HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Member Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-03-19 Daily Xml
Contents
Xml

Grievance Debate

Malinauskas Labor Government

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (15:04): This week marks two years since the election of the Malinauskas Labor government—and listen to the arrogance, as usual. They celebrate that their snouts are back in the trough, but importantly we need to ask ourselves: are South Australians celebrating the fact that the Labor Party has been in government for the last two years? Are South Australians celebrating the outcomes of this Labor government? Are South Australians feeling better off across a whole range of areas than they did two years ago when this government was first elected? The unequivocal answer to all of that is 'absolutely not', because in the last two years we have seen South Australia go backwards across so many different measurements.

The measurement that is worth reflecting on today is the Premier's own measurement. The Premier said in a public forum just a couple of weeks ago—quite clearly an admission of his government's own inadequacy, and an admission, perhaps, of his own inadequacy—that nine times out of 10 when a politician speaks, makes a commitment, makes a pledge, makes a promise, it is BS. I am not going to use that word in full; the Premier did, but I have respect for this chamber and this house and I will not be using that word. The Premier said that nine times out of 10 what his party does, what they say, what they pledge, what they commit to is BS. We can see that time and time again in terms of the delivery, or lack thereof, of the Labor government since they came to office.

Of course, the biggest example of a statement that has turned out to be BS is the central election commitment that that party was elected on two years ago, and that election commitment was: 'We will fix the ramping crisis. Vote Labor like your life depends on it.' Remember Ash the ambo making those claims to the community, urging South Australians to do so—vote Labor like your life depends on it? Well, Eddie's life depended on it. He waited 10 hours for an ambulance, and by the time it turned up to his care facility in Hectorville Eddie had tragically passed away. We know there are lots of other examples out there in the community. Some families have spoken up; some are too grief-stricken to do so.

People are dying waiting on ambulances, they are dying on the ramp, they are dying in the full-to-capacity emergency departments. This is a tragedy facing South Australia. Under Labor, this example of BS, this election commitment, has delivered the 21 worst months of ramping in South Australia's history. February statistics just handed down a couple of weeks ago showed the worst February for ramping in South Australia's history.

You can work down through the list of commitments that have been utterly compromised or walked away from altogether. The cost-of-living commitment, the Premier saying that cost of living is to go down under his government, a commitment that he would put downward pressure on cost of living. Well, the pressure has been put, and that has been put forward to South Australian families and small businesses, as their costs have surged: interest rates are up and their energy bills are through the roof.

We have a great fear for the SA Water regulatory determination coming up on 1 July this year, that that could see water bills surge. Now we have heard of a new tax which is emerging, the GP patient tax, which could end bulk billing as we know it. It could drive more patients to ramping, to EDs and away from their local GP. That is a new tax from a government that committed there would be no tax rises, there would be no new taxes.

Looking not too far away, just to the east of here, we see the Adelaide Parklands—well, really, to the north, south, east and west surrounding our city. But particularly in the context of the Dunstan by-election, many residents there care for their Parklands. Labor said that they would protect our unique Parklands, and what do we see? Five separate attacks on our Parklands, as listed by the Adelaide Park Lands Association: lost Parklands, Parklands locked away from South Australians to enjoy.

We see a commitment broken to offer three-year-old preschool to all children in South Australia from 2026. We are now told that kids, to get access to that, will have to be born in 2029 and hope that it is available in the early 2030s for them—another broken promise. South Australians deserve better than a Premier where nine times out of 10 what he and his government say, what they commit to, what they pledge, is BS.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT