Robert Simms (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the Greens positive vision for South Australia, something I know is going to be of significant importance to the people of my home state in coming weeks and months. One of the critical issues facing South Australia is jobs. In recent months, I have had an opportunity to travel to regional South Australia. I have been to Whyalla, Port Augusta and Port Pirie and spoken to people within those local communities. It is clear that jobs are a significant challenge facing my home state, particularly in Port Augusta and Whyalla. In Whyalla, we are seeing the potential demise of the steel industry with the struggles faced by Arrium, a significant employer of people in that community.

I had the opportunity to travel to Whyalla for a Senate inquiry just two weeks ago and it was very clear to me that members of that community have been concerned about the impact of Liberal and Labor economic policies over many, many years. They want to see a clear policy framework in place that will favour local procurement and Australian made steel, and they are really concerned about things like free trade agreements and the TPP, which is selling off and selling out our national interest. Of course, we have a two-party consensus on that policy and the Greens are the voice of reason in this debate, standing up here in this place for the interests of South Australian jobs and the jobs of all Australians.

The Greens are a party that are going to be talking about jobs in the lead-up to this federal election. The Greens vision for South Australia is one that will make the most of our state's skills in manufacturing and create new jobs for the future. We know that as we transition away from coal and carbon, we can create new jobs for the future in green innovation and renewable energy. We should harness the skills of our state's manufacturing industry and lead the way with the development of new technologies, cutting-edge renewables, light rail and electric cars.

Just last week, it was a great privilege to have the Leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Richard Di Natale, join Senator Sarah Hanson-Young and myself to announce the Greens' South Australian component of our national Renew Australia policy platform. As part of that plan, we are proposing to move to 90 per cent renewable energy by 2030, a plan that would create huge amounts of jobs across our nation. For South Australia, we have a plan to move to 100 per cent renewables by 2030, something that would create a thousand new jobs in construction, advanced manufacturing and renewable energy—something we desperately need in South Australia at the moment. So we can build on our foundation in renewable energy and our skills in that regard, we would boost funding for the Clean Energy Cooperation and encourage greater investment in this area.

The Greens also have a vision to harness the skills of our automotive industry and the people working in manufacturing of cars. I mentioned before the jobs crisis faced in South Australia, and we are seeing the closure of Holden also coming down the line. My colleague Senator Janet Rice and I had a bill before the Senate to create a green car transformation scheme that would provide government assistance to kick-start an electric car industry in South Australia and Victoria. Our vision is to see electric cars built here in Australia and for every electric car around the world to have a component that is made in Australia. Of course South Australia is a big part of that and the Greens are advocating for that.

South Australia also has a reputation for clean, green, fresh food and local produce. We might be the driest state in the driest continent but we have had to be very smart with water use. From tomatoes grown in the desert in recycled water to state-of-the-art irrigation in our wine regions, we are pioneers in new, sustainable agriculture. As the climate changes and more regions are going to have to come to terms with the need for sensible water use, there is an opportunity for South Australia to be a leader in sustainable agriculture, and the Greens have a plan to make that happen.

We are also a party that has a plan to build a reputation for our state as a leader in creativity. South Australia also has a reputation for excellence in education but, without appropriate government investment, we risk falling behind. It is appropriate that we have the education minister, a fellow South Australian, who unfortunately has a vision for higher education in this country that seems to be more about ripping away money and shifting the cost burden onto students than it is about trying to invest in the future and future education.

The minister may not remember what his HECS debt is, but I can tell you: I know what mine is. I am sure that many young people in this country know what their HECS debt is and many more will be ruing the day that Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberal Party returned to government in this country with their agenda for deregulation. What we are seeing from this Liberal Party is a continuation of the same policy agenda we saw under Tony Abbott: slashing funding for universities, deregulating the university sector and pricing people out of university. We know that that is an agenda that is bad for jobs in South Australia, because we need a highly-skilled workforce and we need world-class universities that are appropriately funded. The Greens have a vision to make that happen.

We also oppose the slashing of student scholarships that are so critical to supporting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. When Labor sided with the Liberal Party to rush that through on the last day of sitting last year, it was the Greens who stood up and fought for those scholarships, and we are going to continue to fight for the right of students to get access to that critical support. The Greens are committed to helping every student reach their full potential by ensuring that they get the support that they need and that means access to a university system that is affordable.

As more and more people move to our cities, we also need to look at creative solutions and new ideas to make sure that our cities are exciting places. We have a proud legacy of taking strong and progressive positions on social issues and advocating for positive social change in this country.

We also have a vision to support the arts in South Australia, and Don Dunstan, a Labor premier and a great South Australian in my view, built a strong reputation for my home state as a leader in the arts. He did that by ensuring that there was a living wage for artists and ensuring that he supported local artists in South Australia. We need to do that again, and the Greens have a plan to do that. But we also support an independent arts council and one that is appropriately resourced by government without government and ministerial interference, and the Greens have been fighting for that.

We also have a vision to make South Australia a leader in social justice. South Australia has a really proud legacy as a leader of social change in this country—the first state in the country to decriminalise homosexuality and the first state in the nation to have an anti-discrimination act. We have been a leader in that field and South Australia can continue to lead in the area of social change yet again by showing compassion to asylum seekers, supporting rights for the LGBTI community and recognising the sovereignty of Aboriginal people. The Greens have a plan to do that.

So the Greens have a plan for the future of South Australia. It is a positive plan for the future of my home state, and I look forward to talking to the people of South Australia about that plan in the coming weeks. Our plan for job creation is in stark contrast to that of the people sitting opposite me on the government benches, because it is very clear to me that the only jobs the Liberals are interested in are their own. That is what today has been all about: protecting their own jobs and rushing to the polls. Bring it on. We welcome the opportunity to talk about our positive plan. (Time expired)

Senate adjourned at 22:20