Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I want to talk about the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. I have stood in this chamber many times before and spoken about various issues, projects, towns and exciting things that happen on the Eyre Peninsula. But today I want to give you an overview—a bit of a snapshot. It takes up 25 per cent of South Australia's land area and is 50 per cent of South Australia's coastline. It has 58,872 people living there and it has an amazing tourism industry—that industry has 551,000 visitor trips per year. People go to this area because it is so beautiful and has so much to offer. We also have a population of First Nations people at 6.7 per cent—much higher than most other places. We have 24 per cent of South Australia's barley crop. We also have 40 per cent of our state's wheat crop. We produce 45 per cent of iron and steel manufacturing and 82 per cent of South Australia's seafood product—most of you have probably tried that, and it's spectacular!

The reason I wanted to bring this up today is because I had the delight of having a range of mayors and CEOs from the Eyre Peninsula visit on Tuesday. As many people in this chamber would know, they were all in town for the Australian Local Government Association's National General Assembly. I would like to put a shout-out to those mayors, CEOs and all of the people working across that region for the spectacular job they do in our amazing area. It has spectacular beaches and all sorts of really amazing things to do and places to go. I encourage you all to come and visit.