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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-08-29 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

State Labor Government

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (15:07): What a terrible, terrible week it has been for this Labor government this week, an absolutely terrible week. Look at them all flocking. Do you think they want to actually sit here and listen to it all? They cannot wait to get out of here, because you know what, they hate bad news. They absolutely hate bad news over there.

What about energy? Today I asked the Premier one of the most basic questions and that was, can he guarantee that the lights would stay on here in South Australia over the summer? You know what? You think it is a basic question and you think you would get a basic answer. But alas no, I could not even get the most basic answers from this Premier. Because do you know why? They do not like what AEMO said today.

Unfortunately what we have come to see here in South Australia is that, as Labor governments come in, we get more and more blackouts. As the Labor Party comes into government, we get cost increases in electricity. Do not just take my word for it. What did AEMO have to say? I will tell you. Today the Electricity Statement of Opportunities came out and it is grim reading for South Australian households and businesses, with AEMO reporting a potential lack of electricity generation in 2024-25. We know that AEMO might seek and procure extra electricity from generators in the market who could then pass on this cost to consumers through their power bills. That is households and businesses as well.

This is another kick in the guts to South Australians in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis. This falls at the feet of this Labor government who has sacrificed energy affordability and reliability with their ridiculous rush to renewables. The news that South Australians could be facing blackouts this year is another devastating, cruel blow. It is a cruel blow to households and businesses that are already battling to keep the lights on.

I was at the Bush Summit this week and I heard firsthand from farmers and small business owners and people who are doing it tough out there, and all we have had from this government this week is motherhood statements in relation to energy. It is simply not good enough and they have to stop blaming everybody else and get on with the job, and do what they can to help people who are doing it tough out there with the cost-of-living crisis.

Then there is child protection. You would think, again, that we would have had some basic etiquette and some answers to the most basic of questions about those who are most vulnerable in our community. But again, we had absolutely pathetic answers from an under siege minister. She is not across her brief and it is absolutely outrageous. She is obviously busy in her sport portfolio areas—too busy to actually focus on the priority area, which should be the most vulnerable children in our state care.

Of course, at the start of the week, what about the CFMEU, the gift that keeps on giving? It is pretty obvious to me that the CFMEU are not happy. The CFMEU family are not happy. Labor was very happy at one point in time to take their donations—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: Yes, absolutely. Selfie stick Pete was quite happy to have photos with the CFMEU and take their money, and of course now they have had to return it. How embarrassing. But what we saw this week was a CFMEU takeover of the steps of Parliament House, and unfortunately we are going to see more of that under this government because we know we have a union boss Premier who is going to kowtow to the union movement. We saw that this thuggish, rogue union has taken control.

The Labor Party has finally woken up to the news, which everyone else knew, about what they are actually trying to do. This was the week for the government to actually come down hard on the CFMEU; it was their opportunity.

There has been a little bit of time since that 60 Minutes investigation. We asked for an independent investigation—basic questions like, 'Are bikies and organised crime infiltrating our building sites and affecting procurement on our building sites?' The government has taken it upon itself to conduct two reviews—one in conjunction with SAPOL and one in relation to DIT—and you know what? They have had a good period of time to conduct these reviews, and we have still heard absolute crickets from this government as to why and where these reviews are.

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner: Secret state.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: It does seem to be like we are turning into a secret state under this government. We could not obtain the most basic information from this government on whether we actually have serious and organised crime—bikies—infiltrating our construction sites. What about the impacts that that has on the South Australian taxpayer? Unfortunately, we are going to see more cost blowouts and we are going to see more delays. The government could not provide the most basic of information, let alone whether they had actually continued to receive CFMEU donations. It is just absolutely outrageous stuff. In regard to ramping, this is another broken promise by Labor. These broken promises are adding up. Of course, to top it off, we saw $1 million given to an organisation without a grant application. This is absolutely ridiculous stuff. I will continue my comments at a further date.

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