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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-06-28 Daily Xml
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Bills

Appropriation Bill 2023

Second Reading

Debate resumed.

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (21:28): I am honoured to rise to speak after the contribution just now of the member for Schubert, the shadow minister for health and wellbeing. I just make the observation as I do that here we are, early in the evening in the course of the debate in response to the budget, and we have one opposition member making cogent and forceful submissions in response to this budget followed now by another, and it appears that the government members, who outnumber us in this place, have lost interest in the debate.

They appear to have lost interest in speaking up for a budget that the Treasurer has delivered only in recent days. I think it speaks volumes for where we are at now a year into this Malinauskas Labor government as to where we find ourselves because I stand here with the Budget Statement, Budget Paper 3, in my hand, and my goodness—has there ever been a more straightforward, single-page report card of mismanagement, of ill-discipline and of basic neglect over the course of a single year?

Let's put to one side questions of the merits of spending policy, the merits of program delivery, the arguments that might be taken from time to time about competing policies, and let's just look at basic questions of discipline and management. The people of South Australia need look no further than page 23 of Budget Paper 3, which sets out in a table neatly and in a straightforward way the operating expenses of those agencies within the responsibility of the Treasurer of this government and, my goodness me, what a story of mismanagement this tells—a full $1.353 billion of overspend to budget that we see for agency after agency after agency.

The one exception—well, there might be another. There is a single exception: the Electoral Commission of South Australia has conducted itself in a way that it has managed its budget and come in $1 million under, but we see other than that a catalogue of overspend. One goes down the list, whether it is those areas of responsibility of the Attorney-General and the courts, through to those significant areas of budget expenditure in health and education, there is significant overspend to budget everywhere that you look.

Those who follow the process year on year will think back a year to the budget that was presented in the early months following the election, in which there were a combination of objectives to deliver on election commitments, to deliver operating efficiencies and to ensure there was some sort of discipline towards budget management. What we see here is a flagrant disregard for anything resembling budget responsibility at all.

We can talk about those areas of need, and the Department of Child Protection was the exception in the budget last year; it was the recipient of significant additional funds, and well it is that it receives those additional funds. It was no exception; notwithstanding significant additional funds in last year's budget, the Department for Child Protection did not manage to operate within its means. We see a budget blowout in that department of $52 million.

If we go back to health and wellbeing, where the member for Schubert was focused just a moment ago, we see that so egregious was the blowout in the budget spend year on year that, if one looks from the estimated result for 2022-23 of $8.469 billion—that is, over the budgeted $7.715 billion—we see that the budget in 2023-24 actually involves a $200 million reduction in the health spend, and necessarily so because of the extraordinary lack of discipline in terms of just keeping to budget constraints year on year.

There is an irony that results from that lack of discipline, that the government will be forced into a situation where its estimated result for 2022-23 will lead to what we find in the budget—a $200 million cut in the health budget. Of course it should not have been so. With just basic responsible ministerial oversight department to department, and a Treasurer who was capable of holding ministers to account in terms of their capacity to run their departments, we should not have seen anything approaching this $1.353 billion overspend.

The only reason, in this context, that we are seeing a deficit delivered in the order of $250 million is because of course we have had all these windfall revenues that have come in over the course of the last year and have provided a cushion on this massive overspend. I say that by way of overarching remark.

We all want to say positive things about what public money can do and what commitments can be achieved by the deployment of public money from this space. We all want to endorse the capacity of good work to be done by public money, but it must be attended by discipline. I would really love to hear anybody on the government side say just how exactly an overspend in the order of $54 million on the $301 million budget in the Department for Environment and Water makes any sense at all in terms of good management and good sense.

So let's get on and talk about the merits of programs and policies. Let's get on and talk about the merits of prioritising scarce resources. But for those South Australians who are out there struggling every day to make ends meet—seeing their government, a year in, exhibiting this sort of profligacy and lack of discipline in terms of the deployment of public resources—it needs to have the light shone on it. It is mundane and it is ordinary. It is not a matter of high-minded macro-economic planning or policy delivery based on deficit spending of some virtue; this is simply a matter of saying that, year on year, budget accountability has not been achieved. Delivery against estimations, year on year, have been blown out and egregiously so. Let's just make that really clear.

I want to say to South Australians that this is not something that is just out there in the ether. This is real and the consequences of it are real. It means that over recent years we have gone from talking about a South Australian state budget that is spending in the order of $20 billion to what we see right there in Budget Paper 3, the Budget Statement, on page 23: a budget that, over the forward estimates, sees us projecting an expansion to a budget spend of nearly $30 billion. Before anybody contemplates where that might take us, just look at what is being projected for this year and what has actually resulted, and then think about what the results are in four years' time if this all comes to fruition under the current management.

It is one of the objectives in this place to avoid going over ground in a hackneyed and clichéd way, and I hate to engage in a dialogue that appears to go around the block in a way that we have heard before, but this is a completely straightforward, down-to-earth assessment of the numbers on the page. South Australians ought to have it loud and clear that, whatever your objectives are, you make sure as a government that you set yourself benchmarks and you hold yourself accountable to those benchmarks. The Treasurer should hang his head in shame at this page. This is $1.353 billion of failure to meet budget expectations. It is up-front and it looms large in the budget this year.

All of us on this side have of course been at pains to highlight those aspects of the budget that are positives and to ensure that we can get behind the commitments to spend on meritorious programs where they are identified, and I am no exception. Indeed, as has been said by a number of those who have contributed, and particularly on this side of the house, the infrastructure backlog in this state is now truly extraordinary.

The government has managed to achieve a $3 billion backlog on infrastructure spending in the state and one cannot see any end in sight. It needs to be addressed and, as a member representing a district that really provides a transition from the metropolitan area through to the regional parts of the state, I can tell you that, while the cost-of-living crisis looms largest and most comprehensively for all of those residents through the Hills, if there is one thing that comes up over and over again, it is the state of our regional roads in the Hills.

We have seen a large volume of rainfall in recent times, and we are now in the midst of winter weather. We have seen the potholes emerging and growing, we have seen those roads that are in dire need of improvement, and the cracks are literally showing and beginning to loom large. It is not lost on my electors that that $3 billion backlog is leaving them in unsafe territory when they venture out on the roads. There are examples of this throughout the district, but it comes back to that basic question: how are you deploying resources and what outcomes are you achieving with the deployment of resources?

Residents of Mylor have been living for months and months now with the ongoing process of a bridge repair and rectification process that was supposed to be finished at the end of May. It was supposed to be completed, we were told, around April-May. It has been the subject of repeated correspondence to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, and that now sits as an embarrassing sore on the record of the minister, as it is still, as we head rapidly towards the end of June, a one-way stretch across that unfinished bridge. The red light that appears for those who would cross it looms very large as an indicator of the government's impotence when it comes to delivering on even those works that are underway.

Of course, we have seen as well what ought to be a readily resolved matter of improvement and cooperation with the Adelaide Hills Council, the rectification of really very modest improvement works at the Aldgate park-and-ride. For those in the metropolitan area, we talk about park-and-ride in terms of really quite substantial facilities. For those residents of mine at Aldgate it would be enough just to have a bit of bitumen that rendered the park-and-ride navigable by two-wheel drive vehicles, and perhaps, if it was not too much to ask, a little bit of light and security be to be able to cross the road to the bus shelter on the other side. But even that appears to be too difficult for the time being for this government to deliver.

I applaud the students of Macclesfield Primary School, who are joining with me in calling for the delivery of improved safety and the provision for a crossing outside the Macclesfield Primary School. It is those kinds of infrastructure improvements that are sorely needed and ought to be delivered as a matter of priority, but we do not see any sign of them in the budget. Addressing some of those specific matters in the Hills provides some context to that $3 billion.

Of course, there are also significant capital works that the government has walked away from. It has been the subject of great angst in the Hills for many months now, since the government walked away from any commitment to deliver the necessary bypass at Hahndorf, money that was committed at state and federal levels to solving a problem in our state's premier tourist town that will now, it appears, have to languish because Labor governments, state and federal, have decided, 'We're not interested. We're not interested in the Hills, and we're not interested in delivering meaningful improvement.' It is a matter of course that is well documented.

In some good news, we see that there is to be carried forward upgrades to the Crafers park-and-ride. It is an occasion to reflect on the fact that in February of last year the former Marshall Liberal government announced, as part of a suite of improvements to public transport through the Hills—$19 million, in fact, of improvements—$6 million to expand the Crafers park-and-ride to a facility that would provide 140 extra parking spaces. We know that those who come to the Crafers hub come from all parts of the district, and the 140 parking spaces are well and truly overdue.

The government in its announcement has committed at least to carrying on the work, unlike what it has walked away from in Hahndorf, but unfortunately we are learning that it is only now going to deliver 85 car parking spaces. I will be happy to see the Crafers park-and-ride as it is delivered, but like so much of what we have seen in terms of the government's conduct of day-to-day business, as we have seen expressed on page 23 of Budget Paper 3 of this year, you have to see it to believe it in the course of this government's trajectory, because what we have seen so far is a promise, a non-delivery, a massive blowout and a range of ill-discipline.

In conclusion, perhaps drawing on and remembering the great Tina Turner, who recently passed, this government is not one where what you get is what you see. Quite to the contrary: we wait to see what comes. On the face of this document, we are in for a great deal of strife in the future years. There will be a lot more to say in the course of the estimates.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (21:48): I rise to speak to the Appropriation Bill 2023. I note that this is, as they are every year, the biggest budget I have seen for this state in 17 years. With the Supply Bill, it is close on $26 billion. But the issue I have, even though it is the biggest budget for the state, is that there is nothing in it for a typical South Australian family, a family of people contributing to the economy, paying tax, paying their way and then having to put up with cost-of-living increases, whether it is interest rates, whether it is groceries or whether, as we see, it is some wicked power price increases that are coming in. I will have a bit more to say about that later on.

I do want to concentrate on some parts of the portfolios that I handle as a shadow minister. Certainly, in regard to regional roads it is disappointing, really disappointing, to see the absolute stark lack of funding in regional roads. As someone who drives all over the state—I must admit I have not seen every kilometre of this state, but I have seen a fair bit of it—whether it is up to Innamincka, whether it is up the Stuart Highway, as I did recently, up to Kulgera and across to Finke in the Northern Territory, whether it is down to the South-East, whether it is the Mid North or whether it is around the Mallee, roads are just falling apart.

Sadly, the around $350 million over four years—over four years, I stress—over the forward estimates for road maintenance just will not cut it. It just will not cut it when you have a $3 billion maintenance backlog in this state, and it is not just that. It is the fact that we are not seeing the vision that we had when we were in government for four years. We put $18 billion into infrastructure right across the state, and much of that was on major road projects.

The Port Wakefield overpass project is still ongoing, the duplication up to Lochiel is ongoing, there are a whole range of projects. The eight roads we brought to 110 kilometres an hour was originally going to be a $37 million project. We needed $5 million more to do a bit of work on the Browns Well Highway between Loxton and Pinnaroo.

It was so pleasing to see that 200-kilometre section of road between Loxton and Bordertown with the shoulder sealing and some other road upgrades. There were some rough patches that needed to be fixed, and a bit of guardrail. I have mixed views on guardrail, but I will leave it there. That brought those roads to 110 kilometres an hour, because what we must understand is the productivity gains that we need to achieve in this state.

I am really pleased that when we were in government we commenced the Strzelecki Track upgrade. I have had a bit to do with the Strzelecki over my lifetime. Forty years ago, I worked up there for a couple of years. I have driven up and down it multiple times. I was up there only a year ago, the last time up to Innamincka and then the 29 or 30 kilometres on Adventure Way through to Queensland. That will be a fantastic project when it is completed. It will be, when it is completed, probably the quickest way to get to Brisbane: straight up to Innamincka and then just turn right.

I am really pleased about the projects that we instigated in government, but sadly we see the typical South Australian family left behind. We see regional South Australia left behind. I look at some of the projects that are in the budget this year. There is a $98 million road safety package over five years, and $40 million of that is going to a Mount Barker roundabout upgrade. I am not too sure that Mount Barker is out in the regions, but anyway it is what it is.

I have been around that roundabout many hundreds of times, whether I am linking through to Strathalbyn in my electorate or coming back from Strathalbyn to head back through to Adelaide, and quite frankly I cannot see a lot wrong with it. There has not been a death on there that I am aware of, which is a good thing. I am just so sad that that money could have been utilised in regional South Australia proper.

There is some money there to deploy and maintain some additional road safety cameras, $31.2 million, which includes some new mobile speed detection cameras, and over the four years of the forward estimates there is $10 million to undertake additional regional road safety treatments—audio tactile line marking, safety barriers and rural junction activated warning system signage—but that takes over four years.

I am pleased that $6.2 million is going to Kangaroo Island because, like any regional area, it deserves it, but it could do with a lot more. I have been over there multiple times, including helping to mop up after the big bushfires in 2020, and the roads need a lot of work, with only a small council.

There is money for some road safety campaigns over four years, $6.2 million, and $3.8 million to deliver motorcycle Rider Safe programs, which is to be applauded. There is nearly $500,000 to implement the new licensing scheme for motorists who operate high-powered super sports cars, but that is spread over four years. I have already mentioned that, sadly, there is no new money to address the road maintenance backlog, no new road projects of any size for regional roads, and important existing projects are at risk due to the federal government's 90-day review of infrastructure projects.

This includes projects like the Princes Highway upgrade as well as the, I think, $202 million for the Truro freight bypass. With the Hahndorf supposed bypass, we see that Labor has reneged on completing that project, that $250 million project. It would have been ideal if it had gone through in its proper form, but we are seeing politics played there.

We hear a lot of talk about the new Greater Adelaide freight route, and that has been mixed with projects like the duplication of the Swanport Bridge in the South East Links project. The South East Links is the first five kilometres of duplication, that has not happened for 40 years, on the Dukes Highway between Tailem Bend and the Mallee Highway, heading out towards the motorsport park. I am really concerned that some of these projects are either getting forgotten about or are being put out into the ether. They all need doing and they all need completing.

On the larger end of the spectrum there needs to be at least $10 billion—and that will rise as time goes on, and I am probably at the lower end—for the duplication of the Augusta Highway, the Sturt Highway and the Dukes Highway, on which I live at Coomandook. There are about 177 kilometres that have not been finalised to be done north of Lochiel to Port Augusta. This really should be done, because that is the road, amongst those three roads, that has the most road deaths.

There are close to 200 kilometres on each road, whether it is the Sturt Highway or the Dukes Highway, that need to be completed as well. We have seen too many accidents on both of those roads, even though on the Dukes there are overtaking lanes and that kind of thing. I tried to tell the Public Works Committee many years ago that instead of spending $100 million on overtaking lanes and a wide centre strip in the middle of the road they should start the duplication again. It was overruled, sadly; we might have saved some of the carnage on the Dukes Highway. I think it is the fourth busiest highway in this country with the freight between Adelaide and Melbourne. It is disappointing, to say the least, let alone for the people who have lost their loved ones on that road.

I have already talked about the road maintenance backlog, but let me talk about some of the good things in the budget in other sectors. I want to talk about the $26.7 million over four years to secure an additional nine aircraft to enhance South Australia's aerial firefighting capability. This is a good thing. I can tell you that I have been on a few firegrounds, whether that is active firefighting in the heat of the moment so to speak (without even trying to put in a pun) or mopping up, and it is just so nice to know the planes are up there.

When you have a red-hot fire but you know they are up there—sometimes they are not dumping near you or on you (which does not hurt, you just drop your lid if you know it is coming, drop your helmet)—it is so nice to know that they are hitting the hotspots so that the ground crews can get through. The McCabe family I have known for many, many years. Aerotech are one of the main operators in this state, and I know contractors work with them, and they have the Black Hawk helicopters now. I have heard they are doing some international work as we speak, and I commend them for everything they do. I think that will be a great advance, especially from where we were way back in the eighties with Ash Wednesday.

There is some money, nearly $2 million, for investment over four years to increase mental health, wellbeing and support for our volunteers and emergency services. I do applaud the $1.3 million over four years to establish a strategic flood barrier cache and provide training on the use of flood barrier materials. Alongside that, we have the government saying they have contributed $9.8 million to support the State Emergency Service to respond to the River Murray flood event.

This was a major event right up and down the river channel, and I commend all the volunteers in the SES, and the CFS—and, right across the board, our volunteers, paid workers, paid contractors—for the massive number of volunteer hours and also the massive contribution of everyone, whether it was local government, whether it was contractors and whether it was those vital SES and CFS volunteers and others, so that the impact of the River Murray floods could be lessened.

In saying that, as I did alongside my colleagues today, including the leader, David Speirs, we called on a full review of what happened and, yes there was a lot of good stuff. As I have said here before, I was working directly with chief executives, taking advice and giving advice, and I appreciated that all the time when we needed to make stuff happen—and we made stuff happen locally. We need to see what worked well, we need to see what did not work so well and we certainly need to see with the River Murray what we have learnt and what we need to do in the future. One of the big things is the management of the levee banks from around Mannum and south, where I looked after that 110 kilometres of levee bank area, and what we do next.

Quite frankly, a lot of work needs to be done, not just on where we set the levee bank height but on runways (and I will call them runways), especially on somewhere like the access points through to the River Murray levee around the Jervois Irrigation Trust, where there was 18 kilometres in the end, because of valiant work by the farmers—and, yes, the government contributed as well—to make sure we had those levees high enough. I worked alongside of them as well to make sure that we could do what we could to beat the flood event running over, but we need to do that work going into the future.

In regard to veterans affairs, I applaud a half million dollar investment over four years for a veterans community framework to support the veteran community through a veteran and families growth support program and comprehensive outreach program. Also, there is $730,000 for the redesign and upgrade of the Pathway of Honour in preparation for the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II on 15 August 2025.

I will note some local programs that are happening. We have the completion coming up of the $5 million Murray Bridge North Primary School upgrade, which was funded by our previous government, and the continuation of the Old Murray Bridge refurbishment, which was funded by our government with $36 million and another $10 million now by the Labor government, with the estimated completion date blown out to June 2025 though.

What I am sad about is that there is no new funding for health or education services in Hammond. I had a very fruitful conversation with the Minister for Education today, and I will say that there are quite a few schools, quite a few area schools and primary schools across the state—I know there are some in the member for MacKillop's electorate and some that were my electorate previously, before the redistribution. One school that is very close to my heart is the Coomandook Area School, where I completed my first 10 years of education.

The school is getting a valuable $1.6 million upgrade to convert a sewing room in the home economics centre to a science lab. We had said we will give $2 million to put a new building in and demolish another building and that the old building will be demolished either way. It is to be applauded that this is going in because some of the talk around Coomandook has not been that positive on the future of the school with declining numbers from, at its peak, around 330 students, now at about 120. That is just a sign I guess of declining regional population.

One thing that really sticks in my neck is some of the virtue signalling around power prices and where we are going with that. I am really concerned. I am not too fussed what anyone thinks about whether it is climate change or whatever, but we in the Western world—whether it is here, Australia, across the United States and over a lot of Europe—are driving ourselves into oblivion with some of the management of energy.

Certainly, here we have seen since coal-fired power stations—and, yes, it is a dirtier way to generate energy, but they do generate energy—have been knocked down since 2016, our power prices have been going through the roof. I want to give a list of coal-fired power station closures. These are all linked to South Australia through the connectors through to the Eastern States:

closed in May 2016:

the Northern Power Station in Port Augusta, 544 megawatts;

Playford A, South Australia, 90 megawatts;

Playford B, South Australia, 240 megawatts;

closed in March 2017:

Hazelwood in Victoria, 1,600 megawatts; and

just closed recently in Lidell in New South Wales in April 2023, 2,000 megawatts.

That is 4,474 megawatts that have gone out of the system—nearly 5,000 megawatts—and I certainly believe that has something to do with where we are today with power prices going through the roof, yet we still have people bagging gas. We see caps come in for coal and gas and I really worry about what it is going to do into the future, especially when you see the rewards that are coming to Queensland, New South Wales as well, and WA on the export of coal and gas.

We are getting belted with power price increases, with people coming in really concerned about the notices they are getting from their energy companies, and this really strikes at the heart of cost of living. This is the highest one that has come into our office: Sumo power, controlled load usage, up 171 per cent.

Mrs Hurn: Wow!

Mr PEDERICK: Yes, wow. Peak usage up 104 per cent. The advice we gave to that constituent was, 'You need to look elsewhere.' This is where we are and we really need to have a good hard look at ourselves as a society because we are going to be in real strife because what is going to happen with the cost of living and these higher power costs is we are going to see not thousands but hundreds of thousands of people literally on the streets, and that worries me. It worries me deeply, not just for the seat of Hammond but for the state and the rest of this country. I hope we can find a way out.

Ms PRATT (Frome) (22:08): I take this opportunity to make my own remarks in response to the Appropriation Bill and will use this time to reflect on the last 12 months as being the member for Frome and some of the comparisons or improvements I was looking for from this budget after the last one. Disappointment, I think it is fair to say, is the overarching emotion that I get from this budget. I had hoped that the recent budget handed down by the state Labor government would herald some relief for the voters and residents of Frome, but sadly there is no good news for us in the Mid North.

For a second budget in a row to have overlooked the region of the Mid North, the Clare Valley and the Adelaide Plains, broadly speaking, put me in mind of a good Broadway classic: Brigadoon, this lovely little hamlet in the Highlands that would only appear through the mist every 100 years. For the electorate of Frome to be overlooked in such a significant way by this budget makes me very concerned that a large portion of regional South Australia is just not on this government's radar.

Mr Pederick: Shame!

Ms PRATT: Shame indeed. My reflection over the last 12 months is that the issues that are trending in the electorate of Frome and the themes that frequently come up or continue from 12 months ago are still trending on roads, housing and health. This is not shifting; it is not budging. These are still issues that create anxiety and concern in my local towns and communities. While every endeavour is being made on this side of the house to bring attention to roads, health and housing, we are slipping backwards, to be quite honest. I will use roads as my first example.

The RAA released a report that identifies a $3 billion backlog in road maintenance. It is just an astounding figure: a $3 billion backlog. Homework has not been done, the work has not been done, and I am just trying to process on behalf of my residents the frustration that they feel as they travel along. We know that roads connect us all. They connect us to sport, they connect us to work and they connect us to family visits. I continue to think about people who are unwell and are required to travel to health appointments, holding broken bones and just feeling generally unwell, rattling along and having to grab onto whatever they can as they navigate disintegrating roads along the way.

Late last year, I was forced to document for the government, for the minister, 17 kilometres of disintegrated bitumen with craters, not potholes. There were 13 requirements for repair. While that prompted a meeting with the minister and opportunities for my constituents to feed in other concerns, it just really highlighted that this is one road in one district in one electorate of many across the state. When we add up all of these roads that country members are cataloguing in their own offices, it actually does make sense that we are $3 billion behind.

Grain Producers SA took an opportunity to engage with producers, drivers and community members to audit our country roads. They came up with the top 10 worst grain roads, and I am sad to say that Frome came out on top. As I list off those 10 roads, four of them were in Frome: the Upper Yorke Road, Arthurton to Kulpara; Nine Mile Road; Worlds End Highway in Frome between Robertstown and Eudunda; the Mallee Highway; the Flinders Highway; Owen Road, which is between Hamley Bridge and Templers in Frome; Booleroo Road; Templers Road, which is between Freeling and Templers in Frome; Frances Road; and, coming in at number 10, the Barrier Highway in Frome.

When we look at the budget and identify that $10 million of additional funding over four years has been allocated to road safety, line marking, widening and safety barriers, they are all welcome. We always want to see that investment, but $10 million against a $3 billion backlog is laughable. We are talking about $2½ million of new money each year and it is just not enough.

I have maintained a communication line with the Minister for Regional Roads, and I welcome his attention on the feedback that country Liberal members are reporting to him about the state of these roads, but I have written to the minister at least 50 times, providing photos and evidence, to make sure that we are doing the work to report to the Traffic Management Centre based in the city what is required for repairs in the country. I think that for the Minister for Regional Roads to exist as a title without a discrete agency makes him a bit of a toothless tiger and what concerns me is the palpable anxiety, distress and frustration that my locals continue to report to me.

Housing and health were two of the other common threads. I have paid a lot of attention to the southern end of the electorate of Frome where we are seeing an enormous housing boom. From Riverlea to Concordia to Buckland Park on the coast, swirling around in a north-easterly curl that hugs the Gawler River is a horticultural and industrial tranche of land that will make the Adelaide Plains unrecognisable.

Two Wells, Lewiston, Roseworthy and Freeling are all townships in the southern end of my electorate. They are certainly experiencing a housing boom and we welcome our country towns expanding with new families coming into them. But all these towns need to see better decision-making and practical service delivery by this government when it comes to critical infrastructure, such as water connections and water pressure, which is unresolved in Freeling.

Residents in Two Wells, Kapunda and Roseworthy talk to me about access to public transport. While the electrification of the Gawler line has been completed—and I know young people in Kapunda will drive to Gawler to make use of that—we really need to see a lot more of that pushing north to some of our peri-urban regional townships. It gets much, much harder the further north you go.

When it comes to housing in these areas and announcements in the budget, one such announcement was the Regional Key Worker Housing Scheme, which was identified to build homes for government workers, such as teachers, nurses, police and doctors and specifically 30 of those homes being built across the Copper Coast, the Riverland, Mount Gambier, Port Augusta and Ceduna.

You did not hear me say the Mid North because the Mid North is not included. When we talk about new housing for frontline workers across regional South Australia, all the big towns are represented. In last year's budget the reference to the Mid North was a funding commitment to Port Pirie. It is an hour away; it could not be further from the truth. We moved on from that and, in reference to new money invested in the regions, the Mid North does not come close. It is disappointing to go fishing and fossicking for crumbs and still find that it is not there as a priority.

When it comes to 30 houses being built across those many big country centres, my office would have received pleas for assistance from at least 30 people just throughout Frome for housing, so we encourage and welcome the government investing in housing, of course, but we can always do more. Housing has been a chronic pressure point for so many families and professionals, for people with means and those without. I think it is cold comfort for frontline workers who live in Frome to discover they are just not part of that program.

Health is a big mountain to climb in the regions. It is part of the triumvirate of themes that create pressure points, disappointment, frustration and anxiety. I want to make my concluding remarks with a focus on health, given that it is what my community talks to me about the most and it reflects the portfolio responsibilities that I have.

The government baked into its own budget a headline promotion about returning country cabinet, as though they were the heroes of regional South Australia. Country cabinet written into the budget is one thing but, with the language that was used, it was set to describe people living in regional areas as having the opportunity to engage directly with the decision-makers in government—and is that not a great thing. We would welcome people in the regions and people in the city always having access to decision-makers in government. They have that voice, first and foremost, through their state members of parliament.

But what comes with the responsibility through country cabinet of being available for a couple of days as a collective in a region is the responsibility to address the problems that are uncovered through those conversations and forums. I think this government has failed to understand that, and I point to a couple of examples.

In February, the government's country cabinet was held on Yorke Peninsula—in Maitland I think—but that very night all of South Australia discovered that the Wallaroo Hospital was under siege. We learned of assaults, violence and damage to property. It took this government four months to repair a glass panel at the front door. It is one thing to offer a country cabinet, rock up, take the photos and tell the story, but this town and community were left waiting. I know it was a great frustration to the member for Narungga that a glass panel could not be sourced for four months. It took for him to ask a question in the house for that to be resolved the next day. In fact, cardboard is being used to patch up some of this damage.

Most recently, the government went over to Kangaroo Island for a country cabinet, hosting a forum and, naturally, people flocked to these opportunities to have access to decision-makers, but problems were uncovered. It was harrowing to listen to the story of a mother who lives on the island and had a terrible experience—her daughter had a terrible experience—with a misdiagnosed ruptured appendix.

Children get sick and the health system is there to support families as best as it can but, in raising the concern, surely the solution is in front of us all. It is an emperor's new clothes moment. Instead of insisting or expecting that families are having to add to cost-of-living pressures by flying or ferrying themselves off the island, the answer was right there in front of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing, and that was to source a paediatrician and fly in the paediatric services to Kangaroo Island, and it should happen immediately.

On Kangaroo Island, the announcement by the government from its budget was a $15 million allocation for the update or rebuild of workforce accommodation, which I really welcome. I know that nurses on the island who were using some of the old accommodation—some of them having to move 11 times in 10 weeks—were sometimes accommodated at the 'last resort hotel', as they called it. So it is a farewell to that, and a $15 million injection into accommodation, and I would love to think that more of those announcements are pending around regional South Australia for our workforce.

I am really concerned about the frequency and the acute nature of problems that we are uncovering in regional health. It seems, by the long list of deficiencies, that the regions are really the second cousins, with money pouring into city health, and again it is a disappointment.

We know that security in hospitals is an issue and in Wallaroo, Port Pirie and the Riverland General Hospital in Berri there are constant examples of people in those communities who are experiencing distress, mental health disorders or an illness that means their behaviour is unregulated but doctors, nurses, patients and visitors are at risk. There is nothing in the budget to suggest that that is about to be addressed.

Birthing services, while they have just been returned to Kangaroo Island after four months' withdrawal, we now know do not exist in Whyalla. The pressure on pregnant mums in Whyalla pushes them down the peninsula to Port Lincoln or more likely back to the city and we are constantly talking about the pressures that the city health system is seeing.

My greatest disappointment, but the issue of least surprise, is a failure to invest in the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme. Reflecting on the comments I made 12 months ago in this house, I was also talking about the PAT Scheme and calling for an increase to the reimbursement for travel. Lo and behold, on 1 January on a sleepy summer's day in a city paper a little announcement appeared to show that that increase had gone from16¢ to 32¢ and we welcome that.

The next challenge is to invest in the overnight subsidy and to play catch-up with commercial rates for staying in a hotel when your health treatment requires you to come to the city. There is nothing in the budget that points to any movement in that direction, but maybe on 1 January next year I will get another pleasant surprise.

Palliative care, end-of-life services in our country towns, has been spoken about in this house today. I want to double my efforts and recognise the passing of Lily Thai, who was receiving hospice care, end-of-life treatment, at Flinders and made a decision through the voluntary assisted dying legislation to bring an end to her suffering. My condolences go to her parents, but I really want to leave a tribute for Lily in recognising her bravery for making those decisions and honour her legacy of hoping to see this government, or another, invest in hospice services for young people.

Funding of $31 million over three years for the extension and deployment of electronic medical record programs seems to be the most significant funding announcement that the government has made towards regional health. I would say that is just what governments should be doing and it is nothing to herald and nothing to celebrate; it is just business as usual.

Where the Treasurer was quick to trumpet that $2.3 billion would be additional spending in the health budget, really all we have seen from that is record spending and record ramping. This is a budget that has no incentives for the workforce, it has no ideas and it has no pulse.

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (22:28): I also rise to make comment on the Appropriation Bill. As others have stated, there are many concerns in this budget. It has been a cause to reflect on the environment five years ago as we saw the new Marshall Liberal government come into power and deliver its commitments in my electorate.

The two election promises that were made early on in the campaign and delivered in the electorate were two pieces of important infrastructure. Mount Compass, one of the smaller towns in my electorate, had no playground, no playground at all. Alexandrina Council very much wanted to put a decent playground in and, with assistance from the state government, they were able to do so. About $300,000 of state money went towards that playground, which included a BMX track, a skate park and a general playground, and it has been very much welcomed by the community.

The other one was also another important piece of infrastructure at Victor Harbor, and that was for the new roundabout on the corner of Crozier Road and Torrens Street. It was $2.3 million to put that roundabout in, and it has changed the way traffic moves in Victor Harbor. It has certainly made it much easier and much safer for people to travel through the town to get to shopping centres, etc. It really has made an enormous difference, much more than I ever imagined the impact would be.

There has also been some significant funding into the surf lifesaving community in my electorate. I am privileged to have three surf lifesaving clubs in my electorate, and all three of them opened new facilities in the four years we were in government. The Chiton Rocks Surf Life Saving Club was the first, followed by the Goolwa Surf Life Saving Club, which went from being in a tin shed to a magnificent building looking over Goolwa Beach, one of the toughest beaches in South Australia to patrol. Talking to my three surf lifesaving clubs, their opinion is they are the only surf lifesaving clubs in South Australia because they are the only ones with surf. The rest of them—

The Hon. K.A. Hildyard interjecting:

Mr BASHAM: I said that's their opinion, not my opinion, that they are the only true surf lifesaving clubs. I was privileged to be at the Port Elliot Surf Life Saving Club on Friday for their annual awards night. It was wonderful to be there and also for them to recognise one of their members, Ian Grant, who received an Order of Australia Medal. Ian is a wonderful human being who has made a huge commitment to lifesaving not just here in Port Elliot itself but in South Australia and right around the world.

His passion is to save people from drowning worldwide, and he is doing that fantastic work internationally in trying to improve those numbers. He was talking about over a thousand a day worldwide who drown, and 600 of those drown in open waters. If we can just improve the swimming in many countries, we will actually save many lives. Well done to Ian.

Also they recognised, sadly, that this year they have lost three of their life members who passed away during the year. To lose three life members is sad for the club—Rod Ellis, Raelene Smith and Terry Green, who were all great contributors to the club over different periods of time. It was a very sad day indeed to lose them.

We also have seen other significant spends in the electorate. Goolwa PipiCo is a great business that operates in the town of Port Elliot. Interestingly, Goolwa PipiCo is in Port Elliot, but that is where they are currently located. They have done some fantastic upgrades in their business. We have seen about half a million dollars injected into that business to see a great improvement.

Another great spend in the electorate was the Mount Compass Area School, where about $11 million was spent. I am an old scholar of Mount Compass Area School, and I spent my primary school years there from year 3 through to year 7. I went back there not long after being elected, before this upgrade and made the comment to the principal at the time, 'I'm not sure the buildings have even been painted since I left.' That is how little change there was, whereas now they have a great facility, amazing buildings and opportunities for the students to prosper in this fantastic new environment. That is another great investment.

Another one that I was also very proud to see invested in the area was the chemotherapy unit in Victor Harbor to allow patients who needed chemotherapy to actually have the treatment in Victor Harbor rather than travel. Victor Harbor through to Goolwa is an older than average population, and so sadly there are probably more people requiring chemotherapy generally in that community than elsewhere. It is fantastic that we are able to give them the opportunity to be treated locally. I guess the sad thing, though, is that there are also other things that we would love to see there. Radiotherapy is another treatment that is also needed. People are having to make daily trips to Adelaide for radiotherapy. It would be nice if we could get that locally as well.

One of the disappointing things that I have seen since the change of government is we have been waiting for the plans for the new emergency department at the South Coast District Hospital to be progressed. The money was made available from the state Marshall government as well as the Morrison federal government to make these upgrades. It has been sitting in the budget; the plans just have not progressed. We need to see the work actually get on the ground. It is very important that we see that money invested into that hospital.

One of the pleasing things that I have seen is one of the commitments that the government made in opposition for a new ambulance station—something that I had certainly been advocating to the previous minister, Stephen Wade, to invest in this space. Unfortunately, I was not able to convince the government of the day to do so, but I am pleased to see it is progressing. My only concern is I think it is in completely the wrong location. I have written three letters to the minister pointing that out and suggesting alternative locations.

I have real concerns about the traffic movements. The proposed location is not far from where the Aldi is coming into Victor Harbor, and during the summer the traffic there can be clogged—absolutely clogged. I sent the minister a video that was taken between Christmas and new year most recently, where it took me about eight minutes to travel from Aldi to the roundabout, which is about 250 metres. I do not think that is a great place to locate an ambulance station when you have a known clog like that in high peak periods. It is only going to get worse because one of the major subdivision areas that is about to be developed in the next 10 years will feed into that exact spot as well. So it is only going to get worse.

There have been other great spends around the electorate. The Goolwa sporting complex is a fantastic complex there now. I went and visited the previous change rooms prior to the upgrade and then went and talked to my dad. He said, 'Well, they haven't changed since I played footy,' and when he played footy they were the worst change rooms in the league. They were still the worst change rooms in the league 55 years later, so it was really quite disappointing for them to suffer under those circumstances for such a long time.

Another upgrade that I have the privilege of attending this Friday night, and I believe the minister is also attending, is the opening of the new facilities at the Encounter Bay Football Club. That is a club that really knows how to make a government grant work for them. There are a lot of retired tradies who work within the club, and the amount that they received from the government, both state and federal, they have turned into an amazing facility. It is a big credit to those people to be able to turn that money around. It was very much project-managed by club members. As I said, there are many retired tradies there. There is a fantastic wooden bar that has been built by one of the members. It is an absolute credit to them and really pleasing to see.

We have also seen investments in tourism in the area. We have seen investments into the caravan park over at Goolwa. It has turned that area from a very sad space to a very vibrant caravan park. Despite the fact that I live in Victor Harbor, I would happily go and stay over at Goolwa in the caravan park for a bit of time in the cabin, sitting by the pool, enjoying the life that has been built there for the purpose of tourists.

We have also seen a significant investment that was made into other tourism ventures, including out at Softfoot which is out Hindmarsh Valley way. They have put some wonderful accommodation on the property where you can go and stay. It is quite amazing, with very private little venues through the scrub that they have built. You can sit in the bath outside and not be concerned that anyone is going to see you enjoying the wonderful environment of the Fleurieu.

Another project nearby that is really, really disappointing concerns a group of locals who were passionate about seeing mountain biking occur on some wonderful terrain that operates down there. When the member for Black (Leader of the Opposition) was Minister for Environment, he declared that the Hindmarsh Valley National Park was going to be proclaimed and that mountain biking was going to be a key part of that project. Unfortunately, the new government has ruled that out.

This is a wonderful piece of land—a former dairy farm that has been able to be brought back into the national park network—with the uniqueness of having a very steep terrain with many tracks through it already because the cattle and vehicles used to track up through the rise. It would have lent itself to mountain biking. I really would hope that the government would reconsider its position in that respect.

We have seen some significant upgrades in Victor Harbor itself with the Mainstreet upgrades that have occurred at different stages. The last one certainly has brought the southern end of Ocean Street to life, with some amazing sculptures that are lit up at nigh that have the town talking. They are big circles and are meant to reflect sea creatures. I do not see the sea creatures in them—others sometimes do—but they are an amazing scene within the town.

We also have investment at Goolwa, with the wharf area in particular that is only just getting underway. The work there is going to transform that wharf area to see an amazing change to the environment down there. The Signal Point building that was opened by the King, when he was the Prince of Wales, has certainly deteriorated since 1988 when that building was opened. It will be wonderful to see the investment there and get it activated so that it has air conditioning and can actually have events both in the heat and the cold. It will change that space.

I was also privileged to be with the member for Dunstan not that long ago down at the Hotel Elliot with the opening of their new upgrade called Salt, another wonderful tourism grant from the previous government that has actually transformed The Strand, the main street of Port Elliot with the development that has occurred. We have seen further upgrades including caravan parks in Victor as well.

We have seen money to build an indoor archery centre for the national training of archers in Australia to occur just at Back Valley, just outside Victor Harbor. Pat Coghlan is a fantastic archer himself, an Olympic archer, and he has very much championed this and delivered this indoor facility to give archers the ability to train there in all capacities.

Reflecting back on what has been delivered, there are two items that really stand out as investments in my community and they are long-term investments, generational investments. The causeway across to Granite Island is an amazing investment in the community of Victor Harbor, the Fleurieu and South Australia. The ability to just wander across to Granite Island is just one of those lovely things that you can do in any weather. No matter whether it is blowing a gale or whether it is a lovely sunny day, you can still do it.

I have reflected before that I have actually never been alone on that causeway. During its build, I would sometimes pop out there on my way to cabinet on a Monday morning just to have a look and see where it had got to in the previous week. I have been out there at three in the morning, still not alone. The people of the community are very passionate about this causeway, and it is amazing the number of visitors who are down there.

One of the things that I am probably most proud about in my electorate—and, as I said, it is generational—is the Goolwa high school. Goolwa is a community that has been a key part of South Australian history. It was alongside one of the possible sites for the capital city when Light was looking at options and, being a river port, always had an enormous ability through the 1890s and 1900s to see goods brought down the river and exported through either Port Elliot or the port of Victor Harbor to all parts of the world.

They have been very much wanting a high school for many years. I first went to school at Port Elliot Primary School, and I wondered why all these big kids were on the bus with me on the way to Port Elliot Primary School. It was because they were going from Goolwa across to Victor. They were desperate, even at that stage, for a high school. In my lifetime, people have been advocating to get that high school.

To see it actually delivered for the community is a wonderful thing and was a great opportunity with Investigator College moving out of that site. I am so pleased that I was able to convince the Marshall Liberal government to seize that opportunity and invest about $10 million to upgrade that facility. It is now a fantastic school. It is something that town can be proud of that is actually going to deliver an outcome for that community. It is going to drive that community to continue to grow.

It gives an opportunity for families to remain there, and it will actually change the culture of the town. Sadly, the culture was that, once you got to year 7 or 8, you had to leave. The sad thing is that many of them never came back. This will really give that opportunity, and I am looking forward to watching it grow as a school as it progresses through the years to build up to being a year 12 school. Currently, it is only up to year 9, but in a couple of years' time as those students travel through, we will see that school turn into a wonderful asset for that community. With those few words, all I can say is I am so proud of what we were able to deliver and so disappointed in what has not been delivered.

Bill read a second time.

Estimates Committees

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) (22:48): I move:

That this bill be referred to estimates committees.

Motion carried.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: I move:

That the proposed expenditures for the departments and services contained in the Appropriation Bill be referred to Estimates Committees A and B for examination and report by 6 July, in accordance with the timetables distributed.

Motion carried.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: I seek leave to incorporate the timetables in Hansard without my reading them.

Leave granted.

APPROPRIATION BILL 2023

TIMETABLE FOR ESTIMATES COMMITTEES

ESTIMATES COMMITTEE A

THURSDAY 29 JUNE AT 9.00 AM

Premier

Legislative Council

House of Assembly

Joint Parliamentary Services

Administered Items for Joint Parliamentary Services

State Governor's Establishment

Auditor-General's Department

Department of the Premier and Cabinet (part)

Administered Items for the Department of the Premier and Cabinet (part)

Attorney-General

Minister for Aboriginal Affairs

Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector

Courts Administration Authority

Attorney-General's Department (part)

Administered Items for the Attorney-General's Department (part)

Electoral Commission of South Australia

Administered Items for Electoral Commission of South Australia

FRIDAY 30 JUNE AT 9.00 AM

Minister for Energy and Mining

Department for Energy and Mining (part)

Minister for Infrastructure and Transport

Department for Infrastructure and Transport (part)

Administered Items for the Department for Infrastructure and Transport (part)

Minister for Regional Roads

Department for Infrastructure and Transport (part)

Administered Items for the Department for Infrastructure and Transport (part)

MONDAY 3 JULY AT 9.00 AM

Minister for Climate, Environment and Water

Department for Environment and Water

Administered Items for the Department for Environment and Water

Administered Items for the Department of Treasury and Finance (part)

Department for Energy and Mining (part)

Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science

Department for Industry, Innovation and Science (part)

Administered Items for the Department for Industry, Innovation and Science (part)

Minister for Defence and Space Industries

Defence SA (part)

TUESDAY 4 JULY AT 9.00 AM

Minister for Small and Family Business

Minister for Consumer and Business Affairs

Attorney-General's Department (part)

Administered Items for the Attorney-General's Department (part)

Department for Industry, Innovation and Science (part)

Administered Items for the Department for Industry, Innovation and Science (part)

Minister for Arts

Department of the Premier and Cabinet (part)

Administered Items for the Department of the Premier and Cabinet (part)

Department for Industry, Innovation and Science (part)

Administered Items for the Department for Industry, Innovation and Science (part)

Minister for Multicultural Affairs

Department of the Premier and Cabinet (part)

Administered Items for the Department of the Premier and Cabinet (part)

Minister for Tourism

South Australian Tourism Commission

Administered Items for the Department of Treasury and Finance (part)

WEDNESDAY 5 JULY AT 9.00 AM

Minister for Education, Training and Skills

Department for Education

Administered Items for the Department for Education

ESTIMATES COMMITTEE B

THURSDAY 29 JUNE AT 9.00 AM

Treasurer

Department of Treasury and Finance

Administered Items for the Department of Treasury and Finance (part)

Minister for Human Services

Department of Human Services (part)

Administered Items for the Department of Human Services (part)

FRIDAY 30 JUNE AT 9.30 AM

Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing

Department for Infrastructure and Transport (part)

Administered Items for the Department for Infrastructure and Transport (part)

Minister for Child Protection

Department for Child Protection

Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence

Department of Human Services (part)

Administered Items for the Department of Human Services (part)

Minister for Health and Wellbeing

Department for Health and Wellbeing

Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health

Wellbeing SA

MONDAY 3 JULY AT 9.00 AM

Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services

South Australia Police

Administered Items for South Australia Police

Department for Correctional Services

South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission

South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service

South Australian State Emergency Service

Administered Items for the Department of Treasury and Finance (part)

Department for Infrastructure and Transport (part)

Administered Items for the Department for Infrastructure and Transport (part)

TUESDAY 4 JULY AT 9.00 AM

Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development

Minister for Forest Industries

Department of Primary Industries and Regions

Administered Items for the Department of Primary Industries and Regions

WEDNESDAY 5 JULY AT 9.00 AM

Minister for Trade and Investment

Minister for Housing and Urban Development

Minister for Planning

Department for Trade and Investment

Administered Items for the Department for Trade and Investment

Administered Items for the Department of Treasury and Finance (part)

Minister for Local Government

Department for Infrastructure and Transport (part)

Administered Items for the Department for Infrastructure and Transport (part)

Minister for Veterans Affairs

Defence SA

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: I move:

That Estimates Committee A be appointed, consisting of Hon. A. Piccolo, Mr Batty, Ms Savvas, Hon. D.J. Speirs, Hon. V.A. Tarzia, Ms Thompson and Ms Wortley.

Motion carried.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: I move:

That Estimates Committee B be appointed, consisting of Mr Hughes, Mr Cowdrey, Mr Fulbrook, Ms Hutchesson, Mr McBride, Mr Odenwalder and Hon. D.G. Pisoni.

Motion carried.

The Legislative Council gave leave to the Attorney-General, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, and Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector (Hon. K.J. Maher), and the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, and Minister for Forest Industries (Hon. C. M. Scriven) to attend and give evidence before the estimates committees of the House of Assembly on the Appropriation Bill, if they think fit.


At 22:52 the house adjourned until Thursday 6 July 2023 at 11:00.

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