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

How good was the weekend? Not only did we see the Port Power AFLW make an amazing run, up towards the finals—very impressive—but also we saw the absolutely excellent Alex Dighton win the by-election in Black in South Australia. So good! Alex is such a great local member. He's going to be brilliant in this role, he really is. He is a proud member of the Labor Party, has spectacular values and has spent 16 years working in the school community, supporting students and being there for his community. I know that he is going to do so well in this role, and the people of Black will be very, very lucky to have him there. He will be the voice that is needed in the parliament for them.

Winning two by-elections this year shows the confidence that South Australians have in the Labor government in the state and in Peter Malinauskas—an excellent leader, just kicking goals all the way. It is very impressive to see how amazingly the state government are doing and how well the federal Albanese Labor government are working alongside them. Between us, we do make the state a much, much better place to be.

But one of the things that was quite disgraceful to see, in the last wee while, was the shameful attempt from members of the upper house to actually re-address the abortion debate. It was a disgrace to see that—to see our state's pro-choice stance knocked about. South Australia is clear: this is not where we're at. This is not the debate we want to have. We are not going to go down that disgraceful pathway and undermine the core values that we cherish.