Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:09): I rise, too, to speak against the utterly ridiculous Planning, Development and Infrastructure (Use of Vacant Land) Amendment Bill. Who would have thought, as the member for Flinders has so well explained, that this legislation would even hit this house? It was debated in the upper house, in the other place. It was a dirty deal—lefty, green legislation—that the Labor Party agreed to. They support this legislation and all of a sudden they support it enthusiastically. All of a sudden, they have had a brain fade, something has changed. What has happened in the Labor Party party room? They champion themselves: we speak as one. There might have even been a debate about this at some stage.

They have completely flipped 180° on something so vital for not just South Australians but Australians, and on the ownership of land, housing and property. It is completely outrageous legislation—it should never have entered this house. Yet, here we see the good whip—I am a former whip—the member for Elizabeth, the fall guy, having to introduce this legislation while the super minister, the Minister for Urban Development, is here in the house. What the heck! What is going on? The whip had to take the fall—it is just outrageous. He had to sacrifice himself because he is doing his job as the whip, and I find that outrageous as well.

Mr Odenwalder: Doing my job.

Mr PEDERICK: I just admitted that, and shielding the super minister. I have seen echoes of this in China directly, because this—

The Hon. N.D. Champion: Come on!

Mr PEDERICK: I have. No, you could have spoken earlier, super, you could have spoken earlier. You could have introduced it. I have seen this. I was briefed on this.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond will come to order and he will not accuse people in here of behaving like people in China, and everyone needs to just calm down and stop yelling at each other.

Mr PEDERICK: People on the other side saying that they do not support this legislation: yes, you did, because you approved it in the upper house, in the other place. I have been in here for nearly 20 years and the Labor Party speaks as one, because if you do not you will end up in Outer Mongolia—that is where you end up. I have seen people run out of this place. I have seen people run out of the other place—that is exactly what happens. You speak as one, and all of sudden we have had a mental mind block and something has changed. And, yes, I have seen this in China. I was over there about 10 years ago and I had a briefing, and it was quite interesting, with a group—

An honourable member interjecting:

Mr PEDERICK: No, very short on private land in China. But there were farmers who were allegedly farming their own land. The briefing we had was, 'Well, we moved the farmers off their land and we moved them into these 20 to 30-storey apartment blocks and they're very happy with that'. I thought, of course they are—like hell! That is what this is, that is exactly what this is. This is exactly what this legislation is—it is communist legislation. To think that this legislation could even make it into this house is completely outrageous. We are not in China, we are not in Russia, we are not in North Korea.

My family has been approached by governments over many decades. I have spoken many times about compulsory acquisition: 1939 at Angle Vale, again at Angle Vale in 1950, weapons dumps in 1939, Edinburgh air base in 1950, and the early 1970s at Coomandook, when they wanted to move the Dukes Highway. What would have happened under this legislation then, if it was similar legislation? 'We will just take your 7½ acres. We will not worry about re-fencing that three kilometres, we will just take it. We will just take it and you just have to live with it.'

What an outrageous load of rot, just completely outrageous. It is completely outrageous that the Malinauskas Labor government are so arrogant that they think, 'We will suck up to the Greens in the other place,' because they think they need the votes and the preferences, and then all of a sudden, 'We will just run down here and change our mind.' My God, you have all supported it—you on the other side. The Labor Party has supported this legislation. It is completely outrageous.

I wonder if they would like someone knocking on their door and saying, 'We're just going to take your land. We'll take the lot.' We have seen this before with the Greens bill on capping rents. I had small investors in Murray Bridge and surrounding areas coming into my office and saying, 'Adrian, I have been to the accountant and we are just getting out. I have six but, no, I'm selling them. On the accountant's advice, I'm just getting out with this sort of debate going on in the parliament of this state.'

That is what this legislation does. Why would you own a block of land or own anything, for example, if you have the government of the state, the Malinauskas Labor government, agreeing that it is okay to take over vacant land without compensation? It is completely outrageous. What is the point when you are up against the council approval process? 'Alright, we will take the vacant land. What happens next? Do we wait 18 months, do we wait two years, do we wait three years for that land to go through an approval process to build a dwelling on it?' That is what happens in the real world, sadly.

I am still not sure to this day, but I have gone to councils like the Rural City of Murray Bridge and said, 'Just get rid of your planners and just have private certifiers.' That is where the hold-up is. The hold-up is at development approval level. We have seen in my area, on the current boundaries of Murray Bridge without Gifford Hill, around 5,000 allotments that could be developed. What we need are fast-tracked approvals and that land will be developed over time.

Then we go over the road to Gifford Hill near the Murray Bridge Racing Club where the Costa Group from Melbourne and Geelong are going to develop that. They have to go through that extensive approval process. There will be, over time, over three to four decades, 17,000 homes built there. Over time and into the future, there will be more homes built as Murray Bridge and surrounding areas become part of the Greater Adelaide Regional Plan.

It is a great idea, but this legislation is not the way to do it. It just beggars belief that in this liberal democracy this legislation has actually hit the floor of this house. The Labor Party has the numbers in the other place but, 'Oh, well, we'll just do a dirty deal and we'll just come downstairs and no-one will notice the difference.' Surprise, surprise—when you look at the flagrant abuse of liberal democracy and the thought that anyone can just turn up and take your property with no compensation, no rights and just bulldoze through.

I will relate to the environment and food production area legislation where there are farmers in my area and other electorates between Kapunda and the south coast—in the member for Finniss's electorate—and because there have been lines drawn on a map you cannot have another dwelling. A lot of farmers might have a 2,000 hectare property and they would love to perhaps put a house on the corner of the property for a son or a daughter, but they are simply banned from having it. They are not trying to build the place out, they just want to have another house. This legislation had to be amended for horticultural people in the Adelaide Plains area so that they had the opportunity for people to effectively farm their properties.

There are other ways to increase housing and availability in this state. We do not need this radical left-wing stuff that has come straight out of Beijing. It is just crazy stuff. I do not know what goes on in the party room of the Labor Party. I do not know whether the Premier walks in and says, 'Today this is what we're doing,' and everyone just nods their heads like sheep and says, 'Yes, we speak as one. We speak as one and we will do it.' Then, all of a sudden, we will have a brain burst and it is, 'Oh no, we have changed our mind all of a sudden; we will do something else.'

It is fascinating that we have the super minister here today, the minister responsible for this legislation, and that he was not game enough to introduce it into this house of parliament. It is completely outrageous, and this legislation needs to be put in the bin, where it should have been in the other place.