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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-05-03 Daily Xml
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Riverland

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (16:29): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development a question on agriculture.

Leave granted.

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI:The Murray Pioneer reported on 27 April 2022, that the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development said:

Maximising the agricultural value of the Riverland will be her biggest measure of success.

My questions to the minister are:

1. What is the current value of the agricultural industry in the Riverland?

2. What initiatives will her government adopt to maximise the agricultural value of the Riverland?

3. How will the minister measure her success or failure? What value or percentage increase is required?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (16:29): I thank the honourable member for her question. Of course, the Riverland is a very important part of our state in terms of its economic contribution. I would point out that it was a slight misquote from the media outlet. It is not simply that the Riverland and its economic contribution would be my single biggest measure of success. I do acknowledge, however, how important the Riverland is. I suggest that the sort of information the honourable member is asking for is certainly readily available in the public domain.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: I was very pleased to be able to visit the Riverland—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order, leader! Minister, continue, please.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: I was very pleased to be able to visit the Riverland as one of my first regional visits after being appointed as Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. I met with a number of stakeholders there. One of the groups I met with mentioned that one of their biggest disappointments was the lack of attention and the lack of visits from members of the former Marshall Liberal government. For example, they told me that Minister Speirs had only visited them there once. I don’t know if that was accurate, but that is what I was told.

Certainly, they did not speak about Minister Basham visiting on a regular basis or, indeed, a lot of attention from the former Marshall Liberal government. I note that the opposition now has, I am not sure if it is five or six mentions of 'regional' in their shadow ministries. I am very glad that they have finally deigned to say that regional South Australia is important, despite their record over the last four years, but I would suggest that we need more than simply the insertion of the word 'regional' into shadow ministry portfolio titles to actually deliver for regional South Australia.

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