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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-11-11 Daily Xml
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Regional Services

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:18): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development regarding access to services in regional South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: Peterborough has experienced a series of closures in 2025 that has significantly impacted the community's access to essential services and economic stability. These include the recent closure of the Rural Transaction Centre (RTC) and withdrawal of medical services by Goyder's Line Medical clinic, the ongoing closure of the Steamtown Heritage Rail Centre and Visitor Information Centre, and the closure of multiple local businesses. These closures compound the challenges already faced by regional communities and raise serious concerns about the sustainability of small towns. My questions to the minister are:

1. What immediate support is the minister providing to towns like Peterborough to address the loss of essential services, such as medical support and access to services such as Service SA and Centrelink?

2. Given the number of closures in Peterborough this year, is the government's regional development strategy simply to wait and see which services collapse next, or will the minister take proactive steps to prevent further erosion of essential services in our regional communities?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (15:20): I thank the honourable member for her question. A number of the matters that she is referring to are obviously matters to do with federal services, such as Centrelink, and private business decisions. In terms of regional development, we have a number of grant programs, which may be applicable to some businesses or other services that might be in regional communities.

The Thriving Regions Fund includes several streams, including those for enabling infrastructure, for small grants for community groups or community development, as well as those to strengthen industries. Across government, as has been released today, we are the leading jurisdiction in terms of being able to encourage people to do business, but that of course does not take away from the fact that regional areas, particularly those areas in drought—and Peterborough of course, has been a central one to that—are facing challenges.

As a government, we continue to work to support industries and businesses across the state, and I certainly encourage people to look at the sorts of grant programs that might be applicable to their situations.

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