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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-08-27 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

Malinauskas Labor Government

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (15:19): After two years, sir, you have a government that has completely lost control. You have a union boss Premier who has lost control of the union movement, you have a health minister who has lost control of the healthcare system, and you also have a Premier who has lost control of his backbench. We saw that last week when they started leaking to The Advertiser in relation to the Crown and Anchor as well.

What can we say? Let's talk about ramping. With only 81 weeks until the next state election, can I tell you we will continue to remind the people of South Australia about the biggest lie that was told to them by the Labor Party before the last state election. We will continue to remind them that the Labor Party lied to the people of South Australia about fixing ramping because, as we know, it is the worst that it has ever been: 5,539 hours lost to ramping, over 100,000 since the state election, and that is compared with nearly 75,000 for our entire four years in government.

Not only that but we also see that there are 22,000 people or thereabouts waiting for elective surgery, and out of that, 4,000 are actually overdue. They are in all of our electorates, more or less. If Labor wants bipartisanship on health, the first step of that per the convention is for the health minister to back down and resign. Admit the Labor lie. The minister should do what is right by convention and resign.

Coming to the Crown and Anchor, we know that the Premier has lost control of his backbench. We saw that last week. The Advertiser reported on the Crown and Anchor and how the Premier did not even have the courtesy to talk to his backbench. You would think that this arrogance would take a little bit of time to creep in—like it did with Rann, like it did with Weatherill—but, alas, it has been two years and it is already happening. This is not us putting these stories out: this is coming from the backbench of the Labor Party.

I should just refer to some of these quotes. The Premier is facing 'widespread internal fury over claims a lack of respect was shown to Labor MPs who were left in the dark about his intervention'. What can I say? It is the Labor Party boys' club. It is the three or four of them who are making all the decisions. They think they are that good that they do not even have to consult the backbench. The Advertiser report went on. It said: 'Multiple MPs have voiced private fury at poor communication by the Premier.'

Apparently, some of them did not even know where the protest was. You would think they would have had the decency to at least find out. Another source said: 'The distance between the top (Mali) and the people who put him there is so great, he doesn't even bother speaking to some anymore.' He does not even bother speaking to them: we speak to each other. We might not always agree, but we speak to each other. They do not even talk to the backbench. Two years in, it is an absolute disgrace.

Then, of course, there is the cost of living. We know that South Australians are doing it tough at the moment. We know that many families are struggling to make ends meet. We know that the average South Australian family is on average around $25,000 worse off per year under this Labor government, whether it is water bills—and we have heard a pathetic defence about why the Labor Party needs to put up water bills the way they are—whether it is mortgage repayments, or whether it is energy bills. How much more can these businesses put up with? We saw it today from Nippy's. We are seeing stories of this every single day, and the government still want to defend their pathetic record when it comes to energy. It is simply not good enough.

Then, of course, there is the gift that keeps on giving: the CFMEU. You would have thought that today of all days the government might even come down a bit harder on the CFMEU. They cannot even keep their story straight. Is it a review that is being conducted by the police? Is it a review that is being conducted by DIT? If it is criminal in nature, why is it criminal in nature if they are saying that there are no criminals involved? Which one is it? They cannot even have their stories consistent. We know that there are fears out there, all across our state at the moment, that the CFMEU are and will continue to hold South Australian construction projects to ransom, whether it is the new hospital down the road, whether it is the north-south corridor.

Look at the comments of the minister and what he said two years ago and now and you see a very different picture. That is because protests are happening across the state and country today—get ready for disruption, get ready for cost blowouts, get ready for delays, because the CFMEU are here and they are going to make an example of the Labor Party. They are going to make an example and, unfortunately, it is the taxpayers of South Australia who are going to pay.

We are going to make sure that we do everything we can to continue to shine a light on this. The threats that are being made by the CFMEU are not good enough. Look at what they did recently in relation to the AFL and that poor umpire. These things are going to continue under this Labor government and the only way to change this is to change the government.

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