Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The past week has been quite a victorious one if you're from my state of South Australia. These achievements occurred one year after Peter Malinauskas led South Australia Labor back into government after only four years in opposition. That means my predecessor, the former member for Spence Nick Champion, has now been part of the Peter Malinauskas Labor government as the Minister for Planning, Minister for Trade and Investment and Minister for Housing and Urban Development for over a year now. Time really does fly. The government has a number of accomplishments stemming from the statistics alone. Roughly 48 per cent of its election commitments have been fulfilled in their first year in government.

This brings me back to some of my first speeches on policy and legislation in this place, applauding our government for enacting legislation that formed part of a policy taken to the election. A couple of the many hallmarks of good Labor governments, federal or state, are a meticulous eye for keeping to election commitments and enacting big reforms and big moves, affecting states and the nation for years or generations into the future. Another hallmark is one that we do here every single day: correcting the mistakes and mess of the previous government.

Conversely, good Labor governments have taken the mantles of policies enacted by previous governments where it has been in the national interest to do so. Also within the last week, we have seen one of these policies come to fruition. That is, of course, the recent announcement made under the AUKUS partnership—one with long-lasting and positive benefits to South Australia. When the Prime Minister met with the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden last week, for many in South Australia it ushered in not just happiness but also a great sense of relief.

To provide some historical context, we must go back to 2013 and to the floor of this very chamber, where the Treasurer of the day, Joe Hockey, made his infamous remarks daring GM-Holden to close up shop and cease operations in Australia, at a time when they were seeking financial support from the government so they could remain afloat. And what happened next? Well, one of two things would appear to be true. The first scenario involves Joe Hockey believing GM-Holden to be making idle threats and merely bluffing. The second scenario involves a wilful indifference to the consequences of GM-Holden following through with the statements they made about ceasing operations in Australia without further government support. Whichever way you look at it, neither scenario paints Joe Hockey and senior members of the government at the time in a particularly good light. I don't know much of the character of the man in order to pass proper judgement. I don't even know if he's any good at poker. But for the measure of a man I look to a quote from famed psychiatrist Sigmund Freud: 'Who knows? Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.' You can simply say, at this point, the rest was history.

An iconic automotive manufacturer closing anywhere within Australia is a tragic set of circumstances, but this occurred in the very heart of my electorate of Spence, named Wakefield at the time. Thousands of jobs were lost both directly and indirectly. Manufacturing is the lifeblood of the northern suburbs of Adelaide. The northern suburbs had been built as a satellite city around a manufacturing industry—one that many felt had its death knell rung the moment Joe Hockey told GM Holden to leave.

But up north we are a resilient and innovative bunch. In the very place where Holden cars drove off the factory floor, there is now a place where mushrooms are cultivated by the Epicurean Food Group. Without such innovative ideas, the old plant would remain empty and serve as a reminder of what once was to those driving past. The north has built a burgeoning and thriving defence industry alongside RAAF Edinburgh and DSTG. With the AUKUS build taking place in South Australia, we now have a better degree of certainty. But now the Prime Minister has renewed the Australian government's vows to South Australia—

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