The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (12:23): I rise to speak against this motion, and I will explain why. It is not that I do not acknowledge—and I will acknowledge first-up—the importance of the regions to the state's economy and to society generally. I do acknowledge that. The reason I speak against the motion is that the motion implies that the Marshall Liberal government was the first one to find the regions and to notice that the regions were there and do something for them. That is just not true. The regions were supported by the previous Labor government in a whole range of ways. In fact, a number of the projects for which the Liberal Party did the ribbon cutting were previously funded by the Labor government, and I will go into some of those details.
The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (12:47): I rise in support of this motion of the Premier to amend our standing orders to reflect the Acknowledgement of Country. Changes like this are by their very nature symbolic, but having said that I think sometimes symbolism is very important, because it does speak to our values. We have a lot of symbols in our society which by themselves mean nothing, but when they are put into context and talk about our culture, what we believe in and what we hold dear, it is very important.
The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:33): Today, I would like to talk about some of the services which I think are important for governments to deliver and some of the reforms which have taken place over the last few years. I also want to highlight an area of reform which I believe is necessary if older people are to live dignified lives
The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (16:01): I would like to speak briefly in support of the bill to re-create the Motorsport Board. While this bill is dedicated to creating the Motorsport Board, which will oversee the Adelaide 500 plus other motorsport events, the focus—in terms of community focus—is on the Adelaide 500. When the previous government announced that it was cancelling the event, I must confess I was quite surprised at the reaction of the community. It was quick, it was strong and it was quite negative towards the government of the day.
It is important to recognise the role of young carers during National Carers Week. It is estimated there are 2.65 million unpaid carers in our community across Australia. If we were to pay for the service provided, it would cost about $77.9 billion or $1.5 billion a week.
The aim of the bill is to ensure that South Australians have a world-class palliative care system so people have a real choice in how they wish to be cared for at the end of their life. The bill directs the South Australian Health Performance Council to undertake an inquiry into the South Australian palliative care system and make recommendations on how it can be made better to ensure that all South Australians have equitable access to it.
I bring this to the attention of the house because I think the minister's behaviour towards people in my electorate is quite disrespectful, and I will explain why.