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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
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Address in Reply

Address in Reply

Adjourned debate on motion for adoption.

(Continued from 10 May 2018.)

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (15:55): In supporting the passage of the motion to note the Governor's speech, I wish to place on record my grateful thanks to the way in which His Excellency undertakes his work across this state. He and Mrs Le visit many parts of this state, but are also very gracious hosts to many people in the community who have never had a chance to visit Government House.

I have known His Excellency for many years. I first met him when he visited Gawler many years ago to assist the Gawler branch of what was then known as the Indo-Chinese Refugee Association, which has now changed its name to Australian Refugee Association. That branch did some wonderful work with people who were refugees from Vietnam who were in the Gawler area, and His Excellency did great work to assist those people, not only with learning the English language but also in becoming part of the general South Australian community.

It was also excellent to attend the service to mark the opening of the parliamentary year, conducted last Thursday by the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship under the new chairmanship of Mr Sam Duluk, the member for Waite. It was also conducted in cooperation, as has been the case under previous leaders of the group, with the leaders of Christian churches, and the Governor attended that. I must say that the Hon. Mr Hood and others, like myself, who have been involved for many years were delighted to see the larger numbers of not only members of parliament and leaders of churches but the general public who were there last Thursday morning. Once again, it was very good of the Governor to come along to that event, as well as a wide range of events within the South Australian community.

Sir, I wish to once again extend my congratulations to you, and I am delighted that in the early days of your presidency you are showing the level of integrity and honour that has been a highlight of your career and your community work. It is always a pleasure to go to events such as the ANZAC vigil in Smithfield, where your links with the community are demonstrated. I congratulate you on your appointment to the presidency of this chamber.

I would also like to extend a welcome to all the new members of this chamber. If I run around the chamber from my right, we have the Hon. Connie Bonaros, the Hon. Frank Pangallo, the Hon. Irene Pnevmatikos, the Hon. Emily Bourke and the Hon. Clare Scriven. I welcome them all to the chamber. I am sure they will all keep me and others who have been here a bit longer on our toes.

Before the election, someone I was hosting in the lounge asked me how many members of the Legislative Council I had served with, so I looked at the mugshots and counted them up. It was just after the Hon. Mr Hanson had arrived and I think at that stage the number had reached 49, so now it would be well over 50 in the 20½ years that I have been here. That is a rather large turnover, really—much larger than was probably the case many years ago. I welcome all the new members and look forward to working with them, whether it be on committees or in this chamber. As this is my first opportunity, I would also like to extend a welcome to the Hon. Dennis Hood to the Liberal Party ranks.

I want to make some remarks in relation to His Excellency's speech, which outlined the government's program for the next four years. One of the first items I would like to highlight is the point about the government implementing targeted policies to reduce South Australia's demographic imbalance and to grow the state's population. That is one policy that is really important not only to me but also to the younger generations. I now have five grandchildren and I want a promising future for them—hopefully for all of them—in South Australia. I really do think that is an important point.

It was pointed out to me last year that, in 1993, Western Australia and South Australia had the same number of seats in the federal parliament, with 13 seats each. Now, 25 years later, Western Australia has 16 seats in the lower house of the federal parliament and South Australia has 10. I think that is a pretty stark demonstration of the fact that over 25 years our population, without going backwards, has had a very, very low growth rate. Of course, that has been exacerbated particularly over the last 16 years where we have had a Labor government that has had no interest in making this state grow. Unfortunately, many people have had to leave the state. One of my children did that and was gone for a while but, thankfully, has returned. That is something this government very genuinely believes in doing something about.

No-one who knows me well would be surprised to know that I am delighted with the government's focus on the regions. As someone who headed up a regional communities task force when I was first elected under premier Olsen and deputy premier Kerin, who was also convener of the regional development council and chair of the regional development issues group, I am delighted that this government has such a strong focus on a great part of South Australia. It is a part of South Australia that everybody in the metropolitan area enjoys when they get the opportunity to go there, because the communities are of great strength.

As was highlighted by the member for Narungga in his maiden speech today, we have fabulous parts of magnificent coastline in this state, as well as fabulous river frontage, but we also have some of the best communities that you could ever want to live in, and we need to support them far better than has been done over the last 16 years in particular.

The government is keen on the regions having safe and efficient infrastructure to grow the important contribution they already make to the economy. The establishment of a regional roads and infrastructure fund as a dedicated funding stream for regional infrastructure is something that I worked hard to achieve in the days when I was the shadow minister for regional development. It took us a while to get to the stage where we are now, but I am delighted that that has been achieved and that we are now in government and are able to implement that. Another area that has been developing for a while is the Regional Growth Fund, which will be created to inject $150 million over 10 years to support employment and, importantly, that community growth.

The emphasis in the Governor's speech about the plans of the Marshall Liberal government to support the most vulnerable in our statewide community is also very high on my radar. I think this is something that we need to do to enhance this community for future generations. I note the plans for legislation to provide legal safeguards for adults who are vulnerable to abuse or neglect; the protection of children from bullying; the Disability Inclusion Bill, which has already been introduced by the Minister for Human Services; the establishment of a community visitors scheme for people living with a disability; and the appointment of a commission to help improve the safety and wellbeing of Aboriginal children and young people.

In the health area, there is the development of public health services to provide quality and safe care for people when they need it, the restoration of a focus on quality care and patient safety, and the decentralisation of the public health system through the establishment of metropolitan and regional boards of management. This puts real responsibility and accountability back at the local level. In so many of the communities that I know well and work in, there is that ownership of the local hospital or health facilities, which has been undermined under the Labor government without a shadow of a doubt. I think that is a key point in the policy that was taken to the election and demonstrated as a policy of the new government.

We heard today from the Minister for Health and Wellbeing that the improvement of patient safety is so important. We have seen so many policies that have threatened the safety of patients in a range of ways. We heard today about the Modbury Hospital. I have been working in the north-eastern suburbs of this city since before the 1996 federal election, and I saw the significant campaigns run by the Labor Party about Modbury and the private management of Modbury under the Brown-Olsen government. However, the way in which the Labor Party has treated Modbury Hospital, where it had about 14 different directions for that hospital in 15 years, was appalling.

The bottom line of all that bad treatment of the people who rely on the Modbury Hospital is the fact that the member for Florey now sits as an Independent because she got sick of the way the Labor Party treated the Modbury Hospital and the people who relied on it. It is not just the people of the north-eastern suburbs. A significant number of people who live in the northern part of the Adelaide Hills rely on Modbury, and have done for many years.

Since the creation of the Modbury Hospital, all of the people in the areas of Mount Pleasant, Birdwood, Gumeracha and even Williamstown—lots of those southern Barossa places—have all come to the Modbury Hospital. Now, if they go to the Modbury Hospital, there is a very strong chance that they will finish up in the Lyell McEwin. They feel at home at Modbury. There is nothing against the siting of the Lyell McEwin where it is, but they feel a lot further away from home at the Lyell McEwin Hospital in Elizabeth Vale than they do at Modbury, and that is something we need to go back to, not taking people out of their localities, for the best health care we can give them.

Obviously, the other things that have been mentioned have been the reopening of key health facilities at the Repat, the establishment of the high dependency unit at Modbury and, I think, the public release of information about outpatient clinic waiting times. There are many other initiatives in the health area about which I am very pleased and on which I am very keen to work with the Minister for Health and Wellbeing.

Another key area, of course, for me is the appointment a few weeks ago as the Premier's advocate for suicide prevention and, in that, the development and chairmanship of the Premier's Council on Suicide Prevention. I am working very closely with both the Premier and the Minister for Health and Wellbeing as we put together the very important but small resources that I will have in assisting me in that role as we work towards the announcement of that Premier's Council on Suicide Prevention.

I appreciate the support of the minister as I look to enhance the work that has already been done by the Suicide Prevention Unit within the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist. In due course, that group of very hardworking people—a very small unit but made up of people who have done a great job in the development of suicide prevention networks—will transfer across to Wellbeing SA.

In that role, obviously, I will work very closely with the large number of networks—I think it is in the high 30s at the moment—in South Australia, including those which have been working for a number of years and others that are very much still in the development phase. It includes not only the ones developed by the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist but also those done through federal funding via the Wesley LifeForce organisation based in Sydney.

I want to work closely with all of those groups and make sure that we have more communication in the way they all operate—generally that has been the case, but not always. There are many other associated groups in the provision of suicide prevention and, very importantly, in the postvention area, because the area of dealing with the families that have been bereaved by suicide is one of the most important areas. Very sadly, far too many families have lost more than one member to suicide. Only last year, I heard of a family that had lost three generations to suicide. That is something we have to do everything we can to stop, and I will dedicate myself to working in that area.

I think there is great potential to develop more links through many of the football and sporting clubs around South Australia. On Saturday, I was privileged to attend the annual suicide prevention round that is run by the Gawler Central and South Gawler football clubs in the Barossa Light and Gawler Football Association. Both clubs have been hit very hard in recent years by suicide. I commend them for the work they do with the local Gawler Suicide Prevention Community Group in that promotion.

There is also potential in the multicultural area. On Saturday, I spoke at the 10th settlement celebrations of the Bhutanese community in South Australia. Like many of those communities that have come to this country in recent years, some of the community attitudes to mental health, suicide and, indeed, domestic violence and many other social issues are not as advanced as we would like them to be.

In the general community, awareness of mental health, suicide and many other issues has come a long way, but certainly a lot of those communities have shown a willingness to work with me in that area. That is something that I will prioritise, as well as other areas that have significantly higher rates of suicide—the veterans' community, the Indigenous community and also, of course, the LGBTIQ community. I have a strong interest in making sure that we do a lot of work with all of those groups.

In the near future, I will be engaging with all members of parliament in this state, including federal members, to see what more they can do. I have to say that there are many here and in the other chamber and in the federal sphere who have been very supportive of my work. There are others who have not done that, but I think over the time I have done this work, some who were indifferent at first, when they see the impact of suicide in their communities, have come on board very strongly. So, I will be engaging with every member of parliament to see what they can do with their individual networks and contacts. Some have been very close to the suicide prevention networks in their own areas and to other groups that work in mental health, and I will be pleased to learn from their experiences.

Indeed, in local government, many of the local councils have played a really good role in the establishment of suicide prevention networks, but there are others that have not seen the benefit of that and we will need to work with those councils to see if we can change that mindset. The value of these community people across the state is enormous. We have a lot more to do with the development of networks. I give the previous government credit for the work they did. When I started this work, they would not give a cracker to suicide prevention, but that changed. We need to continue that change, but the development of these groups can be enhanced. It is my hope and wish to continue to do that significantly.

In closing, I think the work that I am being supported to do, as the Premier's advocate for suicide prevention, is a great indication that the Liberal government, under Steven Marshall, has acted very early in its commitment to preventative health and wellbeing in this state. I am very happy, at any stage, to discuss with members of this chamber or anyone else the ways in which we can advance suicide prevention but also any other issues to do with how better we bring forward awareness about mental illness generally and any of the other social issues like domestic violence and drugs that are so intertwined with mental illness and, unfortunately, suicide. With those words, I commend the motion to the house.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (16:20): First, I would like to thank His Excellency the Governor for discharging his delivery of his speech on the opening of this Fifty-Fourth Parliament of South Australia. I would also like to commend yourself, Mr President, on your elevation to President. I hope you will be able to maintain the integrity of this chamber as your predecessor did. Less refined members of this chamber probably would not even know that fine piece of attire, the jabot, that you have added to your gown, and I must compliment you on your very refined look.

I would also like to express my congratulations to the newly elected members of this chamber, and I would especially like to welcome my three colleagues on the Labor side: the Hon. Ms Clare Scriven, the Hon. Ms Emily Bourke, and the Hon. Ms Irene Pnevmatikos. I would also like to congratulate the Hon. Ms Connie Bonaros on her elevation, as well as the Hon. Frank Pangallo. I have known Connie for quite a few years and have worked with her when I was a minister, and I know that the expertise she gained before coming to this place will serve this council well. All the experience that the Hon. Mr Pangallo has had over his years as a journalist will, I am sure, also serve this council well.

I would like to reflect on two previous members who are no longer here. The first is the Hon. Ms Kelly Vincent, who was a real inspiration to everyone in this chamber. She truly reflected what the people of South Australia would expect of a member of this council. The Hon. Mr Robert Brokenshire was a true character. He gave me a lot of grief when I was President but he was a decent human being and he will be truly missed. Of course, now that the Hon. Mr Hood is a member of the Liberal Party we have one less party in this chamber, the Australian Conservatives, but I think it was a wise move by the Hon. Mr Hood, and I congratulate him on that move.

I would also like to congratulate the Hon. Mr John Dawkins on being appointed head of the task force looking into suicide prevention. The Hon. Mr Dawkins has a long history of working to help people with issues that may lead them to commit suicide, and I am sure his valuable knowledge will serve that task force very well. I must say that our Legislative Council team has a good mix of experience and new members with new ideas, and that will serve us well into the future.

Our role as opposition will be to scrutinise the work of the new government and review legislation from another place as well as legislation introduced in this place. Our task, as it were, is to hold this new government to account on behalf of all South Australians. Although we will not oppose for the sake of opposing, should a government bill be brought before this chamber that could have an adverse effect on the quality of life of South Australians, then this government can expect fierce and fiery debate and scrutiny from this opposition.

I would now like to refer to the Liberals' first 100 days, which includes a promise to establish a local government rate capping scheme. I would like to point out to this government that six out of 10 South Australians voted for a political party opposed to rate capping. The truth of the matter is that rate capping does not work. It is a populist motion and I believe it was just a thought bubble that went through the minds of the opposition before the election as they tried to put some sort of substance to their reduction in the cost of living.

I will go through a brochure that I have here from the Australian Services Union. The Australian Services Union and the Australian Workers Union are the two major unions in the local government industry. Both are very strong unions that have a great record of looking after their members in local government, as well as the interests of the community. Obviously, this Liberal government has this idea that local government is only concerned with the three Rs: rates, rubbish and roads.

I would like to go through a number of the services that local government provides to people and their communities. Of course, there is roads and footpaths, libraries, parks and gardens, sporting facilities, aquatic centres, home support, community centres, dog parks and open space, clean streets, health education, jetties and coastal parks, playgrounds, youth centres, new parent support, waste collection, and festivals and events. These are just some of the essential services that make a community whole and, when we cap council rates, we cap our communities' potential to grow.

I would like to draw the chamber's attention to examples from the United Kingdom whereby councils had to introduce fees for service or, in some extreme cases, have privatised local libraries. I ask members opposite to carefully consider this for a moment: imagine your local council in a position where it had no choice but to privatise its local library. Public libraries are a lifeline to people from all backgrounds, from young mums who are introducing their babies to the world of story time to pensioners who can enjoy an incredible catalogue of books, DVDs and CDs from all over the world.

Libraries are inclusive and promote connectivity within communities. Our public libraries are a place of learning, a place to provide our community with the opportunity to develop a deeper knowledge of the world that we live in. For some people, were it not for libraries that provide free internet and PC services, they would find themselves cut off from modern technology and totally isolated. We have seen examples from New South Wales and Victoria where the introduction of rate capping has meant the declining financial sustainability of councils and, furthermore, a declining capacity to deliver the services those communities need and rely on.

As a former union official and a member of the Labor movement, it is of course in my DNA to fight for the interests of working people and communities, especially workers who will be adversely impacted by rate capping. A reduction in services will mean job losses, an increase to insecure work arrangements and little or no wage growth.

Once again, interstate experience has shown that rate capping is used by councils in enterprise bargaining negotiations as a reason that they cannot offer a fair wage increase and that they require a flexible and casual workforce. Ultimately, where a council must cap a variable component then that council must charge for other services. When a council has to start charging for services that have previously been free of charge then it becomes a user-pays system.

Rate capping will hurt the members of our community who can least afford it. Furthermore, as other—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Mr President, I can't hear myself speak half the time.

The PRESIDENT: Members, show the Hon. Mr Wortley some courtesy.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Thank you for your kind protection. Furthermore, other fees and charges imposed by councils increased by much more than the council rates. Consumers are ultimately still being charged more. I think this policy is a very poorly thought out policy. There are other ways for councils to improve accountability, such as a thorough engagement with the public and financial planning and oversight to ensure that ratepayers are getting value for their dollar. I call upon the Liberal government to work with other political parties in this place and look at a meaningful reform in a bipartisan way. Rate capping is a quick fix and will not have the effect that the Liberals promise.

I now turn my attention to another Liberal Party policy: the deregulation of retail shop trading hours. The new government has specifically promised to introduce amendments to the Shop Trading Hours Act 1977. A number of my colleagues have already spoken on this issue and placed their views on the record, and I plan to join them now. A key challenge when approaching deregulation of the existing trading hours is to ensure that small and local businesses are not undermined as they currently enjoy protection under the current laws.

Campaigns in favour of deregulation of trading hours tend to be driven by the major supermarket chains, in particular Coles and Woolworths. Independent stores and retailers employ approximately 15,000 people in South Australia. The high market share in South Australia for independent retailers provides a positive benefit for our local economy and allows for increased consumer choice. I have not seen any evidence that the proposed new changes in regulation will definitely not negatively affect small or independent businesses. The Liberal government cannot point to a proven consumer benefit from deregulation in a jurisdiction such as South Australia. However, what is known is that local independently-owned businesses will start losing their customers to the large retail giants and this will have an adverse effect on both consumer choice and on employment in our state.

My other main concern is for the welfare of retail workers should this policy be introduced. In January this year, ReachTEL was commissioned to conduct a survey of approximately 1,000 respondents across South Australia to gauge public opinion about deregulation. Statements were provided such as:

I have a young family and treasure weekends and public holidays spending time with them.

This was by Dino. Susan stated:

…as a mum of 4 kids, I already miss too many soccer games and do not want to miss out on any more special milestones. My family matters as much as yours Mr Marshall.

Of particular concern to me were statements provided by sole parents, including Helen, who stated:

I am a sole parent of a four year old and already work unfriendly family hours—this will devastate me if the hours change.

A statement from Lee also pointed out that:

It's not fair on families. There are no childcare facilities at night so it's not good for single parent families.

These testimonies are powerful and cut to the very heart of what is at stake here for retail workers: time with their families, time with their precious children, and time to relax with their loved ones and recuperate from busy work periods.

It also concerns me that in the short time the Liberals have been in government already complacency and arrogance is starting to set in. For instance, in this chamber the Hon. Mr Wade has been asked on numerous occasions for guarantees with regard to privatisation and guarantees on transparency and public disclosure. At almost no time has he been honest with this chamber and given us an answer that we can believe. It is a bit of a worry for someone like the Hon. Mr Wade, who was so fierce in his views on transparency and accountability prior to the election, that we get no comfort from any answers that he gives us in this chamber.

I also mention the Hon. Mr Ridgway. I was having a chat with the Hon. Mr Ridgway only last week about XXXX—not the beer, but his shirt size. These very large shirts have very wide necks. I was trying to give him some locations where he could buy these shirts. It suddenly occurred to me that in such a short amount of time, the Hon. Mr Ridgway has only thought about his first trip into China and is already planning his next two or three trips.

The PRESIDENT: You are skating on thin ice here, the Hon. Mr Wortley. Please restrain your injurious comments on other members.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Time will show. The Labor government never treated their positions with such a sense of privilege or entitlement.

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: Kevin Foley went to New York for an hour before he went on a cruise for a week in the Caribbean.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Will I get your protection, Mr President?

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: No.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: These wild interjections are a little bit too much to bear. It does worry me that already the sense of entitlement and privilege has crept into the ranks of the Liberal government. It will be up to us in this chamber to pull them in and make them accountable to the people of South Australia. With that, Mr President, it gives me great pleasure to support the Address in Reply and wish you a very productive four years coming.

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (16:36): Firstly, I wish to congratulate and thank the Governor, His Excellency Hieu Van Le, for his address on the opening of the First Session of the Fifty-Fourth Parliament. It is interesting reading the media this week around the incredible story of Meghan Markle and her association with our royal family back in England, and then, of course, reading His Excellency's personal story, being one of incredible achievement. Pardon my bias, but I think that His Excellency comes off a little better of the two. I believe His Excellency Hieu Van Le will continue to serve our wonderful state with great passion and enthusiasm, as he has done in the past, and possibly long into the future.

I would like to take this moment also, as many have, Mr President, to congratulate you on your ascension—or perhaps I could cheekily say exodus—to the role of president. I know that many will be missing your deliberative matters of interest speeches on this floor. I will certainly miss those cutting supplementary observations to otherwise fairly predictable Dorothy Dixers. I hate to think what the Hon. Mr Ridgway would be facing now should you still be on the floor. I will be keenly awaiting your return. Until then, like many others who have made such observations here, I am certain that you will conduct yourself in the role with great aplomb, and I agree with the Hon. Mr Hood about that word.

It has already been discussed at length in the media and in this place, but it is important, I feel, that I also formally mention and acknowledge the Hon. Ms Kelly Vincent, who was unsuccessful at the last election. Kelly was a great asset to this place and always fought hard for those in our community with a disability or who had a concern that needed a voice, something I am certain everyone in this chamber aspires to do, but she did.

Kelly was, and will continue to be, a strong advocate for inclusion and people with a disability. Those who were here during her term far longer than I was can say, and have said, more words than possibly I need to or can say here. If a measure of your achievements is how many people remember you after you have gone, then clearly Kelly achieved much, and must have a lot more to give, given her age. I certainly hope so. In an age when often the younger you are, the less engaged in democracies you are, I think Kelly has been a shining light to the South Australian democracy.

I also wish to acknowledge the Hon. Robert Brokenshire and wish him all the best in his future endeavours, most likely spending his days tending to his often-mentioned dairy cows in Mount Compass. While he and I could rarely agree, for instance, on the colour of an orange, his service to this place and as a servant of the South Australian people is laudable and speaks of a life dedicated to something greater than himself. Those cows he has are very lucky to have him.

I would like to convey my congratulations to our three newly elected Labor members of the Legislative Council. The first is the deputy leader in the Legislative Council, shadow minister for industry skills and shadow minister for forestry, the Hon. Clare Scriven. I have had the great fortune of working closely with Clare over the last few weeks in her new role as deputy leader in the Legislative Council. I can see that she is doing very well in the role and I have full confidence in her leadership and shadow ministry skills. I am sure she will further develop and mature in these roles. As she outlined in her first speech, I believe her previous experience will aid her greatly in her roles.

Along with Clare, I would like to acknowledge the Hon. Irene Pnevmatikos—it is 'Pnevmatikos' to everybody else—another newly elected member of the Legislative Council. Irene has worked hard all her life to fight for and protect workers' rights in her role as a lawyer, fiercely fighting for those in our community who need a voice. I am sure she will continue this hard work in this place, never giving up the fight to protect workers, no matter what their industry or circumstance.

I would also like to acknowledge my currently absent colleague, the Hon. Emily Bourke. Emily spent her early years sharpening her media skills, working for the Yorke Peninsula newspaper, the Yorke Peninsula Country Times, and later taking these skills with her when she began as an advisor with the former great premier Jay Weatherill. Emily will be an asset to this place as she knows the struggles and strengths of regional South Australia. I look forward to getting out to the regions—especially Yorke Peninsula—with Emily to engage with these local communities.

I also give special mention, as others have, to those from the ALP who did not contest the 2018 state election and dedicated so much of their working lives to this place. Of course, I speak of John Gazzola and Gail Gago in particular. They were both first elected in 2002 to represent South Australian communities, probably not knowing at the time just how lucky they were going to be in terms of their careers. I would like to personally thank both Gail and John for all their hard work and commitment to service. It is quite easy to be glib about serving in this place, but I can tell you that the long hours were taxing on both of them at different times, for different reasons.

I would also like to thank John Gazzola for his service as secretary of the Australian Services Union, which represents workers in the white-collar services of local government. As members here would know, this is a tier of government that is very close to my heart. The Australian Services Union is now being led by the very capable and talented Abbie Spencer and Scott Cowen, both of whom will be taking the fight—as did Gail and John—to this government over rate capping and slashing services in local government, which is a fine segue into addressing the government's new attitude to councils in this state.

I have read many of the comments of those in the other place on this issue and, from what I can tell, it actually seems, even now, to be a fairly vexed internal issue. Certainly, there is expressed concern about regional investment and about the status of regional jobs, should rate capping be introduced, and rightfully so I might say. It appears from comments made by the new government that it has concerns about council spending on matters it considers to be non-core business.

Rather than simply make the rather obvious observations about the cost-shifting disasters of rate capping that have occurred interstate, I will instead make the following observation. Every year, when your rates envelope arrives in your letterbox, I am sure everyone here and, indeed, most South Australians do not read the contents with any great joy or sense of fulfilment. I think the same could also be said whenever we receive any notice of the rising cost of our lives—certainly power bills, water bills or any other bill that arrives by mail.

However, I think it is worth saying that I encourage this new government to think again, as a result of what has come out of this election, if it thinks it has anything more than its political messaging on point in regard to rate capping. Without being too obvious about this, the fact that people do not like paying bills is a bit of an easy political point to make, but alleging that therefore any cap will solve all the problems that may exist in the local government community—like golf memberships, trips overseas or mismanagement of council budgets, for example—is another issue entirely.

I am aware that in 2013 there was an expert panel on local government reform. I encourage the new government to seek out the advice provided by this panel to provide a remedy to its grievances with the local government community and the alleged mismanagement therein. The report recommends a whole range of other things that should be done to improve the democracy, accountability and financial management of local councils.

These are all tools that are very helpful and instructive in terms of governance. These things that the new government might want to look at include better financial oversight, reforms to council elections, performance monitoring of councils, meaningful community engagement and work between councils to get better efficiencies in services, such as rubbish collection.

It is clear to me that the problem the new government has, and indeed many people who I have spoken to have, with local government is one of governance. Certainly, from the speeches I have read of its own regional Liberal members in the other place, a blanket approach is not supported if it will result in degrading services and infrastructure in those communities, particularly regional road networks. Rightfully so, because what is financially good in terms of infrastructure and services for Port Lincoln, Whyalla, Adelaide or Kangaroo Island will be as varied as the geography that makes up those locations. In terms of good governance, however, there should be no difference between any of them, and it is to this end—better governance—that I would direct all members of this place with respect to this matter.

It is with great pleasure that I can look around this chamber and see seven female members of the Legislative Council. I knew when writing this that they may not be here when I said it, and I thought I would adjust what I was going to say, and I forgot to do that. While I think this is a positive development in terms of diversity, I think it would be easy to make the fairly obvious beneficial points here in terms of representation and gender diversity, so perhaps instead I might make the following observation.

The notion of a work-life balance is a common yet still misunderstood phrase of this decade and perhaps even of the last. If this chamber and the other place are still very much devoid of women then it also means something else, which is that the homes of many who are here are devoid of the fathers, brothers and uncles, all of whom I am certain would very much prefer to spend time with their families than debating things with me at odd hours of the morning, as strange as I might find that.

One of the great male-dominated industries, manufacturing, has been in decline or change for many years now. In the same time, the service economy, a much more gender-varied workplace, has exploded into an expansion of sorts. Despite this, we continue to see the same outcome across the workforce, repeated accurately in this workplace as in any other—that is, you see men at work and women performing the primary caregiving role.

As an aside to this, I note that it has been advocated by those opposite that the workplace has changed and that we allegedly live in a 24/7 economy where shop trading hours should reflect some brave or perhaps not so brave new world. I wonder about the common sense of this approach that is allegedly creating more jobs in the service economy. While I remain unconvinced about the facts behind deregulating shop trading hours generally, particularly given that I have travelled much of the world and have observed that Sundays and public holidays are commonly associated with shop closures, what I wish to say now is in the context of what I have just said about work-life balance. If we really are about change in the workplace and creating better jobs that promote healthier families, something I am certain everyone here actually wants, then does making people work on public holidays assist in this or detract from it?

As I said earlier, this is not so much an observation solely about the representation of women in this chamber but also the question of how many men would prefer to spend more family-friendly hours sharing the load with their partner or wife or family. The question must be asked at some point, I believe, of whether we are making workplaces that encourage the kind of life we all profess to want or whether we are in fact doing the maddest thing possible of not changing anything and expecting a different result.

Moving on from those observations, I note that the government states that it has met with the federal government since being elected, and this, of course, is a good thing. This is most certainly required, since South Australia has some significant challenges ahead of it no matter the stripe of those who might occupy the Treasury benches. However, I have to observe with some sadness that many of these challenges are made a lot harder by the current federal Coalition government, a government which, in my opinion, is wreaking havoc on the state's finances by historically abandoning previous commitments to various partnership agreements, particularly in health and education and, more noticeably, with the ongoing delay and destruction they wreak on the superb workforce at ASC Shipbuilding.

Particularly disappointing has been the complete failure of the federal government in ignoring the regions in SA. It would not have escaped the notice of the electors in Frome that it was only the state government that stepped up to the plate in underwriting the reinvestment in that community. Equally, the electors in Giles resoundingly returned Labor again, and we have seen Labor retain the seat of Mawson, even though it includes the very regional voters of Kangaroo Island.

It certainly did not escape the notice of electors in the federal seat of Grey at the last election when they reduced the margin to the lowest it has been, I think, in over three decades. I mention all this because I hope it is something of a warning to our new state government, that being the fairly glib concept: don't take the regions for granted just because the federal government does. I hope to see the Marshall government take a stronger stance against the federal government than it has recently shown in its stony silence about the Holden's closure, the Arrium administration and, most recently, the federal budget infrastructure grants regarding South Road.

In a distinctly more metropolitan vein, the recent silence of our new state government on the 200 workers being sacked at ASC was as concerning as it was, unfortunately, intriguing. It is a trend to which not just those in this place but many South Australians will be paying close attention. They may well ask themselves: who is giving orders to our new Premier—them or someone else?

While there is no doubt that I am being more than a little combative in my previous comments, I do rush to add that I am so combative because this really should not be up for debate. I would not ask any state government to not cooperate with our federal colleagues, no matter who occupies the Treasury benches, but there is a distinct air to our new government of asking how high the federal government would like our new state government to jump or, to perhaps put this metaphor more practically, how silent would the federal government like our state government to be on issues that are critical to South Australians in favour of interstate political expediency?

While the political levers surrounding some matters will, no doubt, change, given the priorities of any new government, I cannot stress enough that now is not the time to take our eye off the need for continuing pressure for federal government support. It is trite but accurate to state that South Australia is an economy in transition. Co-investment into sectors of the economy to drive private investment and micro-economic reform has been a hallmark of economic growth in South Australia since the Labor government first came into office in the early 2000s. It is something of which we, from the speeches that have been given, are incredibly proud, and so we should be.

While creating jobs in macro or regional sectors is one thing, it is important to also remember that investment in the public realm creates the kind of city in which we would all like to live or visit. It has been noted by many from my party in the other place that the former Labor administration oversaw a redeveloped Adelaide Oval, the Riverbank Precinct, Convention Centre and Festival Plaza. More than that, we were consistently rated in The Economist and Lonely Planet as the fifth (and other various rankings below 10) most liveable city in the world over the last six years running.

It has been Labor's investment of more than $33 billion into the South Australian economy over its 16 years that has kept hospitals, roads, schools and public transport growing to serve its citizens and to keep its private companies well serviced. It was not that long ago—roughly when I was entering this place a year ago—that many of those who formed this new government were predicting something of an end to the South Australian economy, that the closure of Holden's and the uncertainty surrounding the submarines would soon create double digit unemployment and that the challenge was too great for any government to face.

I am proud the Labor government kept its hands on the wheel, that it made record investments in infrastructure and kept a focus on sound industry policy that, yes, occasionally required investment in growth sectors. The fact is that, while the Marshall government is stating that private business should not look to taxpayers for financial support, we see in this state that that kind of support and priority is a significant factor in creating the positive business environment in a transitioning economy that we now see after 16 years of Labor government.

In summing-up, it is clear to me that the new government may need to soon review its stated intention to take its hands off the wheel, that it may need to think about what kinds of jobs the private sector would create and how desirable they will be without regulation or intervention. It may need to think about how small tasks, like regional road investment or local services, are best governed and by whom, not just about how much they might spend. It may need to stop meeting with the federal government and instead start demanding or, at the least, seeking more than just what is given. It may need to start looking to its regional voters who are crying out for ongoing investment and regional jobs and review its stated intention to tell them to look elsewhere. In that regard, I support the bill.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. K.J. Maher.


At 16:55 the council adjourned until Wednesday 16 May 2018 at 14:15.


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