well and have already visited some of their properties to see the scope of work they have every day to do their best to protect the natural vegetation. I am glad that our government will commit an additional $6 million to support new and existing heritage agreements.

We are also home to the Sturt Upper Reaches Landcare Group (SURLG). The group works tirelessly to protect and enhance our natural environment. As a member of the Upper Sturt Soldiers Memorial Hall Committee, we are fortunate to house a Landcare site, so I see firsthand the work they do. I am glad the Malinauskas government will help fund Landcare with $1 million, to help coordinate on-ground planting, weeding and other conservation works. The Sturt Upper Reaches Landcare Group has also recently established the Bandicoot Superhighway, a project that aims to create a safe passage for the southern brown bandicoot—a project that I am quite interested in.

Last week, the president of the group, Danny Rohrlach, was awarded the Hills Green Achiever Award, recognising his outstanding work with SURLG over many years, and his significant contributions to the Bandicoot Superhighway and OliBel projects. I would like to extend my congratulations to Danny. I have spoken on only a handful of our environmental policies but those that are of importance to my electorate of Waite and will benefit from the state budget 2022.

I know firsthand that our children do not all learn the same way. We have students who show skills and interests in trades long before they are ready to graduate. Time and time again, when talking to my community, to grandparents and parents, many suggested that their child wanted more from their schooling and that they had other interests, often especially gifted in using their hands. My son has excelled since starting his apprenticeship, and I know he would have benefited from the ability to attend a tech school.

I am very glad to be part of a government that understands that not all children will seek out a university career and that they, too, have a lot to contribute to society and will benefit from our commitment to build five technical colleges, including one in Tonsley. Tonsley already houses the wonderful TAFE, so to have a school so closely located will allow the two to work together to support aspiring tradies.

I am also glad that our government will properly fund TAFE, as will the federal government. It was clear that the former government's agenda was to privatise the TAFE system, moving to close many of our TAFEs, including Urrbrae TAFE, and it was only through the activism of my local community, parents and students of Urrbrae that it was saved. Schools and TAFEs working together provide great outcomes.

When I was at school, I was a keen hockey player. I played for both my school and the Forestville Hockey Club. That was over 30 years ago, so you can imagine my surprise to be invited to visit the current Forestville Hockey Club and to find out that it was still the same clubroom that it was when I stopped playing in 1993. It was fantastic to join my parliamentary colleagues, the member for Badcoe and the member for Elder; the now federal member for Boothby, Louise Miller-Frost: and our candidate for Unley, Ryan Harrison, in announcing a new home for the club at Unley High School. Whilst this is no longer in my electorate, many in my community are members of the club or attend Unley High School and will benefit from this project. Sport is an important part of a healthy lifestyle and I know the club will only prosper from this project.

When I was doorknocking, road safety was an ongoing concern for many in my electorate. I echo my neighbour, the member for Davenport, and now the member for Heysen, in their support for the upgrades to Main Road, Cherry Gardens. This road continues into the Waite electorate and I know many of our community members use it to head south. It is a very dangerous road. I took the opportunity to go for a drive through there last week after visiting Minton Farm Animal Rescue. The road is not very wide, the barriers hang off the edge and there is no forgiveness for oversteering. I am glad that we have committed the funds to fix this most risky road, and I congratulate the member for Davenport on her advocacy for this project.

It is now well known that I am an active CFS volunteer. In January 2021, I was on the fire ground in Cherry Gardens. At one point, our crew, with a farm firefighting unit and a deputy group officer, were cut off down a dead-end dirt road. The fire had started late in the day and, as such, it was well after midnight when our crew retired for the evening. After dark, it is left for ground crews to battle bushfires, dealing with gully breezes and changes of wind direction on their own. Currently, our aerial firefighting fleet are not able to offer assistance once the sun sets, so crews are left in the dark without the backup of a fleet.

Our government has committed to a night-time firefighting investigation with $250,000 to work with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, building on lessons from the Victorian trials to investigate night-time firefighting capability for South Australia. This is a great initiative because unfortunately fire continues to rage overnight, and it is often a good time to get on top of an outbreak without the heat of the day.

I am also glad to see support for our farm firefighting units with a $2 million grant scheme to help landowners to purchase equipment to create firefighting units. These units are able to respond quickly but also providing invaluable on ground support and knowledge to CFS crews supporting these landowners is the right thing to do.

We have also listened to our paid firefighters. Their need for new trucks and truck maintenance was well campaigned during the election period. Labor listened then and we are listening now, committing $14.1 million over four years for 12 new trucks as well as undertaking a ventilation audit. There has been a lot of talk about the implications of diesel particulates on the health of firefighters. An audit to determine the current situation is well warranted, and we are committing $250,000 to conduct the audit with particular emphasis on diesel particulates.

The government has consulted and listened to the people of South Australia. We have based our policies and commitments on what they have told us, and we have considered all these by bringing together this budget. It is an important time for South Australia, it is an important budget and I commend the bill to the house.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (20:11): I rise to speak to the budget bill, the Appropriation Bill, and note that with the addition of the Supply Bill the total state budget for the coming 12 months is $23½ billion. It is interesting to note that with a change of government there are a lot of projects that come over that we started, and thankfully most of them are ongoing.

I want to start by talking about some of the things that came particularly to the Murray and Mallee. These were all projects around the River Murray. There is $19.7 million over three years for the River Murray in South Australia. The constraints measures project is commonwealth funded, and I have often said in this place and elsewhere that the proposed interconnector between Lake Albert and the Coorong should be dug out and built.

There are a lot of conversations around whether that should happen and I have always said that, if it stacks up environmentally, it would be a lot better than using hundreds of gigalitres of water every time you try to flush out Lake Albert because it has to come out of the narrows at Narrung, where there has been a big causeway built apart from where the ferry crosses at the narrow neck of water. I understand there is going to be flushing soon, but that is probably because the river is as high as I have ever seen it. It is good to have those rains in Queensland and New South Wales flowing down. It reminds me of 2010, when that fantastic brown water from the Darling side of the river came down to save our bacon, basically.

The constraints measures project is welcome. It would be nice to see where that lands so that we get the right outcome for the Coorong. It is interesting to note that one of my staff has a shack on the Coorong and he said to me, 'I grabbed a handful of water out of the Coorong the other day and took a drink. It is not too bad in the northern lagoon.' That is saying something. That is showing how much salt is not there.

There is also $11.6 million over two years for the Healthy Coorong, Healthy Basin program to improve water bird habitat throughout the Coorong and the Lower Lakes, which is another very worthwhile project for the area, and $2.1 million over four years to employ an eminent jurist as the commissioner for the River Murray. We have always had to fight for the River Murray on the bottom end of the system. Members of my party and I had to put up a grand fight way back in 2007-08 when the Labor government of the day proposed to put a weir in at Wellington. It would have killed the bottom of the river, and I am glad that we were successful in blocking that proposal.

In regard to other matters in the state budget, I look at the budget overview and there are some lofty ambitions that the government have in place. They are talking about 350 more paramedics and ambulance officers, 101 more doctors, 300 more nurses and 326 extra hospital and mental health beds. This is budgeted inside the extra $2.4 billion in additional health infrastructure over five years. Let's see the day when all these staff turn up because, apart from trying to find these people in the system—and I welcome it if we can, absolutely—I know that a lot of people are attracted interstate. Good programs will have to be put in place to support our valuable health services right across the state.

When we look at some of the programs around hospitals and infrastructure, I note the work that we did putting in emergency beds right across the city and the $7 million we put into the Murray Bridge emergency department. We have the new emergency department. I do not know how that is synergising at Mount Barker with the proposed new hospital, which is welcome. There is $220 million that will service my constituents from towards Mount Barker in the Strathalbyn area. It will be very handy for those constituents.

The Hydrogen Jobs Plan is very ambitious. The government have got it out at $593 million. We think there is a $500 million black hole there. It will be interesting to see how that goes. I think it is great to have this ambition and we support hydrogen plans, but the private sector would play a big role in getting there anyway.

In regard to housing, I note the public housing improvement program in the budget of $177.5 million over four years. Any investment in public housing is welcome. Any housing is very hard to get hold of at the moment, especially in regional areas. It is very hard to get rentals and very hard even for investors to buy a property. Gone are the days when you would see a property for $280,000 in Murray Bridge and you would try to talk it down $20,000. You probably have to add $30,000 or $40,000 to be the successful purchaser.

That will only be exacerbated with the new Thomas Foods abattoir, which we supported with a community infrastructure spend of $14 million alongside $10 million from the federal government for roads, gas, water and power access. There will not be many houses across regional communities. I note that, not that many years ago, Labor unloaded about 7,000 public houses across the state. We do need to right that wrong.

I noted the member just then talking about the emergency services and 12 trucks for the MFS. This is a project we were involved in early on. I salute those trucks coming on board. You have to have good emergency services vehicles, whether it is for the SES, the CFS or the MFS and for surf lifesaving as well. They need good equipment and are always in need of an upgrade. They are expensive machines. These trucks will be about $1 million each, and then there will be other moneys around that for the upgrade and maintenance programs around the trucks.

In regard to road infrastructure, it is interesting that there is $7.83 billion allocated for roads across the state, but there should have been at least $1 billion more than that. The north-south connector has most of the northern and southern ends completed or close to completion. I note a lot of the overpasses, especially on the Darlington section, were built by Bowhill Engineering in my electorate of Hammond. They built half of those major overpasses there at Darlington. I think the other contractor came from Tasmania of all places. It is a big project and it is so good to see a little company like that, with about 40 employees, get that local work here in South Australia.

As the shadow minister for regional roads, I noted with interest the government trumpeting the $467.4 million for regional roads in their state budget speech that the Treasurer gave the other day. That is welcome, but what he did not say was that just over $2 billion of regional road programs are in the pipeline already, and it appears—and we have to go through budget estimates and put questions on notice if we do not have time—that most of those projects are ongoing.

I look at the Strzelecki Track. As I have indicated here only in recent days, I worked in the Cooper Basin 40 years ago, and to have the Strzelecki Track bituminised all the way through is going to be a major boon, not just for the oil and gas industry but for pastoralists to get their cattle and sheep south to abattoirs or for anyone just getting supplies up north. I was talking to some people who travel those roads, especially the road train operators, and they almost mourn the day when the bitumen comes through because it means you can essentially ride a bike or drive a Mini up there. That is half the challenge with going bush: you take all the spare tyres and the plugs so you can make it.

It will be a real boon in productivity so that this state can service our own basin, noting that the Cooper Basin flows over into Queensland. I was up there a couple of years ago when Adventure Way was rebuilt between Innamincka and the Queensland border. It is a 29-kilometre section, and they were carting about 5,000 tonnes of ballast from Whyalla to put in the base of that section, because once you get to the border at Queensland it is bitumen all the way through to Brisbane. So, once we get that link up, it will be another vital link.

It was interesting during COVID. If you could not go through New South Wales and Victoria, which obviously we could not for a long time, a lot of people were taking that track through, and some people were doing it in vehicles that really were not suited. It will be a great boon for the state and the country.

Also on the list that will be ongoing is the greater state bypass at Truro, a $202 million project working alongside the federal government. We instigated this project and it will be a great boon for the Sturt Highway. The traffic is already getting funnelled around that highway, that northern route, taking a lot of freight off the freeway. Anything bigger than a B-double—and there is a lot of freight bigger than B-doubles now; you have the B-triples, B-quad road trains, AB-doubles, all sorts of combinations—heads around the top, but you can get interesting feedback.

Yes, we do have a heavy freight route through Murray Bridge, and people suddenly see these bigger combinations coming past, but it literally does get thousands of tonnes of freight off the freeway. Down the track, I would like to see both that highway, the Sturt Highway through to the border (about 190 kilometres), and the Dukes Highway, which I live on at Coomandook, duplicated. The trouble with both those projects is that the longer we leave them—and they are $3 billion each now—they are just going to get more expensive over time.

Another major work announced by our government, at $250 million, is Hahndorf traffic improvements. It would be great to get freight off the main road at Hahndorf, as it would make it a lot easier to get around. It is a fantastic little town with a lot of visitation, a great tourist town. The Horrocks Highway is a $96 million project. It is one of those northern roads that heads up around Clare and it certainly needs work.

The Murray Bridge to South East Links business case is still ongoing, with $5 million allocated to it. This involves investigation of the duplication of the Swanport Bridge. As I have indicated, I have been around a couple of days—and it is a bit sad in itself—but when I saw the Swanport Bridge opened in 1979 and drove over it as a 17 year old, I thought, 'Wow, all this hype about a new bridge and it's a single lane each way.'

Finally, there is some talk around the duplication of that bridge, and part of the South East Links business case is looking at the duplication past Tailem Bend. You get nailed down to a single lane bridge and then dual lane to Tailem Bend. What it will do is open up that first five kilometres out towards the Mallee Highway turn-off. There is a railway bridge there, which is going to cost some money because it will need duplicating and lifting, but then that opens up that next 190 kilometres to duplicate, heading to the border. I believe the Dukes Highway is the fourth busiest highway in the country.

The old Murray Bridge refurbishment is a project we started. We put $36 million in the pot, and that is something I will be exploring during estimates. It is pleasing to see that another $10 million has been added. It is a big project, updating the piles, painting the bridge for the first time in about 30 or 32 years and doing some drainage work on it. There was a bit of consternation in the community when they said, 'Oh, it's going to be reduced to one lane,' and all that sort of thing. I just said to the media, 'You either have one lane or you have no lanes, it's as simple as that.'

It is working very well. The company has three shifts of people at each end monitoring the lights and the traffic. It is interesting that about 8,000 or 9,000 vehicles a day go over that bridge, and that is actually about 500 more than they have measured go over the Swanport Bridge, that internal traffic through Murray Bridge.

The Port Wakefield overpass and the highway duplication is another big project, at close to $125 million. It is a great project hooking into the seat of Narungga and other areas heading up through the Mid North. Then we have the South Eastern Freeway's Managed Motorway project of $75 million, more vital work that needs to be done. These are just some of the projects. There is the Joy Baluch Bridge, $200 million to duplicate that bridge in Port Augusta.

However, there is much more work to do in terms of regional roadworks. There are thousands and thousands of kilometres to work on. We lifted a lot of roads; we had eight in particular that we lifted from 100 km/h to 110 km/h, and we are very proud of the Ngarkat Highway and Browns Well Highway linking Loxton through to Pinnaroo and then down to Bordertown—200 kilometres of road upgraded there.

I am keen to see more money spent in the regions, and I will be investigating some of that during the budget process. I am very proud of what we did in government, delivering $1.5 billion right across the state, bringing year 7 into high school and, just in my local electorate, the multiple projects that we did there in the four years. It was at least $215 million, with health projects, education projects, roadworks and assisting businesses like Parilla Potatoes to expand.

At the end of day, as I spoke about earlier, health matters in the regions are vitally important. It is hard to get staff in the regions; it is hard to get staff just about anywhere these days with the way things are. It is good to see that the memory unit and the aged-care beds at Strathalbyn have opened, and that was about a $16 million project in Strathalbyn. It is a fantastic set-up there.

Kalimna is a project dear to my community of Strathalbyn's heart because it was community-fundraised land, and the community then raised funds for the building. The former Labor government, before we were in government, essentially kicked people out of there and said it was not safe for people to use. The building is still there. As far as I can see in the budget papers, what form of aged-care support that building will take is still being investigated, because that will be vital for the people of Strathalbyn.

Certainly, in regard to health care (just quickly as the time counts down), in getting the Strathalbyn hospital and the other country hospitals that are co-located with aged care open after COVID, and managing during COVID, we obviously have to be very careful with our elderly. But we also have to manage those emergency departments to make sure that that our community gets access, and I look forward to those days. It will be interesting in estimates. I commend the bill to the house.

Mrs PEARCE (King) (20:31): I am proud to stand here today and speak in favour of the Appropriation Bill. This year's budget is delivering big, and it covers everything the community made a clear priority at the election, that is, to take health seriously, to support our children to get the best start in life and to ensure that we recover from the pandemic stronger, rather than returning to business as usual. I am proud of this budget because I believe it covers those priorities and begins the important work of delivering on them.

People rightly want to feel comfortable, knowing that if they call 000 in an emergency they would receive the assistance they need. I heard this day-in and day-out whilst in my community. It was at the forefront of everybody's minds, whether for their own potential needs or out of concern for their family and friends. It also came from those who work in the health sector, who kindly shared with me the impact the pressure was having on their health and wellbeing.

By committing $2.4 billion over five years in additional health expenditure and budgeting for 350 extra ambulance officers and paramedics, 326 extra hospital and mental health beds, 300 more nurses and 101 more doctors, I am pleased to advise that we have heard your concerns and are back on our way to help fix the ramping crisis and get things back on track.

With $630 million going into new education initiatives over the next five years, we are preparing the next generation of South Australians for the future. To name just a few of some of these commitments:

we will have five new tech colleges around the state;

we are better supporting mental health and learning supports in schools;

we will be appointing an autism lead teacher in every public school; and

we will be holding a royal commission into early childhood education and care to best achieve universal quality preschool programs for three year olds and four year olds in South Australia and how to best ensure all families have access to out-of-school-hours care for both preschool and primary-school-age children.

We are getting our state back on the map by focusing on an industry that will support us for generations to come, namely, the future of hydrogen in our state. With an investment of $593 million to establish a new hydrogen facility, we can harness the power of hydrogen, be it in flexibility of power generation or in hydrogen export opportunities. It is an incredibly exciting position to be in. We are one of the most ideal locations to be investing in this field, and by doing it now we have a real chance of being industry leaders not only nationally but internationally as well. That is great for jobs, both now and well into the future, for families in our state.

There are many great investments being made in the state budget, and we did not get here without the feedback and insight from some incredible people from my community—people like Jean and Greg Downton, who have been running a support network for those with MND and their partners in the north-east for some time now. They have a coffee, lunch and a chat at The Grove once a month to check on everyone's wellbeing, share their knowledge and support one another and just generally give one another support through what is an incredibly difficult time.

I join these catch-ups as often as I can with the member for Wright to hear firsthand their experiences to see what we may be able to assist them with. I am pleased to hear that just this month the group met with Denise, a support coordinator at MND SA, and they shared with me how much of an impact her support will make on their lives. Just imagine the impact the $2.4 million announced in this budget will have to help those who are living with this cruel disease.

I know that this is significant not only for this group but for many in my community. I recall how strongly the community wanted to support those suffering MND, particularly last year when we tragically lost Annette, who had provided quality education during her 20 years as Director of Greenwith Kindergarten. We heard you, and I am so pleased we are providing further supports to those who are diagnosed with MND.

When it came to helping our ambos, no-one made quite as strong an impression on me as David (Cess) Glasspool. Many ambos know him in the community not only because he is a paramedic but because he runs the very important support network for them, Walk.Talk.Share.Inspire. This is focused on squashing the stigma about seeking help when we feel the burdens that can impact the lives of paramedics. Whether work related or life outside work, the group encourages people to get outside and be active in the community of like-minded people to help build support and morale around each other.

Cess felt particularly strongly about supporting our ambos as we saw the figures of ramping rise at such a substantial rate. Cess not only advocated strongly to support his comrades but he went the extra mile, notably driving his Mini around to provide refreshments and words of encouragement for paramedics who were working around the clock, unable to take breaks throughout their long shifts.

The commitments made to my local neighbourhood were not without passionate advocates from my community, advocates like Andrew, who publicly campaigned for a bus shelter in front of Saints Shopping centre. Those in this chamber may remember hearing him on ABC radio when they heard his story. Andrew rightly pointed out that the need for a shelter in that location was due to it being a hub not only for essentials but for medical services available at the centre as well. It was Andrew's work, alongside the strong community campaign to save bus stops in our community, that helped develop this commitment to help improve and encourage public transport in our community.

These are just a few of the fantastic locals who helped make a difference in my community and who also provided invaluable feedback that helped shape what has been delivered by the Treasurer. To them I say thank you, just as I would like to thank every nurse, doctor, orderly, paramedic and caterer who works within our health sector for stepping me through how important investment in this sector would be for our community; every parent I met at a school gate, school award ceremony, community catch-up, shopping centre visit and on the doors, along with representatives from school leadership teams to get feedback on how we can best help give our children a leg up; every person in our community who took a stand against privatisation; and every person who stood up for the Adelaide 500 to get it back to the streets of Adelaide.

In fact, to every constituent in my community, thank you. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to share your priorities with me and to share your ideas on how we can make our community even better. Your contribution to our community is incredibly valuable and, if it were not for you looking out for each other and making your voices heard, we would not be seeing such important investments being made in our community. I am looking forward to working with you all to see this through.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Odenwalder.


At 20:40 the house adjourned until Thursday 16 June 2022 at 11:00.


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