Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure today to be here to speak on the appropriation bills and to represent the people of Hindmarsh. As I have said many times in this place, I represent a very diverse electorate, an electorate that has very diverse businesses, stretching from the beachside suburbs right into the city. It is filled with some fantastic businesses, both small and large, and some great community groups, great organisations. It has a vibrancy and a real sense of community. But there are also many challenges to these groups, whether they be community groups, businesses or families just going about their business, mums and dads just wanting to get to work, get their wage, pay their mortgage, pay their bills and be mums and dads. There are also challenges to people running a big business, a multinational company, within the electorate—and we have a few—or a small niche market business. There are challenges, and I want to talk about some of these challenges today and compare the government's record with the record that Labor had.

Some of these businesses in the electorate, both large and small, need our help to thrive. Even though some of them are doing very well, they need this help to be able to create more jobs. We just heard the shadow minister speak out about jobs and industrial relations. We definitely need to be concentrating and focusing on the creation of more jobs, especially in South Australia. That is why I am very proud today to be showcasing some of the great products that are made locally in the electorate of Hindmarsh. In my parliamentary office, I have a sample of biscuits that were sent to me by Arnott's. Most of us know of Arnott's biscuit making. The company are located right in the middle of my electorate, in Marleston. They employ about 200 people and they are operating two shifts at the moment. Occasionally they may even go to three shifts. They are an example of a company exporting around the world and setting up businesses in other places as well. Not only that; I am very proud to say that Hindmarsh is the home of Tim Tams. The member for Bendigo may lay claim to having the home of the Chiko Roll in Bendigo, in her electorate; we have the home of the famous, wonderful Tim Tam biscuits in Hindmarsh. I am very proud of that. Arnott's require assistance and good policy from governments to ensure that they can thrive and go on producing their product, exporting it around the world, employing people, going to that third shift and being a thriving business that is part of the community.

Another great business in my electorate—I visited it a couple of weeks ago, with the shadow minister for industrial relations actually—is Pak Fresh. Pak Fresh is an amazing little company that was started up a few years ago by two people. It is a cold store, based in Adelaide Airport, for chilled and frozen products to be exported all over the world. It is a logistics sort of company. Those people found a niche market. They started off the business through hard work, through enterprise and through some thinking outside the box about where there was a market. Obviously they filled that market. They export goods for people who want to export certain things. For example, they showed me how they could have fresh and frozen seafood brought down from Port Lincoln on a plane and have it ending up in Asia within 24 hours.

I raise these businesses because these are hardworking people who are employing people in my electorate, people who are trying their darned hardest to do what they can. That brings me to the point of infrastructure and how these businesses really require good infrastructure, whether it be roads, rail or other transport, to ensure that they can move their products across metropolitan and regional areas and across the country in reasonable time frames to be able to get productivity up and to do a whole range of other things.

I am very proud that, when I was here in 2013, the federal Labor government, together with the state Labor government, announced the upgrade of Torrens Road in my electorate. It is called the Torrens to Torrens project, because it is from Torrens Road to the River Torrens. Approximately four kilometres of road is being upgraded. It was a very narrow road with thousands of cars banked up bumper to bumper every morning and every afternoon—most of the day, actually. I was very proud when Anthony Albanese announced the Torrens to Torrens project. The project cost about $896 million. We turned the first sod in 2013 with the then Minister Albanese. It created 480 jobs there—480 jobs that have been going since 2013. This is the benefit that you get out of infrastructure.

But there are other added benefits as well. The upgrade features a new lowered road under Grangeand Port Roads, providing nonstop routes from my electorate through to the northern suburbs. It reduces delays in east-west travel. You may say, 'What does that mean?' If you are travelling to the northern suburbs from my electorate, it will reduce the time by about 12 minutes. If you are going one way, it is a reduction of 12 minutes. If you are coming back, which most people do in the afternoon—or if you are a transport company—that is close to 25 minutes a day that you are saving. Over an average week of five days—and many companies work six or seven days—that could be anything up to two hours. When you think of the productivity hours that are saved, the benefits to the nation, the benefits to those companies that use that road, the benefits to the mums and dads who can spend an extra couple of hours with their kids reading a story to them at night or playing with them on the weekends or in the mornings, it is a big difference. It actually makes a difference not only to people's lives but also to the economy as a whole. That is why I am very proud of this project, which is a four-kilometre nonstop section of roadway with wider lanes and a flow-on of traffic which will be much more convenient for everyone using it. It starts at Pym Street, Croydon Park, and finishes at Ashwin Parade within my electorate.

When this was announced and when I was fighting to make sure that we got the money for this infrastructure project back in 2013, I remember the then opposition arguing against it, saying that there was no benefit to it and it was a waste of money and carrying on like pork chops that this was not going to be a good project. Funnily enough, though, in the last three years it has been claimed by the government as their wonderful, great project. It was featured on every flyer that went out with Liberal Party members who have represented those areas over the last three years. So on the one hand it was bagged, and then on the other hand, when they were in government, they praised it—and rightly so; it should be praised. It is a great project that will improve everything—for cycling, for pedestrians and for the economy. That is why it is so important. I was very proud that we announced it and that we funded it.

There are many other projects in my electorate. The Michael Herbert Bridge as it is known now—it was formerly known as the King Street Bridge—in Glenelg provides better traffic conditions for local residents. This benefits not only local residents but the businesses that use it as well. If this bridge had not been built—it was going to be closed down because it was dangerous—it would have meant an extra six kilometres for people travelling to that side of Glenelg in the electorate or wanting to head north or south. If you add six kilometres one way and six kilometres the other onto everybody's timetable every day, that is an enormous amount of hours spent on transport, just travelling. Again, it is hours that mums and dads save. They can have more family time and businesses can value add to their business through productivity and the saving of time.

Another great project from Labor has been the Glenelg to Adelaide recycled water pipeline—and let us not forget that all of these infrastructure projects created much-needed jobs. It cost about $61 million and was funded by state and federal governments. Previously, the wastewater treatment plant at West Beach treated the sewage a little and then pumped it out into Gulf St Vincent, an extremely important ecosystem for our fisheries and a range of other things. This system was killing the seagrass; therefore, diminishing the ability for our professional fishermen to fish in these waters. But now, with the funding that came from the then federal Labor government and the state Labor government, that sewage is treated at the sewerage plant and the water is pumped back into the city, watering our parklands and also fed off to businesses that require it. It is a great project.

Again, that infrastructure has created much-needed jobs and it is a plus for the environment and a plus for Gulf St Vincent in South Australia. It has ensured that we maintain our fishing industries and that we look after the environment, and we are giving much-needed water to businesses and parklands between the city and the sea. Anyone who has visited Adelaide and seen our wonderful metropolitan parklands will know what I am talking about. During the drought, these areas all dried off and gum trees that were 150 years old were dying. This will never happen again because of this project, and I am very proud of it.

At the other end of the scale in the education and training area, I am very proud of our St George College in Mile End. We were able to secure funding for their hospitality trade training centre. We put money into training kids so they can get VET credits. Kids train in hospitality, get some credit and then go straight into an apprenticeship when they finish. It is very important to give kids the pathways to go on into apprenticeships. This centre delivers innovative, creative and quality training. I visited that centre with the then Minister for Education Peter Garrett. It provides kids with a certificate I in hospitality and a certificate II in kitchen operations, making them ready to be employed as apprentices and be productive from day one as apprentices in the hospitality industry in restaurants and big hotels. That, of course, saves money for the people employing them because they are productive immediately. It gives those kids a pathway and an interest whilst still at high school doing certificate courses that count towards an apprenticeship. Also, it prepares students for employment in the dynamic and fast-paced hospitality industry in my electorate of Hindmarsh.

These are just some of the examples of the great initiatives that Labor delivered for Hindmarsh. Compare that to what has happened under the Abbott Turnbull government. It is clear they have done very little for my electorate and for South Australia as a whole in terms of investment and infrastructure. We know that when you inject money into investments in infrastructure, you are creating jobs and much-needed facilities for particular electorates. Compare the government with what we announced during the last federal election campaign. We announced big infrastructure projects for the electorate of Hindmarsh that would have created jobs and solved some of the infrastructure issues we have.

One project on which I was very proud to be able to secure a commitment from the Labor opposition in the lead-up to this election was $40 million towards the Brown Hill Keswick Creek Stormwater Project, which will safeguard thousands of homes, businesses and residents from the devastating damage of flooding. One of those businesses that would be affected by this is the Adelaide Airport—a major piece of infrastructure in my electorate. Last week, with the storms and the bad weather, we came very close to having a devastating flood through these creeks in my electorate. There were people who were sandbagging and people who were asked to leave their homes. They tell me we were just lucky it did not rain for an extra hour, otherwise we could have had some massive disasters. We were willing to fund to the Brown Hill Keswick Creek Stormwater Project, which would mean that the flows of water could be controlled to prevent flooding. I am very proud of that commitment.

Another Labor pledge in the lead-up to the election was $500 million for the AdeLINK tram network to expand the tram line from the city to Henley Beach, going through the Adelaide Airport in my electorate as well. That would help to reduce traffic on roads in my electorate, not to mention the environmental benefits it would have. I go back to that point of infrastructure and the money that you spend. That $500 million would have alleviated traffic problems, provided much-needed infrastructure, and also created 200 jobs in the electorate, which are badly needed at this point in time. (Time expired)

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