The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (15:48): I rise to speak in favour of the Appropriation Bill. This provides an opportunity to reflect on the recent Malinauskas government budget, which I think really does represent some missed opportunities for our state.
One of the areas of significant concern to the Greens is the failure of the Malinauskas government to seriously tackle the cost-of-living crisis engulfing our state. Several months ago, ahead of the budget, this council passed a motion calling on the Malinauskas government to commit to 50ȼ public transport fares. This is an approach that has been taken in Queensland and it has resulted in a significant surge in people using public transport.
Despite that, the Malinauskas government has refused to take action. We know that cheaper public transport fares will not only save commuters thousands of dollars but will also reduce congestion on our streets and deliver some really good outcomes for our environment. Yet, once again, we have not seen any action from the government on that. In fact, what they have done is increase public transport fares for most South Australians, and that is really disappointing.
The government has also refused to take any action on skyrocketing rent prices. I have been campaigning during this term of parliament to implement some rent controls, so that rent increases are tied to CPI. Again, the government has failed to take action, and so we are seeing renters being at the mercy of the market. For the Greens, we believe that housing should be a fundamental human right. Our housing system should be focused on people rather than the profit margins of vested interests and yet, sadly, we are just not seeing that leadership from the government.
The Hon. Dennis Hood touched on energy prices, and indeed the Greens are concerned about the Malinauskas government's failure to tackle skyrocketing energy prices. We want to see electricity put back into public hands, and that means bringing back ETSA. We should have a commission of inquiry into examining how we can do that. As the honourable member reflected, we also need to see a state-based battery storage rebate scheme, and we need to see a state-based solar rebate scheme. These were things that had the support of all sides of politics.
I was not a fan of the former Marshall government, but they did commit to retaining these schemes, as did the Labor opposition, and all parties supported those schemes. The moment the Labor Party came into office they cut these schemes, and that has been really disappointing. It is a bad outcome for the environment and it is a bad outcome for the hip pocket of most South Australians. The government said at the time, 'This is middle class welfare.' The minister, the Hon. Tom Koutsantonis in the other place, said this money is being misdirected. If that is the government's view, why did they not recalibrate these programs so that they were tailored towards low income South Australians instead? Instead, they have taken no action.
We are also concerned about the failure to take the leadership that we need on climate change. We have a situation where our state is being ravaged by climate change. We are seeing the effects of that on our oceans at the moment. Many of our oceans are, sadly, resembling graveyards, and we are seeing dead marine life washing up on our shores. That has not just happened by accident. It has happened because of climate change. We know that climate change is heating our waters and is creating the environment where this toxic algal bloom can spread and grow.
What is the Malinauskas government doing? We know that they have been asleep at the wheel over the winter break but, worse than that, they are continuing to give millions and millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to the fossil fuel industry that is driving this crisis; we are seeing this in their budget. We need to see them change course and we need to see some vision from the government in terms of dealing with that.
The other area where the government has been found wanting in this budget is, of course, on health. This chamber also passed a resolution urging the Malinauskas government to make ambulance cover free for seniors, to slash ambulance call-out fees for pensioners. Again, we have not seen any leadership from the government in that regard, and so South Australians pay the highest ambulance fees in the country.
If you are in the unfortunate position of being somebody who has an insecure income or you are experiencing economic hardship and you call an ambulance, you are going to face some real problems because you are not being provided with affordable ambulance services in our state, and that is a real failure of leadership from this government, not to mention, of course, their failure to get ramping under control, and that is an issue that the Greens are going to continue to advocate for action on as well.
Speaking of vulnerable South Australians, I was very concerned to see at the last financial year for the first time ever in our state that South Australians have lost more than a billion dollars to pokies—more than a billion dollars to pokies. That is money that could be spent elsewhere in our economy.
We know that pokies literally destroy lives and rip communities apart. Many of my colleagues, I am sure, would have had this experience as well: over the last few years, I have had the opportunity to speak to many constituents who have lost their livelihoods as a result of gambling addiction, and yet the Malinauskas government seems to be addicted to pokies. They are relying significantly on pokies revenue as part of their budget. The Greens are saying that we need to phase out pokies by 2030, have a moratorium on all new machines, and let's provide a support package to our pubs and clubs so they are no longer reliant on that revenue.
There are a few other areas too where I feel the Labor Party could have shown more leadership in their budget. Scrapping school fees is one where really the government should have stepped up. It is a real shame that parents of children who go to public schools are still shelling out a huge amount of money in school costs. That needs to change.
Might I also say it is particularly galling that the government has not put this money into cost-of-living relief when they are spending so much money on government advertising. I mean, the Malinauskas government were very critical of the Marshall government's advertising spend. When the Labor Party were in opposition, they were very critical of the Malinauskas government's advertising spend, and they were right to be critical because some of it was quite outrageous.
But what did they do when they found themselves on the Treasury benches? They spent almost $100 million in just the first two years alone of their administration. We do not have the most recent spending, but we do know that they are going to be spending millions and millions of dollars in the lead-up to the next state election, slapping themselves on the back and telling us all how great they are.
I think South Australians who are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis will find that to be pretty outrageous. Rather than spending so much money on PR campaigns and rather than spending so much money on telling us all how great you are, surely the government should be building the housing that we need, investing in the hospital beds that we need, investing in the public transport infrastructure that we need, rather than engaging in backslapping exercises. So, again, that is a failure of leadership from the Malinauskas government.
As we head towards the next election, the Greens will be out there campaigning for action on all of these things. I feel very excited about the next election and in particular our lead candidate, Melanie Selwood, who I think will be a really good addition to this place. Really, this Appropriation Bill demonstrates why we need Greens in this parliament so that we can continue to advocate for action on the areas that have been neglected by the Labor Party. So with that, I support the bill, but it does provide an opportunity to reflect on some of the missed opportunities, and I hope that whomever forms government after the next election will take these matters seriously.