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

A strong economy is the key to our nation's growth. It's the reason that our government is backing small business, boosting exports and delivering tax cuts. A strong economy benefits all Australians by creating more and better-paying jobs. A strong economy also means that states do not need to rely on GST revenue to fund essential services. However, in my home state of South Australia that's exactly what is happening and what has to happen, because after 16 consecutive years of Labor government and 16 consecutive years of irresponsible spending the South Australian Labor government can barely keep the lights on.

I'm a proud South Australian and I will always fight to ensure that we get our fair share of Commonwealth funding. But I'll tell you what else I'm fighting for: I'm fighting for a change of state government in South Australia so that my wonderful home state and our state economy can get back on track. There is nothing more important than that for my residents in Boothby and for every single South Australian. We need to get rid of the state Labor government, who have failed each and every resident of South Australia. They've failed to protect our most vulnerable elderly residents and our most vulnerable children. They've failed to deliver affordable and reliable power. They've failed to transform health. Instead, they've decided to trash our health system, shutting down the wonderful repatriation community hospital in my electorate and closing 160 hospital beds in the south of Adelaide. State Labor have failed to grow jobs—it's just tragic that we have one of the highest rates of unemployment in the nation—and they've absolutely failed to balance the state budget.

I will address some of the specific issues raised in this motion, particularly infrastructure and education. The Turnbull government's commitment to infrastructure in South Australia is undeniable. In the 2017-18 budget our government committed to an overall infrastructure spend of $3.1 billion for South Australia. This is a significant investment in upgrading infrastructure across the state, and a large part of that funding is going to benefit my residents in Boothby significantly. We have committed $496 million, or 80 per cent of the total value of the Darlington upgrade project. This will see traffic flow much more easily along South Road. It's absolutely critical to get my residents and those residents further south to work and to school as quickly and efficiently as possible. Part of this upgrade is our commitment of another $42 million—I was so proud to be the candidate when this commitment was made during the election campaign—to extend the train line from Tonsley up to Flinders Medical Centre and the university. The Flinders Link rail project will transform public transport options for local residents. It will make it so much easier for students coming to Flinders to get to uni, help health professionals at Flinders Medical Centre and help patients to get to Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders hospital more quickly and easily.

I was also very proud during my time as a candidate for Boothby to be the first member of parliament to ever commit significant funding to fixing the Oaklands Crossing, which is a 40-year-old problem for my residents. I secured a $40 million commitment towards the Oaklands upgrade and grade separation, and I'm grateful to the Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Cities for securing an extra $55 million, so that this project can start now. The state government has also made a commitment and we will see this long-term problem fixed for my local residents.

We're also providing record local road funding to my councils. We've invested $7.8 million through Roads to Recovery for councils in Boothby—the cities of Holdfast, Mitcham, Onkaparinga and Marion—and the Black Spot Program is doing things like fixing the Jetty Road rail and road intersection, which has made it a lot safer for both cars and pedestrians.

Education was another issue listed in this motion. It is ridiculous to claim that the Turnbull government is cutting funding to education. We are investing an extra $23.4 billion in our schools over the next decade. I spoke on that this morning in the House. We will see average funding per student increase by around 52 per cent.

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