Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Adelaide Plains horticultural area around Virginia is an important part of South Australia's food bowl. With many hundreds of hectares irrigated, including both open-field and greenhouse crops, the industry is a big employer in Adelaide's north and meets much of the demand for vegetables in South Australia.

The spring flooding that ravaged much of South Australia has had particularly devastating consequences for the horticultural enterprises in the region. Over 1,100 hectares were inundated with over 50 millimetres of rain in the last week of September. This flooding caused losses of between $20 to $30 million for at least 165 local businesses. The estimated loss stands at 8.9 million tonnes of various crops, including potatoes, carrots, cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli, cucumbers, capsicums and greenhouse tomatoes. Across South Australia, about 300 growers have been affected in some way, accounting for a third of our horticultural industry.

This has been a tough year for growers, businesses and families from around South Australia. For many business owners that I have spoken to, the severe weather and blackout in my home state was merely the straw that has broken the back of hardworking small- and family-business owners. While the flooding was a terrible weather event that has hurt my state's economy, we suffer a far worse scourge than that of the weather: that of our state Weatherill Labor government. Every day, small and family businesses, whether they are on the land or in suburban electorates like mine of Boothby, are lamenting the extraordinary cost of doing business in South Australia. Businesses are incredibly concerned about the price of electricity. In addition to the highest state taxes and charges in Australia, businesses are staring down the barrel of ever-increasing prices on contracts that are shorter than ever to accommodate more price hikes in the future. With the closure of the Hazelwood power station, we are set for further increases.

I would say to my Labor Party colleagues here today speaking on this motion: how do you expect businesses to bounce back from the spring floods when they are taxed and levied to the hilt, when they must pay terribly high WorkCover charges and now, above all else, they are facing incredibly huge rising costs of electricity? Furthermore, this is an electricity supply that might be turned off for hours at a time simply because the state Labor government has failed to maintain vital energy infrastructure and provide secure, reliable and affordable energy.

By contrast, a responsible government creates a good environment for businesses. The Turnbull Liberal government has set about creating an economic landscape where businesses can recover from disasters such as this because the economy is geared towards economic growth and job creation. By contrast, the federal government understood the risks going into this weather event, which is why our response included a number of measures to mitigate the effects of flooding on businesses in the northern plains area and on residents around the state.

My electorate of Boothby was also affected by flooding just prior to the event on the Adelaide plains. I am grateful to the Minister for Justice, who provided prompt financial assistance to local residents and state and local government to assist them in the clean-up through the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements. I cannot imagine the stress these residents were under when we had the Weatherill Labor government's statewide blackout. My residents were in the dark at the same time as they were anticipating another major flooding event. I pay tribute to the Mitcham council and the SES volunteers who helped prepare residents as well as they could—preparation that, thankfully, was not needed.

I also pay tribute to those who helped out in the north: personnel from the 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, and the 1st Armoured Regiment and Air Force personnel who assisted local emergency services in the filling and distribution of sandbags, and importantly, reinforced the flood levy at Port Wakefield and Two Wells. In mentioning their efforts, I must commend the 250 ADF members and many more volunteers from the SES and CFS who worked to limit the effects of the flooding on businesses and residents in the north. Finally, I commend the Prime Minister for visiting Virginia on 4 October to witness the impact of the flooding firsthand. As all South Australians know, the Prime Minister and the Liberal government are firmly focused on doing all we can to encourage economic growth, jobs and prosperity in my home state of South Australia, which has suffered so badly under 14 long years of state Labor government mismanagement.

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