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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-09-07 Daily Xml
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Regional South Australia

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:48): I move:

That this house commends the Marshall Liberal government for recognising the importance of regional South Australia and its communities, noting their contribution to our economy worth more than $29 billion per year, through—

(a) investing $3 billion across more than 1,000 regional projects;

(b) upgrading hospitals, doubling country cancer services and upgrading about 4,800 kilometres of regional roads; and

(c) implementing the Our Regions Matter blueprint following extensive consultation with regional communities about what is needed to improve opportunities for the 29 per cent of South Australia's population living and working outside the metropolitan community.

The regions are the powerhouse of this state's economy. I have lived and worked right across South Australia, whether it is in my hometown area around Coomandook, Coonalpyn, Peake and the Mallee, the Upper South-East, the South-East working in the shearing sheds or up at the top of the Strzelecki Track and the Cooper Basin working in the gas fields for a couple of years. I have certainly also travelled over most of the state. It is a powerhouse of our state and the production, whether it is in the agriculture field, the mining field and the services that go along with serving those industries in our communities, I commend them all.

The Our Regions Matter blueprint focused on five key areas to drive growth: regional voice, regional connectivity; regional leadership and skills; regional services; and regional investment. Never before in this state's history has there been so much investment in regional roads: investment in building and improving regional roads, sealing road shoulders, widening lanes, installing guide posts and resurfacing in these areas.

We announced the construction of a $202 million bypass at Truro in partnership with the federal government. This will be a major uplift for the freight industry and for travellers throughout the state, especially on the South Eastern Freeway. In my travels, I have already noticed a marked reduction in the amount of heavy freight coming down the South Eastern Freeway into the city. We know of some of the issues that very occasionally happen at the bottom of the hill. It does not seem to matter whether you have 43 warning signs in place or whether you have two arrester beds in place, the odd person seems to think they are beyond the law and creates chaos at the bottom of the hill, the entrance to Adelaide at the Glen Osmond Road, Cross Road and Portrush Road intersection.

Connected to that is the northern freight bypass, where the heavy freight combinations go through Murray Bridge and head up towards Mannum, up through Sedan and Sanderston, up to the Halfway House. We, along with the federal government, invested $12 million on upgrades there for the connection into the Sturt Highway because anything above a B-double has to go that way to come into Adelaide. You have all the combinations, whether that be B-triples, B-quads, AB-doubles, road trains and I heard about two B-doubles the other day and I think that is called an AB-quad. There is certainly plenty of uplift for this work and I commend the investment in this bypass.

There is also $87½ million to upgrade the Sturt Highway between Renmark and Gawler—more work on that northern route. There is upgrading and sealing of the Strzelecki Track, with stage 1 complete and the first 50 kilometres open to traffic. I witnessed that myself a few weeks ago. I was keen to travel up the Strzelecki again before it was completely sealed. There are still over 400 kilometres to go, but it is nice to see that first 50 kilometres from Moomba South to Merty Station have been done.

I noted the work that I had witnessed a couple of years ago to the Adventure Way, close to 29 kilometres between Innamincka and the Queensland border, where we invested $6 million in that project. It is very pleasing to see that upgrade to the Strzelecki Track, which will see access not just for the oil and gas industry but for our vital pastoral industry in that region. In line with that project, we are progressing with the following works:

the $189 million stage 2 of the Strzelecki Track project. The whole project was around $215 million;

undertaking a $250 million upgrade of the Princes Highway from the Victorian border to Tailem Bend, which is another great project, with much work needed on that road;

building an overpass at the intersection of Copper Coast Highway and Augusta Highway, Port Wakefield, which I witnessed the other day, heading over to the West Coast;

completing the Penola Northern Bypass, ensuring freight and heavy vehicles completely bypass the Penola township;

delivering a $6 million upgrade to Kroemer's Crossing in Tanunda, installing a roundabout to improve safety for all road users and allowing for easier freight access to surrounding businesses;

delivering an $82.2 million partnership with the federal government to upgrade Horrocks Highway between Wilmington and Gawler, improving safety, connectivity and freight efficiency;

investing $40 million in Kangaroo Island road upgrades, including upgrading the Playford Highway west of Kingscote and Hog Bay Road;

delivering a $125 million upgrade of the Eyre Highway, Tod Highway, Birdseye Highway and Lincoln Highway;

completing an $11 million Dublin saleyard access upgrade project to support our state's livestock industry by providing direct access for large freight vehicles to the South Australian Livestock Exchange, which will allow road trains and other large combinations;

delivering a $52½ million upgrade of the Barrier Highway between Cockburn and Burra, with approximately 305 kilometres of highway passing through the townships of Olary, Yunta, Hallett and Mount Bryan;

together with the federal government, investing $560 million to deliver the Fleurieu Connections Main South Road and Victor Harbor Road duplication project;

investing $36 million to upgrade Old Murray Bridge, which obviously is a very important route for locals and tourists through the township of Murray Bridge and a linkage between east and west—it is interesting to note that they did car counts the other day and they found that more traffic went over the old bridge in Murray Bridge than over the Swanport Bridge, so it is a very good link between the east and west sides of Murray Bridge;

initiating the duplication of the Joy Baluch AM Bridge in Port Augusta, with construction well underway—I saw it again the other day, and construction is expected to be completed this year; and

in my area, on the Mannum-Murray Bridge road, we invested $14 million in the Thomas Foods International access road in partnership with the federal government.

In regard to health across the regions, we invested in upgrading facilities and services at regional hospitals in Murray Bridge, Victor Harbor and Yorketown. I am very proud to see $7 million invested in the new emergency department at Murray Bridge. There is a new emergency department at Mount Barker hospital, a massive expansion of the Gawler hospital emergency department and progress on a new Barossa hospital. It has been a long time coming, and may it keep going.

There are expanded renal dialysis services at Mount Gambier and Ceduna hospitals and double the number of medium complexity country units, with expanded units in Victor Harbor, the Riverland and Port Lincoln. We introduced more flexible arrangements through the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme for those who need to travel long distances for medical treatment, which is a great asset for people who live further out.

In regard to primary industries, we provided grants of up to $75,000 per producer for those affected by the 2019-20 bushfires, delivered a $21 million drought support program and ensured farmers still had access to seasonal workers despite COVID-19. We gave farmers on the mainland the option to grow genetically modified crops by lifting the moratorium Labor imposed in 2004, and I would like to acknowledge the work of the Labor member for Giles, Eddie Hughes.

We delivered on our promise to hire two additional wild dog trappers as well as combining with industry on the $25 million dog fence replacement of 1,600 kilometres of dog fence throughout South Australia. We invested in eradicating feral pigs on Kangaroo Island and invested more than $70 million to protect jobs and businesses by addressing fruit fly outbreaks.

In education, we built a new high school in Whyalla, a $100 million project that was part of our record $1½ billion investment to build and upgrade schools across the state. I want to acknowledge the $30 million-plus that was built in my electorate, whether it was $20 million in Murray Bridge, whether it was $3½ million in Mannum, a couple of million dollars in Strathalbyn, a couple of million dollars coming to Langhorne Creek or $5 million into Murray Bridge North School.

We also established a $10 million fund to address mobile blackspots across South Australia, enabling us to leverage another $10 million in funding from the federal government and telecommunications providers. This was vital work because, after 16 years of the previous Labor government where one regional mobile tower was built, we put in 54. I note that there are still many blackspots across the regions—about 400—but we made a fair go at it.

Mr Whetstone: Fifty-nine.

Mr PEDERICK: Fifty-nine, I am corrected. I also want to speak about another road project that was a $77 million policy bid from the Liberal Party that we completed—eight country roads. Bringing country roads back to 110 km/h is something dear to my heart. This includes the Andamooka Road, which is from Andamooka to Olympic Dam, and the Cleve Road, which is from Cleve to Kimba. I have travelled multiple times on that recently.

It includes the Goyder Highway, which is Crystal Brook to Gulnare, the Riddoch Highway, which is Mount Gambier to Port MacDonnell, the Ngarkat Highway, which is Pinnaroo to Bordertown, and the Browns Well Highway, which is Loxton to Pinnaroo. The total length of those two roads, which at the time linked Chaffey, Hammond and MacKillop, is 200 kilometres. There was shoulder sealing work and a massive uplift for heavy freight and the community to travel on those roads. It also includes Clay Wells Road, which is Southern Ports Highway to Callendale, and Carpenter Rocks Road, which is Carpenter Rocks to Mount Gambier.

I am very proud of what we did as a government in the four years we were in government, delivering services across the state, whether they were transport services, whether they were health services, whether they were education services or other services, such as mobile phone towers, for instance, to help open up communities and give people access to those vital links so they can communicate and run their businesses.

It was such a privilege, even in my electorate, to see over $214 million of identified projects invested in across the board. We saw grant funding assist people like Parilla Premium Potatoes. It was fantastic to see their $50 million build the other day with their new packing shed at Parilla. I really want to commend what the Marshall Liberal government did for the regions. We are still here for the regions in opposition, but I am really pleased about the projects that we built, about the projects that we finished and about all the projects we initiated to support regional communities across South Australia.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer) (12:03): As the minister representing the Minister for Primary Industries in this house, I rise to speak on the member's motion. He might be surprised to hear that I am speaking to oppose the motion, but it is not because I do not think that there were some activities undertaken in regional areas over the last four years. I am the first one to acknowledge that there were, just as there were the four years before that and the four years before that and the four years before that because it has been the history of governments here in South Australia to invest in the regions. For those opposite and the previous Marshall Liberal government to pretend that they were the first ones to stumble on the fact of the existence of regional communities is a joke—an absolute joke.

Mr Whetstone: How much did you put into PIRSA? Your budget for PIRSA? Your budget?

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Brown): Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I hear the complaints from the member for Chaffey and he does not need to take it from me, as he can take it from his electors because they voted accordingly at the recent state election. They gave him a reminder that it starts with your local community. What you might do in executive government is a little bonus on top of that. He is well warned by his constituents that he needs to put his ear closer to the ground in his community, because the swing that he had against him is a demonstration of how he turned his back on his community.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I do not lay the same charge at the feet of the member for Hammond. I have a lot of respect for the member for Hammond. I do not think anyone in this place could accuse the member for Hammond of not genuinely being from a regional community, believing in that regional community and doing his best to serve that regional community.

In fact, when I was fortunate enough in the last term of the last Labor government, the member for Hammond put a couple of proposals to me and I was happy to support them because I knew he was genuine about them and I knew that his community wanted them and he delivered accordingly. That is the member for Hammond in my experience.

I cannot say that for all his colleagues in the previous Marshall Liberal government. Let's have a look at what their first minister for regions did and that was tell this place that he did not believe in country cabinet. He thought it was unnecessary. He did not believe in the merits of taking the entire executive government leadership out to regional communities so that those communities could have direct, personal, firsthand access to decision-makers in executive government. He thought it was a waste of time. That was the view from the member for Chaffey and his colleagues opposite. We always kept up country cabinet meetings. In fact, we kept up shadow country cabinet meetings and what happened?

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Brown): Member for Chaffey, you have a chance to make your own contribution if you wish.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The first thing they did legislatively that impacted the regions was their mining bill that not even their own caucus completely agreed with. For the first time in recent modern political memory we had a substantial number of the government of the day crossing the floor to vote with the opposition and independent MPs against a government's own legislation. That is how the previous government recognised regional communities. It is just extraordinary.

I will admit that there have been some significant regional projects which were carried out under the previous four years but, please, let us not claim that they were initiatives of the former Liberal government because in some cases they simply were not. The contracts signed and the funding provided for the Joy Baluch Bridge were under the previous Labor government, not the former Liberal government. It is the same with the Whyalla High School. To try to claim that this was a Liberal Party initiative is a joke and to try and claim that there was a Liberal Party initiative for $1.5 billion of investment across schools across South Australia is also a joke, because more than two-thirds of that was provided for by the former Labor government.

All of those activities, all of that spending, all of those improvements in those areas were not initiatives of the previous Liberal government. They just happened to turn up there in a shirt and tie with a pair of scissors to cut ribbons. That is not recognising regional communities, that is being there for the good times when it suits them. That is the approach from the member for Chaffey and some of those opposite.

I think, electorally, the results speak for themselves. I liked the former member for Stuart. I thought he was an honourable and decent man, but I think his community reflected on the performance of the previous Marshall government and voted accordingly. I think it is a shame that he does not have some other capacity to serve this parliament or the community of South Australia because I thought his approach to public service and to the parliament was a worthwhile one and, in some respects, a rare one: very up-front, very honest, very calm and reasonable to deal with. But he suffered at the hands of a broad-based regional constituency that felt that they had been let down by the previous Marshall Liberal government.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting:

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The member for Mawson gives the example of Kangaroo Island. This was an extraordinary result where we had what was previously one of the jewels in the crown of the Liberal Party—a regional seat, sometimes incorporating various parts of the Fleurieu Peninsula and peri-urban southern suburbs of Adelaide—vote overwhelmingly in favour of a local member who had done the hard yards to represent them.

I have to say, as much as I have enjoyed the contributions by the member for Light and the new member for Schubert about their passion for areas including the Barossa, please do not try to claim that the previous Marshall Liberal government actually did something about a new Barossa hospital. Putting $5 million at the end of the forward estimates to purchase a piece of land—

Members interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Brown): Order on my left!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —does not constitute building a new hospital. That is a joke—a joke. That is not doing anything to provide additional health services to the Barossa or the community.

Members interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Brown): Member for Schubert!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The member for Schubert says, 'You had 16 years and what did you do?' Well, do you know what we did? Do you know what we did, or in fact do you know what I will say we did not do? We did not sell the local community a pup by pretending—

Mrs Hurn: You did zero. You did zero.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Brown): The member for Schubert is warned.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —that they were building a hospital, which they have not done anything towards. Buying a piece of land is different from building a new hospital. You want to know what building a new hospital in a regional area looks like? Try committing $220 million to a new Mount Barker hospital. So you might be proud of your ED upgrade; what that community actually needs is an new entire hospital, and guess who is delivering it?

Members interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Brown): The member for Chaffey is warned!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: In the middle of a conservative health seat, guess who is delivering it? A Labor government, because that is a government that recognises regional communities—not those who pay lip-service and read roll calls of projects that were already baked into funding allocations from departments.

So spare me the rhetoric about the Marshall Liberal government finally recognising a regional community, because those opposite have failed their constituencies. It is no coincidence that regional communities are leaving them in droves when it comes to electoral support. Previous safe seats, 15 per cent plus, are now less than 5 per cent. They only have to look in the mirror to understand why: because they pay them lip-service. They do not do the hard work to better represent them.

We went around and announced not only new beds in regional communities but also new ambulances and ambulance crews to provide the health services across South Australia—not just one new hospital in Mount Barker but from Mount Gambier all the way up through the Mid North, through Yorke Peninsula, all the way around to Port Lincoln. This is an investment in health services, because that is what those communities have been crying out for.

What did the former Minister for Regional Affairs say? 'You don't need to talk to cabinet. You don't need access to the decision-makers of government. We don't think that that's important.' Well, the results speak for themselves and those opposite have only themselves to blame.

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (12:13): It was a very, very interesting speech just finished by the member for Lee and I will comment later. I rise today in support of the member for Hammond's motion to commend the Marshall Liberal government for recognising the importance of regional South Australia and its communities, noting their contribution to the economy is worth more than $29 billion per year.

Regional South Australia is vitally important to our state's economy. I am pleased to continue to take any opportunity to highlight this fact in this place. I would particularly like to reflect on my electorate, which is a strong contributor to our state's gross domestic product (GDP). It is a strong contributor to the agriculture and processing sectors, with serious contributions made to GDP through dryland agriculture, livestock, fisheries and forestry sectors.

The broader Limestone Coast comprises a diverse and dynamic community over 21,000 square kilometres. In 2021 the region had an estimated population of 67,371. In the Limestone Coast, agriculture, forestry and fishing are the largest employers, generating over 5 ½ thousand FTE jobs in 2020-21. However, employment is steadily evolving, with employment growth in tourism and service industries such as education, health care and aged care.

The recently released census data underscores the significant role and contribution of employment in the regions. In 2020-21 the Limestone Coast region contributed 18.6 per cent of regional South Australia’s employment and 16.9 per cent of its value added. In the year ending June 2021 there were 31,915 jobs located in the Limestone Coast and more than 7,500 local businesses, and 33,304 residents were employed.

The Limestone Coast provides employment to farmers and farmhands, viticulturalists, vineyard workers and winemakers, commodity processing workers, allied businesses and workers that provide services and supplies and repairs, educators and health workers. It is a melting pot of opportunity and a region I am extremely proud of and never tire of talking about.

I am pleased to emphasise what the Marshall Liberal government achieved during its time in government specifically for my region. We had the added challenge of COVID, an unprecedented situation that weighed heavily on the state, and, given the location of MacKillop, the border communities in particular. Despite this, we kept our economy strong through grants and support to help keep businesses afloat.

We delivered on roads, upgrading and improving safety that in my electorate led to the return of 110 km/h speed limits on the Ngarkat Highway and the Clay Wells Road, as mentioned by the member for Hammond. We completed the northern section of the Penola bypass, ensuring freight and heavy vehicles completely bypass this important tourist town. We spent millions of dollars on the Dukes and Princes highways, improving safety for the many vehicles that travel these busy highways.

We have invested in our hospitals: $3.1 million at the Naracoorte hospital to upgrade their surgical theatre and sterilising area, and $2 million in Bordertown’s new community health building. We revitalised Kingston’s main street. We invested in schools to transition year 7 to high school. We implemented a $5 million investment in Naracoorte High School and $4 million in Kingston Community School.

During COVID, we allocated $100,000 of stimulus funding to individual schools across the state and $30,000 to kindergartens across the state. We invested in the Balharry kindergarten at Lucindale to the value of $500,000 and upgraded school buildings at Lucindale. I was recently invited to attend the opening of the buildings at Lucindale, and they really are fantastic learning spaces for the students and teachers of this community.

Reliable mobile phone coverage in the region is not just a convenience; it is an essential part of life, a business tool and a safety measure. We established a $10 million fund to address mobile blackspots across South Australia. In MacKillop, we have delivered mobile phone towers at Keilira, Tower Road, Legges Lane and Avenue Range. This is an ongoing challenge, and I will continue to advocate for towers at Furner and Sherwood.

While in government, we invested heavily in our sporting infrastructure. This is particularly important in our regions, where sport connects communities. The Naracoorte Sports Centre received $214,550 to upgrade their courts, and $275,000 was granted to the Tintinara Oval and Recreation Association for their clubroom upgrades; $153,000 to the Kalangadoo War Memorial Park and Community Sports Club; $108,000 followed by another $96,000 for the McLaughlin Park Oval at Millicent; $160,000 for the Kybybolite football club for lighting; $445,000 for the Mundulla football club; $230,000 for the Bordertown football club; $99,000 for the Tailem Bend Netball Club; and $120,000 for lighting at Mount Burr. The list goes on. There are dozens of other sporting clubs in my electorate who also benefited from smaller grants for programs, funding and equipment.

We invested in our jetties with a $5 million upgrade at Beachport and improvements for the Meningie jetty. We invested in the CFS, with new or upgraded CFS trucks and sheds. We can be proud of our achievements over the past four years.

I know that in my electorate there are still challenges that need to be addressed. I will continue to work hard to advocate for access to avoidable housing, addressing coastal erosion and more mobile phone towers. The importance of and strength of our regions should never be underestimated: 29 per cent of South Australia’s population lives and works outside the metropolitan area.

Regions are the economic powerhouse that drive prosperity for the whole state. I am proud to say that my electorate is part of that powerhouse. I want to raise a couple of other points: most interestingly that, just prior to speaking to this bill, we were speaking about Homelessness Week, which sits between 1 and 7 August. A number of speakers in this house talked about homelessness and social housing. One thing that really would help the regions right now is affordable housing. Why do we need affordable housing?

First, it needs to be affordable for those who can afford this housing, not only to attract and house the workers we so desperately need in the regions. It is recognised that social housing has bottlenecked, with no movement through the social housing network. That is because there is a lack of affordable housing for social housing tenants to move on to when they come to better times, more financial means, and leave. We need to make available these social houses for the homelessness that was spoken about in the prior bill.

I hope this new Malinauskas Labor government recognises that, to solve the homelessness, it is not just about building social housing, but we need affordable housing right across the state, in particular in the regions, because we want to see the population grow and we want to see workers in this affordable housing, and we also want to see people move and transition out of social housing into affordable housing, which will solve the issues. I hope this new Labor government recognises and sees this.

It is very interesting that I heard the member for Lee talk about the Marshall government and what it perhaps could have done or done better, and we are addressing that in opposition now as a result of the election back in March. It was really fascinating to hear—and I can tell you that the 30,000 new residents in Mount Barker really will appreciate this new $220 million hospital—that the member for Lee considers Mount Barker regional. I do not understand it, I am sorry.

I know that Mount Barker is beyond the Tollgate and that you have to go through the tunnels and up the South Eastern Freeway, but I think that most people in Mount Barker would probably find themselves connected very strongly to the city of Adelaide. I think people moved into Mount Barker after the investment in the tunnels and the upgrade of the South Eastern Freeway, giving them greater access to Adelaide, and would also consider themselves metropolitan Adelaide rather than regional Adelaide living in Mount Barker.

We need greater investment in our regional hospitals, and I think the member for Lee says they are doing this through Mount Barker. I have to say that I appreciate two things: the Marshall Liberal government did spend I think $3½ million upgrading the Naracoorte hospital. The new Malinauskas government is allocating another $8 million to this hospital. It really will be interesting to see what this brings to the Naracoorte hospital, but I need to tell you that they still run around with buckets in the corridors when it is raining, because the roof leaks.

I can tell you that if you go into this hospital you will note that a lot of the fixtures and wares of the hospital make it look like the 1960s era rather than 2022. That hospital will not be alone. If I go to other hospitals around my electorate and probably around other regions, we do not want to be left out or left alone. I commend this motion to the house.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (12:23): I rise to speak against this motion, and I will explain why. It is not that I do not acknowledge—and I will acknowledge first-up—the importance of the regions to the state's economy and to society generally. I do acknowledge that. The reason I speak against the motion is that the motion implies that the Marshall Liberal government was the first one to find the regions and to notice that the regions were there and do something for them. That is just not true. The regions were supported by the previous Labor government in a whole range of ways. In fact, a number of the projects for which the Liberal Party did the ribbon cutting were previously funded by the Labor government, and I will go into some of those details.

It was interesting to hear the member for MacKillop speak in defence of the Marshall Liberal government. It was interesting, as he spent most of the last four years of the previous government distancing himself from the party as much as he could. At every opportunity, either in the media or in this chamber, he distanced himself—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Actually, my margin went up.

An honourable member: So did mine.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Did it really? By 11 per cent? No, right, thank you.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Brown): Order! It is disorderly to respond to interjections, member for Light.

An honourable member: The member for Lee didn't know his numbers; that's a bit of a worry.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Don't worry, I know my numbers. The member for MacKillop had a whole range of reasons. In fact, he crossed the floor on a number of occasions to vote against—

Mr Whetstone: Are we talking regions or politics?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Mr Speaker, if the member for Chaffey wants to make a contribution, he can do that later. Perhaps he could grant me the courtesy—

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Brown): Order! Just get back to your contribution, member for Light.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Thank you, Mr Acting Speaker. As I said, the member for MacKillop spent most of his last term distancing himself from the Liberal Party as much as he could. In fact, there was speculation that he would run as an Independent; that is how far his commentary—

Mr Whetstone: Concentrate on the regions only.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: He is a regional member; it's quite relevant. He is a regional member and what he says and does is quite relevant.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Yes, I am a real embarrassment. I have held my—

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Brown): Member for Chaffey, you are warned for the second time. I want to hear your contribution, so please do not make me throw you out.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: I have actually held my seat for five elections, mate, which once was a Liberal seat, you might want to remember. I will have to repeat myself, Mr Acting Speaker, because I was interrupted.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Go your hardest, mate, go your hardest. It was interesting to hear in his contribution today how he defended the Marshall Liberal government, when he spent most of his time, when they were in government, actually distancing himself from the government of the day. Putting that aside, he is not alone there: there are a few other Liberal Party members, and some ex-members, who did the same thing, and I can understand why. I can understand why because, deep in his heart, the member for MacKillop knows that the Liberal Party, the Liberal government, did not look after the regions at all.

I can clearly remember a very passionate speech in this chamber about how the Marshall Liberal government responded to the COVID pandemic and how it was impacting on his electorate and the South-East. I would not say it was a supportive passionate speech; it was quite critical of the Marshall Liberal government, particularly for all those border communities. It was about their inability to acknowledge the importance of the regions and how they interact with other states. Their response to that was appalling, and he actually said so in this chamber, and how it was impacting on regional people. However, I am glad to see that the member for MacKillop has been re-educated and reformed and now sees things in a different light.

Let's go through some of the things they mentioned regarding education and the year 7 contribution. Well, that is true: they did move year 7 to high school. What happened in a lot of schools, though—and the schools in my electorate were the same—was that they had to redirect funding, which had been provided by the previous Labor government, to accommodate the additional year 7s, rather than put it into other valuable projects for the high school students. That is the reality. Most schools had to reallocate funding to accommodate the new year 7 groups in high school, which meant—

Ms Pratt interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Brown): Member for Frome, you are warned.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: —that other facilities could not be built. If you talk to the governing councils in some of those regional areas and in my electorate, you will hear how they were annoyed that the $10 million provided by the previous Labor government had to then go to fund a Liberal idea, rather than upgrade the existing facilities to ensure that secondary students got the quality education they should get in conjunction with the good teachers they have.

Then we come to the Barossa hospital—that is a wonderful item. Again, as the member for Lee said, no, we did not build a new Barossa hospital; that is correct. Nor did we, on a number of occasions, mislead the Barossa people that we would do so. The previous Labor government made it very clear what the preconditions of building a new Barossa hospital were, and some in the community did not like that. We were open about that.

What the Liberal government did for the last four years was give the impression that they were doing something when they actually did nothing. They had a report, and their first report said that they needed a second report. That second report is not even finished yet, and all they committed, funding wise, was a few million dollars to buy some land at the end of the forward estimates—at the end of the forward estimates.

It is interesting, because one of the landowners who had been approached has recently approached me and told me that his land was considered by the government, and now it is not being considered anymore.

Mrs Hurn: Because your government is delaying it again.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Oh, that's right.

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: You just keep saying that—

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Brown): Member for Schubert!

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: You just keep telling people that because one day they actually might believe you. The reality is that they did nothing. For four years they did nothing except a commissioner's report and then a commissioner's report into a report. That is what the Marshall Liberal government did in relation to the regions. They did not lay one brick for the new Barossa hospital. A number of the projects for which the Marshall Liberal government did the ribbon-cutting, as mentioned by the member for Lee, were things that were funded and committed to by the previous Labor government.

This government has committed $100 million to the South-East, which I am sure the member for MacKillop appreciates. He is nodding positively so he does appreciate that. It is also interesting to note that members—I should say 'opposite' but I cannot say that—alongside me said that country cabinets were a waste of time, a waste of money. Well, I can tell you that country people do not think that. We held shadow cabinets when we were in opposition, and we continue that process now.

Also, regional people do appreciate the opportunity to talk to ministers directly, not when they just fly in and fly out. They also appreciate the opportunity to speak to key decision-makers in government. They do appreciate that, and it is a commitment we have made to make sure that we fully understand the regional people.

The Liberal opposition clearly did not view the election results in terms of how regional people saw their performance, because I think the election results are a pretty good indicator of what regional people think predominantly of their Liberal Party members. If you read the Moriarty report into the review about why the Liberal Party failed at the last election it makes interesting reading in terms of how these Liberal Party members think about—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: I know you referred to them yesterday as geriatrics who are not to be taken into account, but they are your party members.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: I don't know. I don't have a Liberal Party membership—never will. Let's look at the results of what people think, and not what the Liberal Party echo chamber thinks. What do the people on the ground think in these regional areas? In Flinders, sadly, there was a swing against the Liberal Party of 23.1 per cent.

Mr Telfer: You got 11 per cent of the vote.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: The reality is that there was a swing against the Liberal Party of 23.1 per cent, okay. In Frome, there was a 10 per cent swing to the Labor Party; in Hammond, an 11.7 per cent swing to the Labor Party. The Finniss one is important. Sorry about this, but the Finniss one is important because he was the former minister for agriculture, fisheries, regional development etc. There was a swing against the Liberal Party in Frome as well.

An honourable member: What was the swing in Finniss?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: In Finniss, the swing was 13.7 per cent.

Mr Basham: This is a load of rubbish!

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Sorry?

Mr Basham: It's a load of rubbish. That is not the swing.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Brown): Order!

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: I am happy for you to stand up and correct me.

Mr Basham interjecting:

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Okay. When you look at what other people think, what the voters think, which is more important than what we think in here, at the end of the day, clearly, vote-wise the Liberal Party had a poor showing in the regional areas.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Brown): There is a point of order from the member for Finniss.

Mr BASHAM: The member's time has expired.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Brown): You did not need a point of order for that, member for Finniss. The member for Chaffey.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (12:33): Sir, I appreciate your protection through my contribution. I do rise to support the member for Hammond's—

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Brown): You will receive the same protection as every other member has received.

Mr WHETSTONE: —thank you, sir—excellent motion to recognise the importance of the regions in South Australia, but I am gobsmacked at the last two government representatives who have stood up and just politicised their contributions to the regions of South Australia. I think that every South Australian should understand how bad those presentations were. The member for Light's presentation was factually incorrect at every corner. The member for Lee's contribution was just a city boy trying be a country boy, let me tell you.

I do want to talk about the importance of the regions. I want to talk about not only exactly what the regions mean to the state's economy but also what the regions mean to the state's character. South Australia is a great state, and it has a number of great regions—not only for work, not only to visit, but also to live. Over the former term of the Marshall Liberal government, we saw initiatives and policies that were implemented into the regions, and we did much good work.

I would like to acknowledge that there were a number of obstacles while in government at that time. Not only were we dealing with drought, we were dealing with the pandemic, we were dealing with a number of biosecurity issues and we were dealing with instability, particularly on the global stage. We were also dealing with some uncertainty with the federal Coalition government.

If I get back to the importance of the regions here in South Australia, the investment that was put into regional South Australia, I think, was second to none. Yes, there were some that were poorly implemented. As the member for Lee has said many times, 'It was us. It was us. It was us.' Well, that is the rotation of governments—in and out of government. Sometimes you get to cut the ribbons of a former government's initiative, but I am sure that the current government are cutting some of those ribbons on the initiatives of the former Marshall Liberal government. That is the way it works, so we will not get too precious about some of those projects.

I do want to acknowledge some of the great work. The Regional Growth Fund was a great initiative to support business to accelerate the opportunities for investment into some of those private businesses—and we spent all our regional growth money, unlike the former government which never put through a formal process. At the end of the day, when the Marshall Liberal government came in, there were significant projects that were never realised. I think that is a very sad state, particularly for the complexity of regional business.

The Mobile Phone Black Spot Program is something that the former government never acknowledged, but we saw fit to put in a $10 million contribution and use that money to leverage not only the federal government, not only local government, but also the telcos, and we put 59 towers into the system in South Australia. The former government almost put nothing, but I do not want to focus on what they did not do, I want to focus on what we as a government did do.

Regional roads: a $3 billion investment into regional roads that had been left to rack and ruin. I know that in my electorate we saw the upgrade of the Browns Well Highway. The member for Light, I think he was responsible for reducing the speed limit instead of fixing up the roads and making them safer, just like the other eight highways around the state. We need to look at the investment, the productivity gain that we gave those South Australians—those transport operators, those primary producers, the tourism industry that benefited from that significant upgrade.

We also put significant investment into emergency services, in not only vehicle investment but the infrastructure around emergency services, particularly dealing with the number of fires that we had over that time. The pandemic stimulus money that was put out there, I think, not only went to regions; it went to all of South Australia, and it had a significant impact on the confidence in the regions of South Australia. We saw that particularly in tourism, in those regional investment opportunities in health and in education, where it really did give payday to the fabric of a regional community.

We have to understand that regional communities are small and they rely on those institutions—a good hospital, a good school. Making sure you have good roads, safe roads, and making sure that businesses have a competitive opportunity, is also very important. I would like some of my other colleagues to have a contribution into regional South Australia.

The Marshall Liberal government was not perfect. The current government is not perfect, but I think the Marshall Liberal government's contribution over that four years was not recognised. We left South Australia in a better place than when we started, when we came into government. We gave every South Australian the opportunity to live in a state that was better prepared for a pandemic, it was better prepared for natural disasters and it was better prepared just in a rounding off term. I think it is all very fair for the current government to criticise the former government, but I can assure you that at the heart of this party regional South Australia is a very firm focus.

Mr TELFER (Flinders) (12:39): I rise to support the motion from the member for Hammond, and recognise that there are so many opportunities for our state that can be driven by our regions. We need to get the policy decisions right from the state government level to maximise those opportunities. As is often the way in this place, I am a strong advocate for regional South Australia, regions that contribute so much and industries that put $29 billion into the state's economy.

I want to especially recognise paragraph (c) of the motion moved by the member for Hammond regarding the Our Regions Matter blueprint, and speak about the extensive consultation process that was followed. I would like to recognise Mr Mark Sutton, the chair of the South Australian Regional Development Strategy consultative committee, who travelled right across our state with some 15 different visits to cities and towns, hearing directly from local community leaders, business leaders, local government and many others about the challenges, opportunities and potential future of their communities.

In my previous role as president of the Local Government Association of South Australia I was privileged to be a member of this consultative group, as well as Infrastructure SA CEO, Jeremy Conway; Maree Wauchope; Royal Flying Doctor Service SA CEO, Tony Vaughan; and the late great Bill Spurr. As indicated, this was a wideranging consultation process, and it really was exciting for us, as a volunteer committee, to hear about the exciting opportunities from across every region of our wonderful state: from the Limestone Coast to the Riverland, the Fleurieu, Yorke Peninsula, the Adelaide Hills, the Barossa, the Spencer Gulf and Eyre Peninsula, indeed every corner of our state.

Taking all this into account, a comprehensive blueprint was developed with a vision to maximise these opportunities. We must move on from the Adelaide-centric mentality of South Australia and look at positive policy opportunities that maximise our regions' potential, encourage people to live in our regions, and incentivise business to establish and grow in our regional industries.

The five areas highlighted by the regional blueprint are so important for our regions. Firstly, regional voice: we need to ensure that the government is listening directly to regional communities and leaders so they properly understand their needs and opportunities—not just tokenism, but real understanding, really listening to our regional voice.

Regional connectivity is all about ensuring investment in appropriate infrastructure for our regional communities, and this starts with a road network that is appropriately invested in. In Flinders, the last four years has seen unprecedented investment into our highway road network, which was so needed for so long after years of neglect. If you drive down Eyre Highway now, it is a wider and safer roadway with important shoulder sealing works being done. It is likewise on Tod Highway, the main connector road through the middle of Eyre Peninsula, and Birdseye Highway, which runs east-west from Cowell to Cleve to Lock to Elliston.

Regional connections are vital, and that is why regional connectivity was highlighted within this blueprint process. Regional connectivity also means digital connectivity and, as has already been spoken about, I have been so encouraged by the significant investment in partnership between the former Liberal federal and state governments into the mobile phone Black Spot Program. This work is incredibly important for families and businesses in regional communities, and I encourage the current government to continue it.

Regional leadership and skills was the third point highlighted by the blueprint, recognising that enabling and strengthening skills and capacity within regional communities is vital for the long-term sustainability of our communities, enabling those there to be better and the young ones in our communities to stay in our communities. This is so important, which is why the investment in education and skills within our regions is incredibly vital. I will be urging the education minister to continue to consider our regional communities.

Regional services was the fourth point, and these are so important for the long-term future of our regional communities. Most important for my community are our regional health services. Without proper investment into regional health services our communities will not last; without appropriate investment these communities are going to be isolated, and there will be community members who cannot continue to live in those communities. In the end, we will have a less vibrant and unsustainable community.

Regional health delivery is so important. We cannot rely on those in our communities who live outside the metropolitan Adelaide area having to come into the Royal Adelaide Hospital for their medical services.

The fifth point made in the regional blueprint was regional investment. This is not just about government investment. Private investment is vital as well. There need to be partnerships across levels of government and with private investment to truly realise the incredible potential of regional South Australia. Opportunity is knocking at the door for our state. We need a proactive government that is willing to open that door and put positive policies in place for our region.

We also need government to get out of the way at times. We need to get the basics right in our regional communities. We need a regional health system that is appropriate to the needs of our community and not one that is designed by bureaucrats in Adelaide. We need a Department for Primary Industries and Regions that is willing to put positive measures in place and not put in regulation and red tape just for the sake of it.

We need a Department for Infrastructure and Transport that has a vision for the future of our whole state, not just a metrocentric one. We need departments of housing and planning that are willing to partner with local government and private industry to deliver appropriate housing that suits the needs of our communities and to properly plan for the positive future of our regions, which we can deliver. I could go on. There is a clear role for our state government to play. We need a government with a vision for our regions, and we need those decision-makers to properly recognise this, from ministers all the way up to the Premier.

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (12:46): I rise in support of this motion moved by the member for Hammond and acknowledge him as a really strong advocate for our regions, not only as a parliamentarian but also as a gun shearer in his time. I would particularly like to thank and echo all the contributions that have been made by those on this side of the chamber. I, too, would like to express my deep disappointment at the contribution of those opposite. In fact, I would say that their contributions show exactly how out of touch they are with regional South Australia. They have dedicated their entire contribution to talking about politics, and that is exactly what regional South Australia hates.

The Liberal Party has long recognised, invested in and fought for the regions in South Australia. That was particularly replicated under the former Marshall Liberal government, where regional South Australia was the very happy beneficiary of a massive $3 billion worth of investment across more than 1,000 projects. That is quite extraordinary when you compare that to the track record of the last 16 years of the Labor government. Local communities in my electorate of Schubert saw unprecedented investment, whether that was in regional roads, sporting clubs, local schools, tourism projects, emergency service upgrades and many more. This was an investment that was never seen before.

As someone who is very proudly from a generational farming family, like many families in Schubert, the contribution of our regions certainly is not lost on me. For almost 200 years in South Australia, people have moved to our regions with dreams of opportunity and prosperity. We know that our regions are primarily responsible for our clothes, not to mention, of course, our delicious food and wine. I have said before in this place that without our farmers and our regions we would all be hungry, naked and sober.

When you look at it in that perspective, it is actually quite startling when you see how many people struggle with agricultural literacy. It is quite fascinating that there are people who still believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows. There are Australian kids who believe that cotton is an animal product, have no idea that bacon comes from a pig and are convinced that yoghurt grows on trees. I say to the education minister that he has a lot of work to do, as we all do.

If you ask somebody where the food is from, do not be shocked by the reply, because it is often 'from the shops'. Seemingly, there is a mind blank about how it grows and how it gets to the shop, and I think that shows an enormous disconnect with our food chain, about how our produce gets from paddock to plate.

Of course, while I can see the humour in many of these comments, it is a sign that we must do more to really educate the next generation to ensure that they understand that grapes are grown on vines that produce some of the best wine in the nation, that the apricots used in their jam do grow on trees, that bread is from wheat, that milk, surprisingly, comes from cows, and that the wool from a sheep does make our clothes.

These industries represent quite a massive contribution to our economy, generating $29 billion per year to our state, and not only that, but they really do underpin thousands and thousands of jobs right across South Australia, including in my electorate of Schubert, from pickers to shearers, to pruners and even those who are working on the bottling line.

It is important to know this because, if you cast your eyes back over centuries, accessibility to food has long been such a pivotal element in conflicts and struggles, and I suspect that it really will be for many centuries to come because without our regions there are no farmers and without our farmers there is no food and no food security, and without food security there is no security. That is why our regions are so important. They are the ballast for our farming pursuits that really sustain the globe and we must do everything we can to allow them to thrive and to prosper, for government to get out of the way and to build the infrastructure that they need to grow.

That is why I am so proud to be in the chamber today as so many members are reflecting on the investments made by the former Marshall Liberal government. There is always more that we can be doing for our regions and our regional communities. I am a really proud regional member in this state parliament with the privilege of representing what I know to be the very best electorate in this state and, indeed, the nation.

I look forward to working with all colleagues not just on this side of the house but with those opposite to make sure that regional South Australia can flourish, it can thrive and that not a cent is wasted when we are investing in the regions and in agriculture in South Australia. The proof is in the pudding and the returns speak for themselves.

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (12:52): The regions of South Australia are so important to South Australia, and the Marshall Liberal government certainly recognised that in the amount of investment that it put towards those regions. I had the privilege of serving as the minister responsible for primary industries and regional development for about 20 months and certainly one of the proudest things I have ever done in my life was to represent the people of the regions.

As we look around this chamber, we can see the history that is in front of us—the carpet with the wheat and the grapes—and how important the regions were to our state in the past and now into the future. We need to make sure that we invest in these regional areas, and that is what the Marshall Liberal government did.

I guess what I was really disappointed about was the Treasurer's remarks in his contribution to this motion. He, looking at the motion that is on the paper, decided that we were not acknowledging what other governments in the past have spent in the regions. That just shows the paranoia they have that they do not invest in the regions, because it does not actually state anything like that. It was just talking about the Marshall Liberal government's time and its investment in the regions, which has been quite clear.

We have seen significant investments. The member for Hammond mentioned Parilla potatoes, a fantastic business and a fantastic investment in that region. Parilla is not one of the most prosperous areas of South Australia, but it had a $50 million investment spent there. Then, as a business, understanding that they needed workers, they invested in housing as well for those workers—a credit to that business. That is what we want to see—businesses supporting the regions—and we are there to support people who are prepared to support the regions.

Quite clearly, I have seen great investment in my electorate over those four years. About $125 million was spent in Finniss, in those regions, from the state government during that time. Yes, some of that was earmarked under the previous government—I totally acknowledge that—but, likewise, there is some of it that has not been delivered as yet that is also budgeted to be done.

Recently, we saw the Minister for Education had the privilege of opening the Goolwa Secondary College. Certainly, probably my proudest achievement was to get that secondary college opened in a town the size of Goolwa, about 15,000 people, which did not have a high school. It was the largest town in the state that did not have a high school by a country mile. To get that opened and see the work that has been done there and the privilege those kids now have of attending a world-class high school is fantastic.

It is a credit to the principal there, Rebecca Moore, for the culture she is establishing in that high school. This is going to change Goolwa as a community to have that ability for those students to not just do their primary school there but do their high school and remain in the town. Up until now, we have seen kids have to leave town to finish their education. Sadly, that develops a culture of leaving town. We will see Goolwa continue to go from strength to strength.

There have been other significant investments also in Finniss, particularly around tourism. The obvious one is the Granite Island Causeway, an icon of South Australia. Unfortunately, time had taken its toll on the wooden structure and talking with the workers who have been working on the demolition of the old causeway, it was certainly in worse condition than was thought, rather than what people were saying that it could be saved.

There were sections of the timbers underneath the decking, the next layer down, and, as they pulled the decking off, they crumbled into sawdust. White ants had actually destroyed all structure within those timbers. It was a real challenge to pull that causeway down. Also, they are in the process of reinstating bits at either end. They have done the mainland side nearly completely now. They basically had to replace most of the timbers in that besides those that were replaced back in 2012. We have seen a significant need to improve that.

That $143 million to deliver that causeway has placed it there for another hundred-plus years of access across to the island for people to enjoy that walk. It intrigues me that I have never been down there alone, including at 3 o'clock in the morning; there is always someone else walking on that causeway. It is quite incredible the amount of use it gets.

We have also seen other investments in Finniss. At the Hotel Elliot in Port Elliot, they are in the process of building a tourist conference and wedding venue alongside the hotel. They received half a million dollars funding from the Marshall Liberal government and is due to be opened relatively soon. It is a great investment.

Right at the moment, in Victor Harbor we are seeing them working on the Ocean Street upgrade. We are seeing the wonderful work that the Victor Harbor council are doing, 50 per cent funded by the state government, money that was given to them by the Marshall Liberal government of about $3½ million to upgrade the southern end of Ocean Street.

Great credit to the workers on the site at the moment; they are doing a great job of getting that delivered on time—in fact, ahead of time. The first section of road that was due to be open mid-September has already been reopened. It is great to see that work being done, even in the wet conditions that they have had to deal with over the month of August in particular.

Getting back to my disappointment about the comments made by the Treasurer. The regions are so important. We must never criticise investment in those regions. We must always promote that investment. It is important that we make sure we continue to see the regions be a powerhouse of South Australia. This parliament has been built, including the walls themselves, on agriculture as much as anything. It is important that we continue to see that investment and make sure that we are able to deliver for our communities in the regions.

I am looking forward to the Treasurer making sure that the money that is spent in those regions continues to be the same as what it was under the Marshall Liberal government. I would be surprised if that is the case. I am looking forward to the fact that over the next four years that could be the sort of money they are going to invest in the regions, but I very much doubt it. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 13:00 to 14:00.

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