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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-05-30 Daily Xml
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Bills

Supply Bill 2023

Supply Grievances

Adjourned debate on motion to note grievances (resumed on motion).

The Hon. N.F. COOK (Hurtle Vale—Minister for Human Services) (16:05): I would like to contribute to the Supply Bill currently before us and particularly focus on local impacts. Whilst I am incredibly proud of the work that is happening across the human services portfolio, I am only a minister because I am also a local member. My local community is home to many people and organisations who rely on critical public services and support. There are a number of local projects in Hurtle Vale or directly impacting our local community that are really exciting and positive.

Priorities of Hurtle Vale, and no doubt of most electorates, focus around social inclusion, access to services and connection within the community. This is achieved by investing in and improving services within our area, as well as transport options that connect us beyond to the investments in neighbouring and more distant suburbs.

One of the areas of concern always is health. I am very pleased that Noarlunga Hospital is seeing a massive upgrade to the medical facilities, including 48 new beds spread across mental health and general wards. This is the biggest investment in upgrading and expanding Noarlunga Hospital services that we have ever seen: more beds, more doctors, more nurses.

More care locally means southern suburbs residents will have more medical resources available. This will help ease the pressure on the Flinders Medical Centre, where there is a significant investment happening in partnership with the federal government for $400 million, half and half: a once-in-a-generation expansion of Flinders Medical Centre, delivering, again, extra beds, improved surgical and imaging services, better mental health care, more modern facilities—much appreciated.

We also have continued improvements to roads, a very important focus on road safety, including the installation of pedestrian islands, new school crossings, resurfacing and revegetation of Panalatinga Road. Many other small feeder roads as well are getting attention in Hurtle Vale.

The Australian and South Australian governments' joint funding of the $120 million Majors Road Interchange project constructing new on and off ramps for the Southern Expressway at Majors Road will provide commuters in the southern suburbs further access to the Southern Expressway while improving access to Glenthorne Park, the Sam Willoughby International BMX Facility and the Southern Soccer Facility from the Southern Expressway.

Whilst the proposed project is not within the electorate of Hurtle Vale, the Southern Expressway services a significant number of my constituents, and as a local resident myself I am very aware of the impact that the Southern Expressway has in our area—of course, a particularly positive impact since the South Australia Labor government a few years ago duplicated this one-way expressway.

The proposed upgrade to the Majors Road Interchange to provide these key connections between Lonsdale Road and Main South Road is long overdue. I remember when I first started campaigning as the candidate for Fisher in late 2014. It was the number one subject that was brought up then from the O'Halloran Hill residents in particular. We could say, I think, the member for Black has also been on record a number of times and remains on record, on the internet, as this being the number one priority—

An honourable member: Number one.

The Hon. N.F. COOK: —yes—in 2018, which was not delivered by the Liberal government. We are getting on with that. This will allow many more residents across the southern suburbs to finally access the Southern Expressway, helping to reduce congestion on Brighton Road and further lessen the traffic load on Main South Road.

Indeed, last week there were significant delays on the Southern Expressway just north of the Majors Road bridge, I believe. Had this access point been in place already, it would have meant a huge improvement for local commuters who were stuck between the entry point at Panalatinga Road and the Majors Road bridge for up to an hour. This got in the way of many things, such as work and medical appointments, so I look forward to seeing this investment proceeding.

There were some local commitments I was able to secure leading up to the election, and one of these was for a much asked-for dog park that will be located on Investigator Drive in Woodcroft in my hood, just up the road. I look forward to visiting that dog park with Billie, although her terrible behaviour is probably something I do not want to share with all my local friends and residents (it may be a blessing that I have to travel out of the electorate to go to a dog park), but we will see how it goes. She is very cute; she is a beagle, but she is awful—and I hope she is not watching because she will probably bite off my face while I am asleep tonight.

The dog park, for about half a million dollars, is going to be extraordinary, and I hope the project progresses quickly now that we have had some consultation. I really am delighted—although there is some irony, coming to the next commitment—to hear that the council is installing toilets at the dog park. That will be great, because dog park bags are not for humans, but that toilet was not in the original request.

However, we did request and fund toilets at the Byards Road wetlands. We have been in a 1½ year to and fro with council regarding those particular toilets at the wetlands because it is the park where wet pants are often the outcome—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. N.F. COOK: —yes—and other such incidents that are potentially a problem without the toilets, which are not accessible at the moment.

However, the new council, with a new regime, is now proceeding with this. My current favourite Pimpala Ward councillor, Deputy Mayor Mick Fisher, is assisting with the progressing of this particular piece of work and a report is being commissioned into the matter. I will continue to advocate for these toilets and hope to see them delivered very soon for the local residents, particularly the Byards Road birdwatching group, who do hang around for a long period of time waiting for a particular species of bird to arrive to take beautiful photos. I would love to have those facilities there for them.

Another thing is $100,000 for accessible play equipment at the Wilfred Taylor Reserve adventure playground, a commitment delivered following the 2018 election. We held a public meeting last year, and a working group is being headed up by a terrific young man, Callum Barrott-Walsh. Sadly, he is now working for Qantas, so he is not around as much because he will be flying around the world—good luck, Callum. He has been pulling together some terrific work with local young people, kids with disability, who will ensure there is a user-focused approach to a much-needed community asset. A vital aspect for children's development is to get out and play and socialise, and access to suitable play equipment is vital in this, so I look forward to seeing it.

Noarlunga United Soccer Club is benefiting from a million-dollar funding commitment for a much-needed upgrade, and I am sure many members have been to see their clubs play against Noarlunga. The council has now consulted around this and plans to commence works in October 2023, post the winter season. With some additional money from local and federal governments, the works will include four new unisex change rooms, lighting upgrades to pitch 1, new access roads and car parking—well done, Monika Cadman, a terrific president.

This whole piece of work kicked off after the master plan process around six years ago with the City of Onkaparinga after we did the Wilfred Taylor Reserve $1.3 million playground. They acknowledged there was more work to be done, so we look forward to all of that.

It is worth talking just a little bit about the neighbouring electorates of Davenport, Reynell and Kaurna. There are a number of significant upgrades happening for sporting clubs that service my electorate in those areas, including the Reynella Sports and Social Club; the Happy Valley Sports Park change room and facilities upgrades; the Morphett Vale Memorial Sports Complex, which is getting some work done on it; the Hub Gymnastics club, which has terrific people (I was there only last week); and at the Morphett Vale Bowling Club.

I know some of the areas I have taken over from the member for Kaurna are only as good as they are because of his great advocacy in the areas of STEM for schools and a range of other public facilities.

The clubs play a huge role in the lives of many Hurtle Vale residents, so I am really excited about seeing all these things happening in my electorate and also in adjacent ones. I know that other members—Labor, Liberal and Independent—all appreciate the role that governments and oppositions can play in working together to achieve investment in our local communities. I commend the bill to the house.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson) (16:15): I also rise to speak in support of the bill. I want to talk about some of the developments in the local area that I represent—all the way from McLaren Vale and Maslin Beach, down the western side of the Fleurieu Peninsula, and Kangaroo Island.

I was on Kangaroo Island on the weekend, and it was terrific to be there to launch a new volunteer Sea Rescue Squadron boat built in Lonsdale. As we look at all the manufacturing in Australia that has moved offshore, it is terrific to have a local company, Nautic Star, manufacturing boats that are bought not just by our emergency services here in South Australia but also by fisheries and the police.

To Marco and all your crew down at Lonsdale, thank you for the hard work you put in to work with our government agencies to come up with vessels that are not only seaworthy but really good at getting into position as quickly as possible. The last thing we want is to put our volunteers at risk, or to put our fisheries officers or police officers at risk, when they are out there trying to look after other people.

It was a huge day for the people on Kangaroo Island, and I really want to thank each and every one of the volunteers and their families for the time they give up in their efforts to do all the training and then be out on missions to save people. This includes Carol at American River. I have been around to her house, where she has a radio room. She has year-after-year and decade-after-decade of logs that she has kept, as she maintains the radio service, as a volunteer, that keeps people not just around Kangaroo Island but in other coastal waters in South Australia safe.

To Carol and to everyone else involved in the volunteer Sea Rescue Squadron on Kangaroo Island, thank you very much from the bottom of my heart. I know that this $505,000 commitment made on behalf of the state government by the emergency services minister was gratefully received for the vessel and also for the towing vehicle.

Another big commitment we have made in our budget is $10 million for the Kangaroo Island hospital. We have seen that health service decline over many, many years, and it was something that I fought hard for in the lead-up to the election. It has been really good to work with the local community about what their priorities are for that $10 million spend, and we will continue to work with the Minister for Health and the HAC (Health Advisory Council) on the island to work out what they see as the most important priorities to spend this $10 million on.

I met with members of the HAC last Friday when I was on the island. I also met with Ag KI, the tourism association and the business association as well. I like to have regular updates with them to see how things are tracking. It is always nice to stay on top of things in your local area and work with the associations because there is nothing like local knowledge to inform us about where the government's priority should be and to inform us about what we should be looking after before things become really big issues. I always liken it to an emergency: if we can get to things while they are spot fires, and get on top of them, then that saves having to throw a lot more resources at them or being really reactive as things get out of hand and out of control.

I thank everyone involved in those discussions last Friday for giving up their time to explain to me where things are at and what we are up to. I look forward to welcoming our cabinet over to Kangaroo Island next month, when they will be there for a few days to get around and talk to people about what is important to them in their policy areas, not just the various associations but individuals as well. I know there are a lot of ministers who have been working hard on site visits and meetings to make sure they are across everything they could possibly be across.

I had a good meeting this morning with the Minister for Education about a couple of issues that he has been very helpful with. Again, we are listening to those on the ground. They have some really simple tips that can save government a whole lot of money and deliver better services as well. That is why it is important in our local regions to listen to the local people and feed that back in. Again, thank you to all the ministers who have been so generous with their time to listen to our concerns, and we are really looking forward to showing you a good time when you get over to Kangaroo Island next month.

In and around the Onkaparinga part of the Mawson electorate that I represent, we are spending a lot of money—$4.2 million—to upgrade 21 intersections that, unfortunately, have caused major injuries and deaths in recent years. We are working really closely with the Onkaparinga council, and I want to thank Kirk Richardson, the Director of Operations for Onkaparinga council. Before the election, I sat down together with Kirk and the then CEO of the council, Scott Ashby. The Onkaparinga council put together a prospectus that was given to all political parties before the state and federal elections. It was easy just to go through that and say, 'That's a good idea; we should look at funding that. That's a good idea; we should look at funding that.'

One of the projects I really liked was this $4.2 million ask they had of the state government to fund these 21 intersection upgrades, and we are starting to roll them out now. The council is doing most of the work but, as Kirk told me the other day, without our funding it would not have been possible to do these up. We have lost too many local community members. People in here might remember the young netballer who was tragically killed a couple of years ago in a car crash on Main Road between McLaren Vale and Willunga and then a week after that, the next corner up, we unfortunately lost one of our local schoolteachers who was killed on that Salopian Inn corner, McMurtrie Road and Johnson Road, where those two roads cross over Main Road.

It was just one of those tragic periods in our local area's history. Two weeks before that, the brother and sister-in-law of the woman who was killed—and we all know them, as they are local businesspeople in Willunga—were involved in this almost fatal crash, with serious injuries to everyone in the vehicles. The gentleman was in hospital for several months, trying to get over his quite serious injuries; his sister went to visit him in hospital and it was on her way home from hospital that she was killed on an intersection not too far away.

Any of us who live in the local area, and people from rural South Australia, are pretty used to country roads and cross roads. It has got me beat how people can get into the sort of trouble that they get into to cause these accidents. If they were just paying attention when they were driving and looking out, they would see them. Unfortunately, we live in a world where people almost have to have things put in the headrest to bang them on the head and say, 'Focus on the road.' What we are doing now is working with SAGE Automation, the local council and state government to come up with signs that, when you drive past a trigger point, will actually flash up to say 'give way' or, 'Give Way sign ahead,' or whatever it is. They are the sorts of things we are installing.

It is a pity that we have to spend so much money doing it but, while people are coming into our area and not paying attention and injuring or killing local people, then we have to take action and this is what we are doing. We are looking at all sorts of solutions, including at another intersection, where it is unbelievable that there are any problems at all, but it is such a dangerous intersection—that is, the one with Chalk Hill Road and Olivers Road near the Maxwell Winery. There are no trees, no hedges, no fences; it is so clear that it is a cross road, yet people just barrel through the Give Way signs and the Stop signs.

I have seen one person driving up the hill from Maxwell's to go towards SC Pannell and D'Arenberg. They get halfway up a hill that you cannot see over and then they do a three-point turn in front of you to go round. I think we need to stop the idiotic behaviour, but to protect the idiots from themselves and to protect the local people from the idiots we really need to put these upgrades in place.

Again, I want to thank the Onkaparinga council for the great cooperation that they have shown in working with the state government. The cost of building all these intersections is rising, because, as we know, trades and material costs have gone up so much, but with our contribution Kirk has told me that now they can at least go to the federal government to see if they can get some extra blackspot funding. Let's hope the three tiers of government can work together for the safety and the betterment of our local area.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (16:25): I rise today to talk in my supply grieve about my constituent Mr John Ali of Murray Bridge. As a 22 year old, Mr Ali worked as a diesel mechanic for International Harvester. In 1971, his employer asked him to travel to Canberra to meet with government officials. He was honoured and very naive. He in fact met with Malcolm Fraser, Minister for Defence, and was asked to serve his country on a top-secret mission. His mission was to deliver 600 military trucks and 150 four-wheeled trailers through Vietnam to Cambodia. His mission was so secret he was told he could only tell his parents and his spouse and no-one else, not even work colleagues. Mr Ali signed defence secrecy documents.

Although the original posting was for six months, this was extended twice and Mr Ali spent 18 months in Vietnam and Cambodia, noting that an Army tour was 12 months. Mr Ali was given no training or title or rank, but on arrival in Vietnam he was told by the hosting unit that he was to be included in the manning for rationing and accommodation with 102 Field Workshop. He received no military training prior to deployment. His only military training had been with school cadets years before at school in Adelaide.

In Vietnam, Mr Ali had no independent facilities or tools and used Australian Army resources to repair and maintain the trucks. Mr Ali worked with another mechanic, Bob Oultram, who has since passed away and will never see proper recognition. During his time spent with the Australian Army, he was expected to stand to with the unit morning and night. He was issued with a uniform and was expected to conform to unit standing orders.

Mr Ali undertook the journey from the port in Vietnam to Cambodia four times. Mr Ali also stayed in Cambodia at times waiting for instructions. During the time that he assisted with the delivery to Cambodia of these vehicles, he was expected to leave the relative security of the 102 Field Workshop without a weapon of any kind. Once all the vehicles and trailers were delivered, the Cambodian army undertook the responsibility to arm and train Mr Ali with their weapons. He could then go out into the field to recover broken down vehicles suitably armed and trained.

Over the period of 18 months, Mr Ali and Mr Oultram were placed into combat situations. Their weapons were AK-47 rifles, ironically also the weapon of the enemy. These Australians became very competent with them, practising every week with the Cambodians on their firing range. These men were put in an untenable situation, yet they managed, with the help of the Americans, including the CIA, the Cambodians and the Australian Army, to complete their mission. For almost 18 months, John and Bob proceeded to transfer and repair the vehicles, including training the Cambodian army drivers and mechanics.

The team's compound in Cambodia came under attack on two separate occasions by a mortar attack and a ground assault, and they narrowly missed injury by a rocket-propelled grenade. On three separate occasions during his time in Cambodia, Mr Ali came under enemy fire and saw Cambodian soldiers receive severe wounds. It is no surprise that Mr Ali now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. On another occasion, while in Phnom Penh John missed being captured by Vietcong agents by mere minutes. The situation in Cambodia became increasingly dangerous. Both the American and Australian embassies were closed and abandoned.

During his time in Vietnam and Cambodia, Mr Ali witnessed many terrible things, including villages destroyed by rockets and civilian deaths. He dodged mortar attacks and witnessed grenades thrown into a bar after an argument. He was actually further into the bar when the grenades went off. He also contracted dengue fever. On arriving back in Australia, Mr Ali resumed his job with International Harvester. In 1993, Mr Ali was awarded the Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal, and in 1998, the Australian Active Service Medal 1945-75 with clasp Vietnam by the Australian Army.

It has been claimed by the federal government that there was no record of Mr Ali having served and no record of Mr Ali having a service number. In fact, a recent freedom of information request has uncovered his full service record. His service number is 9991121. Back in Australia, Mr Ali developed poor health and PTSD from his time in a war zone. This has been exacerbated by successive governments denying his claim for recognition and a gold card. He has suffered four strokes and is extremely ill with post-traumatic stress disorder. Mr Ali continues to visit a specialist and has had numerous breakdowns.

It has been over 30 years since we finally welcomed home our Vietnam veterans with marches but Mr Ali has still to receive the recognition he deserves for his unquestioned service to his country. Many representations have been made on behalf of Mr Ali over the years by veterans groups and other advocates. I would like to acknowledge advocates Bill Denny AM, BM, Adrian Walford and Ray Duthie for their dogged determination on this issue. Other advocates for Mr Ali have since passed away, including Ron Coxon and Michael Schar.

Ministers over the years have provided excuses such as Mr Ali was not employed by Defence and was a civilian contractor. Prior to 2019, civilian personnel in Vietnam were not recognised or granted gold cards, but in 2019, about 240 doctors and 210 nurses who were in Vietnam during the war, as well as a small number of technical and administrative staff who worked in Vietnam under contract with the then Department of External Affairs as part of Australia's contribution to a Southeast Asia Treaty Organization aid program in South Vietnam between 1964 and 1972, were granted gold cards. I believe the facts demonstrate Mr Ali is a Vietnam veteran and should be treated accordingly with full benefits and recognition.

I would like to acknowledge the member for Barker, Tony Pasin MP, who has advocated for Mr Ali over many years by writing to numerous federal ministers on this issue. I have advocated for Mr Ali to be fully recognised for his service in Vietnam since 2020. I have met with Mr Ali or his advocates on many occasions. I wrote to the state Minister for Veterans Affairs in 2020 on John's behalf and have also written letters of support. My office has also liaised with Veterans SA on this issue.

I acknowledge the latest push for Mr Ali to be recognised, assisted by the Minister for Veterans Affairs, the Hon. Geoff Brock MP, to which I have added my support. The minister has recently written to the federal minister and I hope this most recent approach will bear fruit. Mr Ali was prepared to serve his country without question and without hesitation when he was asked to. Mr Ali has sacrificed much in the service of our country. We should do all we can to honour this. I sincerely wish this shameful chapter to be resolved quickly, thus allowing Mr Ali to live in peace for the rest of his life with his family.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD (Reynell—Minister for Child Protection, Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (16:34): I rise to speak in this grievance debate on the Supply Bill. In my earlier contribution to the debate on this bill, I outlined numerous funding commitments and crucial initiatives that this government has underway in the area of child protection, in the area of women and the prevention of domestic and family violence and in the area of recreation, sport and racing.

Across each of these areas, I am committed to using the power of our state investment to help drive meaningful change in ensuring equality of opportunity within our economy and within every aspect of community life, in ensuring that the youngest and most vulnerable South Australians are provided with opportunities to physically, mentally and emotionally thrive and to help ensure that more South Australians have the opportunity to participate in the sport that they love and experience the social, mental, physical and emotional health and wellbeing benefits that that participation brings.

I spoke last sitting week about a number of the programs and services that are supporting and empowering people and their communities across the state—our $171 million of additional investment in child protection, which includes resourcing for family group conferencing, the establishment of an Aboriginal peak body and support for advocacy for carers, for grandcarers and for children and young people. I also spoke about our investment to establish domestic violence prevention and recovery hubs and our re-establishment of the Women in Sport Taskforce. Today, I add to those words by elaborating on a number of initiatives happening in my local community.

I am really pleased to make the house aware that work has begun on the much-anticipated and long called for upgrade of the O'Sullivan Beach Boat Ramp to improve safety and accessibility. The O'Sullivan Beach Boat Ramp is an incredibly important hub of activity in our southern community and of great importance to South Australia's marine infrastructure. It is absolutely well used amongst recreational boat users, as well as used as an important facility for emergency services to launch and retrieve vessels. Over the past five years, community members have campaigned and campaigned and raised their voices, calling on the former government to upgrade these facilities.

I am so grateful to the many campaigners who continued to campaign to achieve the result we have now. I wholeheartedly thank Mark Mills, founder of the OnkaStompa Fishing Comp; Chris and Steve from the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard; Ray, Mark, Christine and all the Christies Sailing Club crew; Chloe from Sullies Social; the many Christies Beach Surf Lifesaving Club members who backed this in; and the numerous recreational fishers who got behind this call. The upgrades will rightly include the replacement of the two existing pontoons and the construction of an additional boat ramp lane and pontoon amongst other facilities. It was excellent to see a huge turnout of community members at the ramp the weekend before last to share their views and their ideas for the upgrade.

Our government has also provided funds for a number of other local upgrades to community facilities, including the installation of community toilets at the Open Market site on Beach Road at Christies Beach. Together with the open market committee, led by Liz Stanley, and the member for Kaurna, I have listened to many stories of stallholders, market attendees and others in the area over a number of years about their struggles accessing appropriate facilities, with people with kids and older people raising particularly alarming circumstances that come about because of the lack of toilet facilities. Hundreds of community members signed our petition to council for these facilities to go ahead. Now, thanks to funding from our government, they will.

I look forward to the delivery of these facilities, which will make the markets and other excellent community events accessible. I am really proud that our government has committed the biggest capital investment ever seen at Noarlunga Hospital, a place that is so important to our southern community. The $74 million upgrade will boost the number of beds by more than 50 per cent. The upgrades include a new purpose-built mental health rehabilitation service, delivering 24 specialist mental health beds for those with high and complex needs and a new 24-bed inpatient medical unit. Our community will absolutely benefit from these facilities, which provide a greater access to care for southern community members.

The very important Hopgood Theatre has provided our southern community with a facility for theatre, performing arts and community gatherings since its opening in the 1980s. Since that time, this southern icon has been a much-loved, integral, crucial arts, social and community hub. There are many stories of kids having their first foray into performance at the Hopgood Theatre, treading the boards for the very first time. There are now stories where parents recount their experience of getting out onto the stage for the very first time and then seeing their children, and indeed in some cases now their grandchildren, getting out onto the stage for the very first time as well.

It has been an iconic place in our southern community for community members of all ages to explore their creativity and to enjoy all the benefits that come with being involved in the performance of live theatre and live music. It is also a really important place for many community gatherings, including for citizenship ceremonies in the City of Onkaparinga.

The theatre is rightly named after Dr Don Hopgood, a former local member for our area, a former Deputy Premier and a local legend, in recognition of his considerable service to our community, to our state and to the arts—service that continues in many ways, including through his ongoing performances at the Hopgood Theatre as part of the City of Onkaparinga Concert Band. Our beautiful state has a rich and diverse arts sector. The arts have played such a strong role in our history, and the Hopgood Theatre and the art that it has brought to life within its walls must play an innovative, strong and creative role in our future.

I am so pleased that with this investment that our government has brokered the future of the Hopgood Theatre is assured, through an agreement between TAFE SA and the City of Onkaparinga, and I thank the Minister for Education for his role in brokering that agreement. The 25-year lease agreement also included a grant of $6 million to refurbish the theatre, including maintenance work, an upgrade to sound and lighting systems and reroofing of the theatre.

To get to this point, together our community campaigned. Over 15,000 people signed our petition that was tabled in this place and attended multiple community meetings and rallies on the steps of parliament, calling on the former government to commit to securing the future of the Hopgood Theatre, yet the former government refused to provide long-term funding for the theatre. Instead, as a result of that direct campaigning by the community, it just drip-fed very short-term funding extensions, risking its closure. It meant that those who administer the theatre were not able to provide security for bookings to the theatre into the future.

I wholeheartedly thank all the community members, the thousands of them who joined in these actions and who, as a result of their advocacy, will now see the continuation of the Hopgood Theatre into the future. Our cry at rallies was 'Save the Hopgood'. Our cry now at our celebrations is 'Together we saved the Hopgood'.

I am really proud of our government's investments, including just the few of those that I have spoken to today. Every day I am really proud of the important role that our government's investment plays in enabling South Australians equality of opportunity and a thriving economy and community life.

Mr TELFER (Flinders) (16:44): In my contribution today, I want to touch on a couple of subject matters close to my heart and close to the heart of my electorate. Firstly, I want to speak about the opportunities that we have in our regions if we had proper investment into the things that really matter. Specifically, today I want to talk about investment in the opportunities around child care in our regional communities. I am glad that the Minister for Education is here in this place because there is a real key role for the education department to play, in conjunction with the federal government and local communities, in unlocking some of the potential economic opportunities of our regions with active participation within the workforce.

In regional South Australia at the moment there is a shortage of workers, but there is no shortage of job opportunities. Those job opportunities are wideranging. They are in some of the areas that are around serving people and some of those core functions of the community, such as nurses, teachers and aged-care workers. There are job opportunities within our regions, and the lifestyle, which is one of the main attractions for living in our regions, cannot be denied. With job opportunities like these, we just need to connect workers to those opportunities. Unlocking potential within existing communities is something that childcare investment would absolutely do.

With proper, targeted investment we could actually unlock workers who are already within communities. All the way around South Australia, but most specifically within my electorate of Flinders, I talk to nurses, teachers and aged-care workers who are not able to work because there is no child care within their towns; there is not even child care within their broader region.

A lot of these communities are not of a great size, and that is why we are in the predicament we are in. It is really unique to South Australia in a lot of places because we have population centres that are isolated and population centres that have incredible economic activity but not a large population that goes with it. We have populations of 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 people who find it difficult to attract a commercial childcare operation, but the need is still there. This is where, in South Australia in particular, the structures that are in place in some of our regional towns—and many of them are in Flinders—are in the rural care system.

Although the federal government is in charge of child care, the state government has a key role to play, especially here in South Australia. The rural care system is in place in a lot of our regional towns, in those towns where a commercial operation is not viable, using facilities that are already there—and this is the unique part where I see the opportunity. There are many towns that have capacity on their school grounds or with educational facilities to be able to expand potential childcare arrangements. We just need the partnerships to be put in place between the federal, the state, and even local government and their communities.

I want to point out a few of the conversations I am having within my communities. I look at townships like Cummins and Tumby Bay, which are thriving, busy population centres and have economic potential to grow. They have hospitals in place and they have aged-care facilities, but I am hearing stories that a lot of these facilities are currently being totally staffed by people who have had to be brought in. There are agency nurses coming in to service an area where I know there is nursing capacity within that community already, but they cannot be part of the workforce because there is not that childcare opportunity. The challenge really is for the state government to be proactive, to look at the need and see that there is an economic opportunity to be unlocked with proactive policy.

I encourage the education minister to challenge his department to think outside the box, to think outside what they may consider to be their core function and to think of what these communities actually need. Is the current model, with the rural care in place, with the three-worker model, right for communities? Is there something we need to be doing differently to actually reflect that need? We need better child care within our regional centres in South Australia, and with that we can truly start to unlock that economic potential. Without it, without those key core functions, we are going to continue to miss opportunities and not reach the full potential in our regional communities.

I want to speak a little bit about regional tourism, and it is in light of the question time statement from the tourism minister that I was amazed by: she looked at me, she pointed at me and she said, 'You don't know what you're talking about with regional tourism.' How incredible; she pointed at me, someone who has been involved in community leadership for well over a decade, someone who talks every single day to businesses and visitors coming to regional South Australia, someone who knows that nearly $4 billion of regional tourism spend is just the starting point for our regional communities—and that is done, a lot of the time, despite government not because of government.

I was happy to welcome the minister for a quick, fleeting visit to Port Lincoln to launch the new regional brand of Eyre Peninsula. It is pretty simple, because those of us who know Eyre Peninsula know that it is indeed the wild side of our state. We have over 2,000 kilometres of coastline, and that coastline is as rugged or as sheltered as you would like it to be, depending on where you go. We have the incredibly scenic Gawler Ranges National Park, with granite monoliths rising out of the red soil, where you can escape the world very easily—but respect that wild side. At Port Lincoln and the Coffin Bay National Park there are waving, white-bleached sandhills where you can be just over the crest of the hill from someone else and you would not have a clue.

I know about regional tourism because I am talking to those businesses every single day about what their needs are within our regions, and let me highlight just a few. Sure, we have heard about swimming with the sharks—an incredible attraction for people who come not just from South Australia but from interstate and overseas, that unique experience of being up close with the wild side of South Australia—but there is also the opportunity to swim with sea lions at Baird Bay and other places on Eyre Peninsula, to reach out and touch the wild side.

I know about those experiences because I am talking to those people who are working to offer those experiences. I look at the EP Cruises' whale experiences up at Fowlers Bay. I did invite the minister, last time I spoke to her, to take the time to visit—and anyone else who is listening to this. Fowlers Bay is a bit of a distance away—I get it; it is a bit of a hike—but once you get there you can experience one of the most unique, untouched, rugged parts of our state. To go around this time of year, or even in the next couple of months, to experience the whales in their natural environment, in the middle of calving in a controlled, respectful, beautiful spot is unlike anything else. It is unique, it is incredible and it is here in South Australia. I know about it. I hope the minister gets to visit there one day.

I know about Australian Coastal Safaris with 'Lunch' Doudle, and I know about Untamed Escapes with Craig Haslam. I am sure the minister has talked to these guys, probably when they have had to come over for a tourism conference, as she points out, over here in Adelaide, but how about actually getting out with those businesses to fully experience the things you are trying to promote?

A lot of the time these tourism businesses are successful despite what the government is doing, and if the minister were talking closely with these businesses she would know that some of the EPA bureaucratic red tape, some of the hoops and hurdles, they have to go through just about to provide a unique experience for visitors is incredible. Those are the sorts of things the tourism minister needs to understand so that she can streamline some of these things to get out of the way of businesses.

As I close, I mention the regional events that I would encourage everyone to go to in my region: Tunarama, Oysterfest, Colour Tumby, the SALT Festival, the Cleve Harvest Music Fest, the Streaky Bay Rodeo by the Sea—and I could go on. I have been there, I have experienced it and I have talked to the people on the ground. Every one of the members here, and especially the tourism minister, should be doing the same.

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (16:55): In speaking to the grievance debate for the Supply Bill, I would like to take this opportunity to speak about a number of local projects and priorities that my community are getting behind and that I am advocating for on their behalf.

First—but in no particular order, I should say—is the Amy Gillett Bikeway. This is an incredible bike path that goes some 17 kilometres right throughout the beautiful Adelaide Hills. It is of course named after Amy Gillett herself, who tragically passed away in 2005 when she was representing Australia in Germany, doing a fantastic job. The bike path was part of ensuring that we could encourage more riders to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. This is a fantastic piece of community infrastructure but, unfortunately, it stops in Mount Torrens, and we desperately want to take it an extra six kilometres to Birdwood and then eventually even further to Mount Pleasant.

In terms of funding, we have $2.6 million on the table already from the commonwealth government, but this actually is not enough to deliver this project. So I have been advocating to the government to step up and chip in the money that is required so that my community and tourists can really enjoy this local piece of infrastructure. It is something that I have held street corner meetings about, and it is something that has been front and centre at some of the community forums that I have hosted and attended in Birdwood. Make no mistake, this is something that I know would be embraced fully not by just locals but by businesses and tourists alike.

It was also a priority for the former Liberal government. They placed it as a priority in the 2022-2032 Cycling Strategy, and that was celebrated right around the region because we were finally getting to the point where we could see this delivered. With the state budget coming up, I think that it is a fantastic opportunity for the government to tip in some additional funds so that this can be delivered for my region.

Another issue that I have spoken about in this house on a number of occasions is the delivery of a brand-new Barossa hospital. My community has been extraordinarily patient in waiting for this hospital to come to fruition. Of course, no-one expects that a Barossa hospital, or indeed any hospital, would be built overnight. No-one expects that because it takes so much considered and detailed work. But, in the four short years of the former Liberal government, we were able to achieve so much more than what the Labor government was able to achieve in its 17 years. We put money in the budget for the very first time, money that was going towards finalising the plans and money towards the purchase of the land and, of course, for the start of early works.

It will not surprise members in this place, nor will it surprise my community, that one of the first letters that I wrote as the local member of parliament was to the health minister to seek a guarantee that the process and the progress that were spearheaded and started by the former Liberal government would continue. In working with the community, I was able to secure that commitment, and that money stayed in the Labor government's first budget. That was a massive win for our local community.

I also asked for a guarantee that all the significant progress that had been made would continue: for instance, that progress would continue on keeping the expert clinical planners in the field and on having the community consultation on determining where the site would be. I was so delighted to read, on the front page of The Leader newspaper in the Barossa, that that was going to continue. That is a massive win for my local community.

Unfortunately, we have not yet seen the final plans for the Barossa hospital. We did seek a guarantee that we would be seeing them by March of this year. Obviously, two months have now gone by and we are yet to see these plans. Rest assured, I will continue to fight every single moment to make sure that this government stays the course, that this government stays the course on the progress that was spearheaded and started by the Liberal government to deliver a Barossa hospital for our community.

This is not just about making sure that the region of the Barossa can have a 21st century hospital; this is about making sure that the broader surrounds, looking to the Mid North and the Riverland, can be supported too. Also it means that it can alleviate some of that pressure on our metropolitan hospitals that we know are suffering quite a bit at the moment. They are so stretched in terms of capacity and this will not just deliver that hospital for the Barossa Valley but it will also alleviate some of that pressure on our city hospitals as well.

I see absolutely no reason why the land for the Barossa hospital cannot be purchased now. In fact, it was something that the former government unequivocally would have already done, because we should not be hesitating when it comes to purchasing this land. We have to secure it. We must see this delivered and I will be fighting for this at each and every turn.

Last week, the Leader of the Opposition and I had the opportunity to meet with the new head of Barossa Australia, Scott Hazeldine. One of the number one issues that we were talking about was, of course, water security. Water security is critical for regions like mine. Water is the lifeblood of my region. It is the lifeblood of regional communities right throughout South Australia. Under the former Liberal government, we had made significant progress in terms of a water security solution for my region.

There was so much work that had gone on behind the scenes. It is important that we do not lose sight of that and that we must do everything that we possibly can to deliver a water security solution for the Barossa Valley and Eden Valley. Do not let the rain fool you. It might be raining at the moment, but water security remains a number one issue for the Barossa Valley and Eden Valley and it is something that I am working hand in glove with the industry on to ensure that we can see that delivered.

Regional roads: this is something that I am constantly writing to the Minister for Regional Roads and to the Minister for Infrastructure on because we have thousands upon thousands upon thousands of kilometres that desperately need road maintenance work and repair done. When I opened the front page of The Advertiser a few weeks ago, I saw the big $3 billion figure because that is the price tag that is put on all the work that is needed to be done to upgrade not just our country roads but also our metro roads. I was not even surprised by that figure. I am sure that many people in my local community would not be surprised by that figure either. It is absolutely eye-watering, but it is essential that we spend every dollar that we possibly can to make sure that our regional roads are better and that our regional roads are safer.

There are a number of local roads that I have had some success in getting a solution for, which has been very much welcomed by my local area. I am talking about the Gumeracha main street. We have seen that redone. We have seen upgrades to the Torrens Valley scenic route. We have seen the dreadful bits of Eden Valley Road repaired, but there is so much more to be done. We have seen the T-junction at Gorge Road and Redden Drive in Cudlee Creek addressed. That was a massive safety concern for people in my local area. Now Gorge Road and Tippett Road in Cudlee Creek will be addressed.

As I say, there is still so much more work to be done and with the upcoming budget I see that as a massive opportunity to heavily invest in our regional roads, because when you have people in your local community coming to you with concerns about a road you have to listen to them. When you are in the regions, you know your road network like the back of your hand, and when people come to you with safety concerns or whether they have noticed a change in the surface, we just have to listen to them and get on with doing it the good old-fashioned way.

Linke's corner in Nuriootpa is again something that I have spoken about in this chamber previously, and it is something that the former federal Coalition government actually had $2 million on the table for, to deliver a roundabout. We should do everything that we possibly can to ensure that this roundabout is fast-tracked. It is such a form of anxiety for my local community, and if additional money is needed to fast-track that then the government must do what it can to put that money in.

I could go on because there are so many things in my local community that really do deserve investment. I am hopeful that we will see it. We have already started to see some of that investment under the former government and I hope that it continues.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Odenwalder.

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