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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-05-08 Daily Xml
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Address in Reply

Address in Reply

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:33): I bring up the report of the committee appointed to prepare the draft Address in Reply to His Excellency the Governor's speech:

1. We, the members of the Legislative Council, thank Your Excellency for the speech with which you have been pleased to open parliament.

2. We assure Your Excellency that we will give our best attention to all matters placed before us.

3. We earnestly join in Your Excellency's desire for our deliberations to serve the advancement of the welfare of South Australia and of its people.

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:34): I move:

That the Address in Reply as read be adopted.

Thank you for the call, Mr President. First, I congratulate you on your elevation to the prestigious role of President, and we have every confidence that you will be fair and diligent and serve the role with distinction. I am honoured to be on the Address in Reply committee, and it is a privilege and pleasure to rise and support the adoption of the Address in Reply given by His Excellency. It was a great honour to have His Excellency the Governor of South Australia, the Hon. Hieu Van Le AC, open the First Session of the Fifty-Fourth Parliament, following the grand tradition of the Westminster system, calling all members of both houses together for the dispatch of business in the Legislative Council.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate His Excellency and express my gratitude to the Governor and Mrs Lan Le on their incredible commitment to service to the South Australian community. His Excellency and Mrs Lan Le are providing an outstanding service and demonstrating a high level of respect and courtesy to the people of the state, and are great ambassadors for South Australia.

As we all already know, the Governor and Mrs Lan Le came here as Vietnamese refugees and had a humble start to a new life in Australia. Their amazing journey is a remarkable story that has been told over and over again to remind all of us of the generosity and openness of Australia as a nation. I truly believe South Australia is one of the most successful multicultural places in the world, where people arrive from different parts of the world to enrich us and be a part of our wonderfully diverse community. My family and I are a part of this migrant story.

It is so important that all sections of the community have the opportunity to choose people who can represent them and their interests in parliament. Thank you, South Australia. Thank you to the decisive vote of confidence by the South Australian community on 17 March 2018, where the clear election results delivered a new majority Liberal government. I am incredibly proud to be an integral part of the Marshall Liberal government. My heartfelt congratulations to the new Premier of South Australia, the very dynamic Hon. Steven Marshall, together with all of our esteemed parliamentary colleagues and candidates on their outstanding efforts in the election. Their hard work and leadership on their remarkable campaigns has delivered a new, exciting government.

South Australia has voted for a strong plan for real change—the real change to install a much needed, new Liberal government to end the 16 years of chaos and mismanagement under Labor. While the House of Assembly election results on 17 March 2018 were clear, the counting of the Legislative Council votes to determine which 11 members would be elected was not as straightforward as in the lower house. The Electoral Commission declared the upper house votes on Monday 23 April—more than five weeks since polling day. It has taken longer than before for the Electoral Commission to tackle the results of the new Legislative Council voting laws.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the team at the Electoral Commission for their diligent work on the long, arduous task of managing the election process. It was reported by the commission that there is a tenfold increase in preferential voting compared with previous state elections. Some 58 per cent of voters marked a single number one above the line, but 42 per cent of voters either had multiple preferences below the line or made informal votes. Of course, I was one of those who was waiting patiently, paying very close attention to the counting process. There is a number that I will not forget easily, which is 3,127. Yes, it took 3,127 counts for me to be re-elected back into the Legislative Council!

I want to express my deep gratitude to my family, particularly my wonderful husband, Eddie Liew, for his unconditional love and support throughout the intensive campaign period, and I want to sincerely thank my team of friends, supporters, volunteers and my parliamentary colleagues, the Liberal Party members, for their enormous faith and belief in me. My re-election to this place would not have been easy without the incredible support from so many amazing people in my life. I place on the record my sincere thanks and heartfelt gratitude to all of them.

On the day of the declaration of the poll, if there had ever been a time when I felt that I could truly appreciate the phrase 'better late than never', it would have been on that day. It was a humbling experience to be absolutely sure, without a single doubt, having seen the final result, that I had been successfully re-elected, after waiting for more than five weeks. I am sure the Hon. Tammy Franks can relate to how I felt on the day. Her result was declared not long after mine, and she was then followed by the Hon. Clare Scriven.

I would like to firstly convey my congratulations to my Liberal colleagues—the Hon. David Ridgway, the Hon. Stephen Wade and the Hon. Terry Stephens—on their successful re-election to the Legislative Council. I must say that we look pretty sensational on the government bench joining the Leader of the Government the Hon. Rob Lucas (Treasurer), the Hon. Michelle Lensink and the Hon. John Dawkins. I welcome the Hon. Dennis Hood, who has joined us in government, and also the distinguished President, the Hon. Andrew McLachlan, who is looking really sharp up in the chair. We together are the government members in the upper house.

May I place on record my congratulations to the opposition members across the chamber—the Hon. Emily Bourke, the Hon. Justin Hanson, the Hon. Irene Pnevmatikos and the Hon. Clare Scriven—on their successful election. Congratulations also to the other new faces in the council: the Hon. Connie Bonaros and the Hon. Frank Pangallo from SA-Best. Last but not least, a big shout out to the Hon. Tammy Franks for securing a comeback to the Legislative Council. The honourable member and I were both elected in the same year, 2010. We were in the class of 2010, so I fondly welcome you back. I look forward to working with all honourable members for the advancement of South Australia.

I want to take a moment to thank and acknowledge two MLCs who sadly lost their seats in the 2018 election. The Hon. Kelly Vincent has already drawn lots of praise from all members because of her strong advocacy for the Dignity Party and hundreds of South Australians in terms of inclusion and disability. I want to thank Kelly for her remarkable contribution to this place during her eight years of service.

I also want to thank the Hon. Robert Brokenshire, who represented Family First and later the Australian Conservatives, for his longstanding and passionate contribution to the South Australian parliament. Many members, particularly the Hon. Dennis Hood, provided a detailed contribution acknowledging the service of the Hon. Robert Brokenshire, and I concur with those remarks. Two Labor members—the Hon. John Gazzola and the Hon. Gail Gago—retired at the 2018 election. I also thank them for their contribution to parliament and wish them and their families well in their future endeavours.

In the Governor's opening speech, His Excellency stated that there are 19 new members in the Fifty-Fourth South Australian Parliament. This is such a welcome change that inspires renewal and reflects the aspirations of the South Australian community. I offer my sincere congratulations to all the newly elected members and wish them well in their deliberations.

Since taking office on 17 March 2018, the new Premier of South Australia the Hon. Steven Marshall and his cabinet ministers have wasted no time in implementing our strong plan for real change that the Governor outlined in his opening address. After 16 years of Labor, South Australia needs and deserves a principled and competent government committed to delivering for our state.

The Marshall Liberal government will work to rectify Labor's failures by ensuring that health services are provided where they are needed, including the reopening of the Repat to help tackle the elective surgery backlog, lowering cost-of-living expenses and implementing a comprehensive solution to fix the electricity crisis.

As outlined in His Excellency's address, the Liberal government is committed to delivering tax cuts to households, providing opportunities for our businesses to grow and expand and reigniting our state's economy. South Australia has welcomed the new government because we will work hard to reinvigorate South Australia and create more jobs, lower costs and provide better services. South Australia now has a bright future under the Marshall Liberal government.

Since being sworn in only six weeks ago, His Excellency has highlighted that the Marshall government has already implemented extensive machinery of government changes and undertaken a series of high-level meetings with the federal government to restore collaborative and constructive relationships. Instead of always fighting with the commonwealth government, as the Labor government did, we are working with the federal government to deliver outcomes that best serve South Australia's interests. For instance, the Marshall Liberal government has welcomed the federal government's $1.8 billion infrastructure investment in South Australia, announced recently ahead of the federal budget.

The federal government's significant infrastructure investment in South Australia includes the $177 million Pym Street to Regency Road section of the north-south corridor, $220 million for the completion of the Gawler line electrification, $160 million for the Joy Baluch Bridge and $1.2 billion for further sections of the north-south corridor. This $1.8 billion investment will help build and improve critical infrastructure in South Australia and, importantly, create more jobs. This investment demonstrates very clearly why and what the state Liberal government is able to deliver for South Australians by working constructively and collaboratively with our federal counterparts. The new state government is getting on with the job and delivering for South Australians.

In a rapidly changing world, government investment in training must be connected to the needs of the broader economy to lead to real jobs and better investment outcomes. In particular, our state needs to better prepare for the naval shipbuilding jobs boom by reinvesting in the skilled jobs training sector to guarantee that the lion's share of new shipbuilding jobs goes to South Australians.

The Marshall government will invest $100 million in a push for South Australia to be the first state to access funding through the federal government's Skilling Australians Fund to help create 20,800 apprenticeships and traineeships in South Australia. Young South Australians need a range of pathways to the jobs of the future, and this investment in apprenticeships and traineeships is a central plank of our jobs policy.

South Australians gave us a clear mandate to deliver more jobs, so skilling our workforce is critical. That is why we are progressing our agenda for lower taxes and lower costs for businesses, which complements our push for funding through the Skilling Australians Fund, so that there are more jobs created and more businesses are attracted to invest and set up in South Australia.

I would now like to turn my attention to education, particularly in the area of literacy. A strong foundation in literacy in the early years is vital for students to succeed in later levels of education. That is why the Marshall government is pushing ahead with implementing our literacy guarantee package, including phonics screening checks. The Marshall government is delivering on our commitment to implement a comprehensive program to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes for all students, with the benefit to be most profound for those students with dyslexia, students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and students with other learning difficulties.

The Marshall Liberal government will give our students the skills they need to start a business, innovate and contribute to our economy by investing in entrepreneurial subjects and schools. This will include developing new business-focused SACE subjects available to all schools, creating four specialist entrepreneurial high schools. Two of these schools will be in the metropolitan area and two will be in regional areas, with business leaders, entrepreneurs and other relevant community leaders engaged as role models and mentors.

We need more South Australian entrepreneurs to provide growth and jobs in our economy. Our children are our future business leaders and entrepreneurs. We must ensure that they have the education, training and skills to turn their aspirations into reality here in South Australia. That is why the Marshall Liberal government will ensure that our students get the chance to learn the skills they need, not only to get a job and a career but also to be entrepreneurs to create jobs.

Under the previous Labor government, South Australian businesses were doing it tough, operating under some of the highest cost structures in Australia and, in some instances, the world. South Australia's $1.2 billion of annual payroll tax remains one of the most uncompetitive in the nation. Payroll tax is a tax on jobs. In an economy that is reliant on small and medium size businesses, we cannot expect employers to grow and create more jobs if government is constantly adding to the cost base, especially to the cost of employing South Australians. That is why we will remove this disincentive to businesses, creating more jobs. A Marshall Liberal government will scrap payroll tax for all small businesses in South Australia. Our reform will reduce the payroll tax paid by small and medium size businesses and will allow businesses to create thousands of extra jobs.

International education is South Australia's largest service export, totalling more than $1 billion. We believe there is much room to grow this crucial economic sector. The Marshall Liberal government, together, of course, with the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, will grow one of the biggest exports in international education by implementing a range of measures to boost international student enrolment in South Australia. We will increase funding to StudyAdelaide to $2.5 million per annum to support their key role in promoting Adelaide as a centre of education excellence, encouraging more students to live and spend in Adelaide.

We will grow our national market share in international student enrolments, growing our economy and creating jobs. We are also committed to implementing a suite of measures to boost exports, grow our economy and create jobs. A priority for the Marshall Liberal government, which was outlined by His Excellency, is the establishment of South Australian trade offices in Shanghai, Japan, Malaysia, Dubai and the United States. These priorities will increase the export potential of businesses and create new market opportunities. His Excellency outlined that legislation will be introduced in this place to establish a South Australian productivity commission and Infrastructure South Australia. These two agencies will drive more efficient service delivery.

Under Labor, government has become much more involved in our daily lives, but the more laws and regulations we have, the more they cost us to implement and administer. Often, this red tape is unnecessary and inefficiently applied and stops businesses employing more people. As Liberals, we believe government should get out of the way of business wherever possible. That is why we will establish a South Australian productivity commission to ensure the government is focused and efficient, allowing businesses to thrive.

A prime example of unnecessary government red tape affecting all of us is our restricted shop trading hours. They simply do not reflect the society that we live in. A Marshall Liberal government will deregulate shop trading hours and allow businesses to remain open, South Australians to keep working and consumers to keep buying what they want, when they want. These changes will provide greater choice for consumers and more opportunities for South Australians working in retail. Our reforms will expand to removing restrictions that currently prevent retailers selling certain types of goods on Sundays and public holidays.

His Excellency confirmed in his speech that the Liberal government will introduce a bill to extend the hours shops can trade in the greater Adelaide shopping district and proclaimed shopping districts. This will create more jobs and provide consumers with greater choice.

In 2014, the Labor government imposed a massive tax increase on family homes, businesses, farms, churches, community organisations, independent schools and many other groups via an increase to the emergency services levy. This impact has cascaded through the entire economy and community. This is placing increasing pressures on household budgets and strangling our economy. That is why the Marshall Liberal government will slash the ESL immediately so that South Australians will benefit from 1 July 2018.

With council rates one of the biggest taxes property owners pay, this will save households and businesses money, increase business confidence and help to attract investment to our state. That is why the Marshall Liberal government is committed to lowering costs for families and businesses by delivering this reform. The Liberal government will implement a local government rate capping scheme to prevent ratepayers having to cop excessive increases in council rates year on year. We will also restrict increases for other local government fees and charges to further reduce rising cost-of-living pressures on South Australian households and businesses.

I would like to thank the Premier of South Australia for his trust and confidence in appointing me as the Assistant Minister to the Premier. I am proud to be a part of the Marshall Liberal government that will continue to work with all South Australians to deliver more jobs, lower costs and better services that will make South Australia a stronger and more prosperous state.

With my contribution today, I join with honourable members to assure His Excellency that we will give our best attention to all matters placed before us and join His Excellency in our deliberations to apply our best abilities to serve the state that we all love, for the advancement and the welfare of South Australia and its people. I commend this motion to the council.

The PRESIDENT: Before I call on the Hon. Ms Scriven to second the motion and proceed to make her speech supporting the Address in Reply, I remind members this is the honourable member's maiden speech and the honourable member is entitled to be heard in silence.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (15:58): I rise to second the motion. Mr President, I congratulate you on your election as President of this chamber. I am sure you will carry your dedication to duty, as exemplified through your previous military service, into this role and be a model of fairness and adherence to the standing orders. I thank His Excellency the Governor for delivering the speech that opened this Fifty-Fourth Parliament of South Australia.

In 1946, a man set out on a journey from Glasgow to London. He walked that journey. He had to leave his wife and five children. He had owned a small trucking business, but his trucks had been requisitioned by the government to assist in the Second World War. There was, of course, no compensation—it was for part of the war effort.

The war had now ended, his business was no more and, like countless other men, he could find no work in Scotland, so he did the only thing he could. He walked to London, 387 miles, to get employment and somewhere to live so that he could then send for his wife and children to join him. His goal was simple: to have a home and to have a job to support his family. His was a journey of perseverance, sacrifice and hope in pursuit of opportunity.

Twenty years later, another journey began. A man and a woman and their two young children crossed vast oceans to travel to the other side of the world. Their goal was also simple: to have a home of their own for their family. In outer London, this family had lived in two rooms upstairs with only cold water, sharing a bathroom with a family who lived below. The man worked long hours in suffocating conditions in a foundry, yet his wage was short by 10 shillings per week of the amount needed merely to apply for a subsidised council home loan. The waiting list for a council rental home was more than 10 years, so they did the only thing they could. They left family and friends and all they had known to travel and emigrate to Australia. Their journey, too, was a journey of sacrifice and hope in pursuit of opportunity.

The first journey was that of my grandfather and the second was that of my parents. I have been the beneficiary of both of those journeys because of the opportunities I have in this country—a country where the daughter of a foundry worker can become a member of this state's parliament. These simple goals of work and home ownership are still the goals of many people today. Many are still denied the opportunities that other people take for granted.

I believe the underpinning purpose of government is to foster opportunities, and this is the reason for my membership of the Labor Party: the acknowledgement that people are born into very different opportunities but that all have a right to reach their full potential, that all are deserving of dignity by the very nature of their humanity and that all should be able to expect a safe workplace and a livable wage. These are the traditional values of the Labor Party and are the foundation of everything that I hope to achieve while in this place.

By many people's standards, as I grew up, our family was poor. My late father worked in jobs that were considered unskilled and therefore only paid a little bit better than minimum wage. My mother, who I am delighted is able to be here today, did occasional paid work but considered that her career was raising her family. Her example of devotion to her family has been a profound inspiration to me and I thank her for her love and commitment.

But my parents ensured that myself and my sisters rarely felt poor. They always cherished the fact that we could go on holiday every year, no matter that it was in a tent. They valued family time far above any material goods and, of course, they treasured the fact that we owned a home: a home with three bedrooms and a bathroom and a garden.

I was raised in Penola and Mount Gambier in our state's beautiful South-East, where I now live again. I worked there after leaving school and then moved to Adelaide for uni. Of course, moving was the only option for myself as a country kid, before the days of internet and online study and before there was a university in the Limestone Coast. Similar issues remain today for many country residents. I believe I am the only member of this place who lives more than 100 kilometres from Adelaide. As a regional MLC, I want to ensure that there is a stronger focus on regional issues and a better consideration of the impact on country residents when we consider legislation here.

I had moved to Adelaide for university, but living on Austudy was hard, especially after being used to a full-time income, so I left and went to work again. My career since then has encompassed many different roles in the public sector, the private sector and self-employment. As my husband also runs his own business, we understand firsthand the ups and downs of self-employment. As a couple, we have been fortunate to have had one of us at home as the main caregiver for our children for most of their lives. This has certainly been difficult at times.

As any small business person knows, a frequent challenge is to actually get paid in a reasonable time for the work that you have done. I remember one particular year when my husband was waiting to be paid for a job. It reached two days before Christmas, we had exhausted all our financial reserves and there was still no payment in sight. At that time we had three young children and I remember doing our Christmas shopping at the op shops that year. I can assure you there is not much left in the op shops two days before Christmas.

This type of experience is usual for many families, and they have little expectation, often, that it will change. They live from week to week financially. That is why failure to pay wages on time, deliberate underpayment of staff or seeking to remove the penalty rates on which many people rely can be devastating. These are all threats to the livelihoods of individuals and families and they are wrong. The terrible uncertainty that comes with these threats to one's livelihood takes its toll on people's mental health, as well as in many other ways, and is one of the many reasons why the people of our state need a Labor government. I hope that they will have one once again in four years' time.

I remember many conversations around the dinner table at night about such matters as I was growing up. My mother says she did not think that we were a political family, but discussions about justice, fair treatment and powerlessness versus collective action were all part of my formative years. My father was strongly Labor and strongly union. I asked him once why he was not the shop steward at his workplace and he laughed and said in his Scottish accent, which I am very poor at imitating, 'Lassie, those blokes are not ready for my kind of unionism.' Dad's view was that the Liberal Party was for the rich and big business and that Labor was for the working man. It was a very simple description, but in all the years since I have seen much that supports his view.

The Governor's speech confirmed that this new Liberal government has, for example, committed to further deregulating shop trading hours, uncaring of the fact that this will hurt small traders, possibly sending them out of business. It is only the biggest retailers that will benefit and consumers will pay the price, literally, of reduced competition in years to come. Sadly, those opposite are never true friends to small business.

As I mentioned, I quit uni the first time round, but thankfully the flexibility in study that has emerged in recent decades meant that I was able to return to study later while working and raising children, gain postgraduate qualifications in management and undertake an MBA. More flexibility in study options, recognition of prior learning and work-based study projects have all come about in relatively recent years and are a huge step forward in lifting skills and qualifications. As the world's economies change and develop and new industries emerge, it is essential that we become more flexible and innovative in our approaches to training and education, and I emphasise again how important flexibility is to regional residents in particular.

I return again to the theme of opportunities. I had the opportunity to be a member of this place when I was in my 20s, but I chose to decline. At the time, I would have been the youngest woman to enter the state parliament and a number of other firsts. I was warned that opportunity only knocks once. Well, I am living proof that is not so. I am glad to come to this chamber older, hopefully wiser, and with a wealth of life experience to guide me. I have a new first: I believe that I am the first woman with six children to become a member of this place, and given that large families are becoming less common, it is a record that I expect to hold for a very long time.

I am grateful to many who have made my entry to this place possible. First of all, to the Australian Labor Party: thank you. Thank you for being the voice of the powerless and the disadvantaged while progressing our state for the good of all. Thank you to the former member for Croydon, the Hon. Michael Atkinson, who first encouraged me to join the party in 1989, and to Senator Don Farrell. Both of them encouraged me to pursue multiple opportunities, including one that saw me as the youngest woman ever elected to the national executive of the ALP. Thank you for eventually forgiving me for not entering this place at my first opportunity.

Thank you to the Hon. Jack Snelling, former member for Playford, my friend and supporter through many years, and to the Hon. Tom Kenyon, former member for Newland. You will be missed, both of you, from this parliament. Add to these also the member for West Torrens, the Hon. Tom Koutsantonis, whom I likewise have known since Young Labor days. I also thank the new member for Croydon, the Hon. Peter Malinauskas, who I know will be an honourable and inspirational leader, and very much look forward to working as part of the team being led by him.

I thank the SDA, Sonia Romeo and Reggie Martin for your support in my preselection in the recent campaign. I have learned much from you, for which I am grateful. I also thank Aemon, Steven and all those at party office.

I also want to thank those steadfast ALP supporters who worked for the Labor campaign in Mount Gambier and MacKillop. It is not easy to fly the Labor flag in seats such as those and you should be rightly proud of your commitment and hard work. Thank you, Geoff, Mary, Chris, Brad, Travis, Trish, Mark, 'Comrade' Willie, and also Phil and Karen. Thank you to my friends Jenny and Liz. Both of you have supported me in innumerable ways which have lifted me up and helped me to persevere. Also to Joan and Helen, Sandra, Caroline and Paul, and Robert, I will always be grateful for your support.

I welcome the other new members to this place and congratulate you on your election as well as those who were re-elected. I particularly congratulate my Labor colleagues, the Hon. Emily Bourke, who I know well, and the Hon. Irene Pnevmatikos, who I know only a little so far. I look forward to working with you both.

It is a pleasure to note that on this side of the chamber three of the four Labor members elected in March were women. Indeed, I was watching the proceedings of the other place earlier today and I was struck by the abundance of men's blue suits on the government side of the chamber. I confess to being baffled by how the Liberal side of politics continues to believe that it selects people based on merit when they have only four women out of their 24 members in that place, and only two out of nine in this one. It is clearly a different sense of merit.

Mr President, I have saved the best until last. My deepest thanks must go to my dearest friend, my husband Gerard. My election to this place is certainly a story of sacrifice on his part for he would not choose a life in the limelight himself. His love, his strength, and his faith, have been my most treasured gifts and their value is far beyond words. To our children, Felicity, Isabel, Monica, Julian, Oliver and Genevieve, you have also endured the upheaval of my political voyage so far and have borne with it and supported me through it all. I thank you.

I began by talking about journeys of hope in pursuit of opportunity. I hope to spend my time in this place in furthering the economic and social measures that will mean that those in our community who are vulnerable, who lack a voice, who lack opportunities, are able to benefit from traditional Labor principles of justice and opportunity so that they can fulfil their own potential. If we achieve that as members of this place, our journeys will have been worthwhile.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.

The PRESIDENT: Before I call on the next matter, may I add my congratulations to the honourable member on her election and her maiden speech, and I also extend a welcome to your friends and family.

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