Mr BELL (Mount Gambier) (11:55): I rise to make some comment on the Supply Bill 2023. I need to begin with an acknowledgement of the contribution that the state government is making and has made in previous budgets towards the South-East, and obviously those funding cycles will continue over the next three or four years. It is worth reminding people of the significant contribution that this government is making and its focus on the South-East.

At the moment, a new technical college is being developed in consultation with Kevin Scarce, who is heading that project. As the member for Stuart said, education is a key plank for a community to not only thrive but to grow going forward. This educational precinct will be to the tune of $60 million. We have just had a big project built in Mount Gambier, Wulanda, and that is in the order of $60 million. When people walk past they will see the value for money you can get.

This is an equivalent-sized project focused purely on education. It will bring together the technical college, the Department for Education, TAFE, forestry, private providers, and the University of South Australia and will create a true educational precinct to draw people into our community and support the many people within our community who will go through that precinct for education and training.

To make sure that it is coordinated properly, we have diverse interests all coming together to get the best outcome and the best value for money. I applaud the Premier and his commitment to employing Kevin Scarce to oversee this project, which has many moving parts and many interests that need to align to get the best outcome. The state government has invested in public housing in Mount Gambier and we are seeing, certainly in my memory, the first new public housing being built. I believe Empak are towards the end of the first lot of new builds that are occurring.

There is support for the rock lobster industry in the form of relief in fees, which is greatly welcomed by that industry. Certainly, the downturn in exports to China had a major impact. It is worth pointing out that that impact is felt in the community because when one sector is doing it tough and they do not have money to spend, that money does not go into the local community. Whether it is equipment, cars, repairs and maintenance on boats, or new fibreglassing, there is a whole range of things that simply do not flow through the community.

Forestry has been a big winner, investment directly into forestry in terms of research but more broadly for our community in terms of fire towers. The anniversary of Ash Wednesday was not that long ago, and it is a stark reminder that major bushfires pose a significant threat to our community. This is really about community safety, particularly when most of the towns are surrounded by plantation forest.

There is investment in paramedics, 24/7 paramedic crew and additional crew being put on, mental health beds, upgrades to our emergency department, drug and alcohol as well as detox beds, and investment in roads. All in all, well over $100 million has been committed to our region going forward.

At this juncture, my aim is to perhaps talk about opportunities and things to focus the government's mind, if they are willing to engage. I still see the Future Mount Gambier document that I put together two years ago as being a key plank in the future of the South-East, as a bit of a road map on how to get there, but of course it always needs to be updated and I think there are some exciting opportunities on the horizon.

I have a great affiliation for the Upper Spencer Gulf, having taught in Port Augusta for five years. I can see the impact that $300 million for a hydrogen plant will make on that community and the benefits to the wider community. I genuinely hope and believe that it will be successful, and I would like to use it as a template for what can be done in the South-East. The South-East has most of the key elements needed for hydrogen production. We have an abundance of water, we have an abundance of wind and wind-generated power. If you put those two things together—hydrogen is, in very simplistic terms, putting electricity through water—we have the key elements in spades.

The other thing that we have in the South-East are major offtake users, such as Kimberly-Clark, which manufactures paper products, most notably toilet paper. During the pandemic, we could see how important that was to the lives of many people. There is also a great opportunity just over the border in Portland, which has Alcoa, an aluminium smelter that would take every bit of electricity that could be generated in a plant based in South Australia selling green energy to Victoria, into Alcoa. I am very supportive of the hydrogen project. I want to see it succeed and the future opportunities that might arise for our community around hydrogen, because we have all the key elements to prove its success.

Going forward, there are exciting opportunities around mobile connectivity. I want to congratulate Michael Patterson from Telstra on putting forward a very exciting proposal that would require $5.6 million from the state government, which is 20 per cent of the build cost of 27 sites that would give complete coverage for the Lower South-East. The federal government would be 50 per cent, Telstra themselves 25 per cent and local governments would make a contribution of 5 per cent. To have the South-East connected through this development of 27 sites would be game changing, particularly for primary industries but also for local communities and businesses and enterprises that would leverage from that.

Tourism I still see as one of the most undeveloped industries in the Lower South-East. I would like to see a real focus on product development, a reason to deposit your money into the South-East economy whilst you are there visiting, creating jobs and enhancing the experience for tourists as well.

It is no secret that most of our attractions are actually free. You can walk around the Blue Lake, go to the Umpherston Sinkhole, go to the Valley Lake, and enjoy many activities which do not cost any money. I want all of that to continue, of course, but I also want to provide opportunities for entrepreneurs and private capital to come in and develop products that, for people who do want to spend money, enhance their experience of perhaps some of our natural resources, and other resources in our area, because that is where the jobs are. That is where the beautification and the improvements to facilities can come from. It is not just the state government or the local council which need to contribute to these types of improvements for all of our community to enjoy.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell: You need some major events like a big bike race.

Mr BELL: I was going to touch on that in a minute. Of course, one of the ways in which we can draw more people to our region is embracing the South-East and its proximity to Victoria as a real advantage to major events. Following on from that, I am really pleased to see our community engage in ideas. I have been talking about tourism and the opportunity that that industry presents for our community in terms of jobs, in terms of revenue, in terms of improvements for a long time.

Just today, Sam O'Connor, a guy I know very well—he is a stock agent; if you ever need to sell any cattle or sheep, Sam O'Connor is the one you need to go to—rang me and said, 'It's unlikely we are going to get a game of AFL football in Mount Gambier because it's too far away from Adelaide, but how do we look at attracting all the Victorians who are travelling to Adelaide through Mount Gambier around that period of time, instead of them perhaps going straight from Melbourne to Adelaide, whether it's a direct flight or via car?'

His idea, I think, is a good one. Why not talk to the state government about doing Tasting Australia in the week before and the week after in Mount Gambier, with world-class chefs and people coming to Mount Gambier for a reason—i.e. that product development I am talking about—staying a few days, then travelling up to Adelaide to watch the Gather Round and then, the week after, LIV Golf. It is a fantastic idea and exactly what I have been talking about. It will be on the list of points I will be talking to the Premier and the minister about, around how we create events in Mount Gambier that get people to stay before they travel to perhaps the Gather Round or LIV Golf.

Going forward, we need to do some work on radiation therapy and what that is going to look like for our community. I thank the health minister for his very proactive engagement at this stage around that and certainly the funding by the state government of a business case for radiation therapy. It is a topic that has gathered over 16,000 signatures. It is important to our community and it is important to get it right, and I am pleased to see a proactive first step on what the business case looks like, as long as that business case does not get bogged down in bureaucracy and take away from the main focus—that is, how do we deliver the best health services to our community?

I keep talking about regional TAFE and our TAFE in Mount Gambier. I am of the fundamental belief that, unless you get the administration structure and the responsibility to a community right, you can throw as much money at TAFE as you like but you will get suboptimal results every time. I have talked a long time about having a regional board that is responsible to the community and responsive from the community. I believe that this is not a model that works just for Mount Gambier—I think all regional TAFEs need to have that type of structure and that type of accountability. I see a real opportunity with this education precinct that, instead of just having a TAFE board, you would have a precinct board that coordinates the technical college, the TAFE, forestry, private providers and UniSA, with them all coming together to get the best outcome for our community.

I met with Kevin Scarce yesterday and talked through these ideas, and that an accommodation precinct is a key element to this. If you are going to treat education as an industry and you want to draw people to your area, there are a couple of key elements. One we have no control on, that is, to have it in the heart of your community as we have done in Adelaide and as they do everywhere else around the world. Our TAFE and education precinct will be on the outskirts of our town. The second one is to make sure that you have the best infrastructure around that, and accommodation, public transport and ease of access are the types of elements that really do need to come together.

Some other areas to focus on include In Home Hospice Care. This is for people who are at the end stage of their life, who choose not to spend that time in a hospital. We have a fantastic service in Mount Gambier run by a dedicated group of people. Probably the most vocal to me is a lady called Maureen Klintberg who is a passionate advocate and supporter of In Home Hospice Care. They are facing a funding issue. In 2020—and great credit to the Marshall Liberal government—$150,000 was put to In Home Hospice Care, but that funding is obviously coming to an end and there is uncertainty around where that service will go. For return on investment, somebody being cared for in their home is a hell of a lot cheaper than somebody being cared for in a hospital, so I think it is a very small investment that can be made.

I cannot leave without mentioning the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme, one of my pet projects since I first came into parliament. The accommodation subsidy is still at $40 a night, and it has not changed for a considerable period of time. Try to find accommodation in Adelaide for someone from Mount Gambier at $40 a night. I do not even think a tent site at a caravan park is $40 anymore, so that is something we could certainly look at.

I still see great opportunity for medical cannabis. You meet kids who have epilepsy—and their parents—and what this does for their quality of life and care. I still see Mount Gambier as having perhaps some of the best expertise and also the best facilities that could make that a reality. The problem with medical cannabis is the cost and this, to me, is a real supply-and-demand issue: if we can increase the supply, the cost will come down.

In finishing, housing really does underpin everything. If we are to grow, we do need more housing. I know our councils are in constant discussion with the Minister for Planning about which lands can be opened up and about building multi-storey developments within the CBD of Mount Gambier, which I would certainly encourage. I think that will leapfrog us as a community into the next era of growth, but we still have issues around skilled workers not being able to find accommodation in Mount Gambier, believe it or not. Certainly, the more we can support private capital going into building housing, the better I think it will be for our community but also for the economic return for the state.

In short, there are myriad things for the Treasurer to address, and I am glad that he is in the chamber right now. The future of our community is probably the brightest I have ever seen it and I am really excited to see what transpires over the coming years.