Mr Ellis to move – That this House –  

(a) recognises the dire impact that the unfortunate reduction of health services in  

Ardrossan will have on the town and surrounding community;  

(b) congratulates the hard-working staff and volunteer board on their perseverance  

in keeping the community hospital as long as they have;  

(c) note that this comes as part of a wider degradation in regional health services;  

and  

(d) implores the State Government to do all that they can to address the reduction  

of health services in regional South Australia, including but not limited to:  

i. installing a triage service in Ardrossan imitation the template provided after 

the closure of the Keith and Districts Community Hospital;  

ii. committing to a significant upgrade of the woefully undersized Wallaroo 

Hospital; and  

iii. guaranteeing the equitable distribution of health professionals across the  

entirety of the State. 

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (16:18): I rise to make a contribution to the Appropriation Bill. Budget estimates are always an interesting time. Sometimes you get some reasonable answers and sometimes you do not, but it is a process that we go through in the parliament. I commend all the public servants who do the research in the background to make sure that the ministers can at least be informed.

Member for Hammond Adrian Pederick welcomes the announcement by Costa Property Group and Grange Development of their plan to build South Australia’s largest single development in roughly 70 years on the outskirts of Murray Bridge.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (15:53): I rise to pay my respects to Bill Nankivell who was the member, essentially, for the seat that I now hold, the seat of Hammond. As has been stated, Bill was born in Mount Gambier in 1923 and held land at Willalooka, but he also had land at Geranium up in the Mallee, which is quite fitting for the name of his seat later on.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:47): I rise to make a few brief comments supporting this build of the Gawler State Emergency Service unit. Gawler has certainly grown massively, and the surrounding districts have certainly grown, since the settlement of this state. In fact, at one time Gawler was quite the regional area. Certainly, it is a place close to my heart. Both sets of grandparents lived up there. In fact, my great-great-grandparents moved out there in the mid to late 1800s from a little farm at Plympton.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:32): I just want to make a few brief comments on the Flood Recovery Projects—Northern Areas project. Certainly, we saw the need for a great deal of work to be done on the Stuart Highway, especially in regard to flood damage. There were scenes at Glendambo of that A-triple road train bogged at the side of the road on the bitumen, which was a bit interesting. There was certainly some extreme weather that went through that area.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:10): I rise to support this Public Works Committee reference into the Monarto augmentation pump stations upgrade project. This is a much-needed project that has been going for several weeks now in the Murray Bridge-Monarto area. I have certainly noticed the works being done and, I think, generally completed next to the main SA Water tank adjacent the access to the freeway at White Hill.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (16:44): Supplementary: can the minister confirm that $3 million is still held for the actual piece of land and the hostel building, Kalimna Hostel, in Strathalbyn, separate from the hospital?

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (16:41): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Can the minister provide an update on the status of the Kalimna Hostel aged-care centre in Strathalbyn? With your leave and that of the house, sir, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr PEDERICK: During the previous term of government, $3 million was allocated towards the redevelopment and reactivation of the Kalimna Hostel.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (15:09): Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I rise to support this motion in memory of the great man Steele Hall and acknowledging Joan and her extended family. Steele's service has been well put to the chamber. His sense of getting things right was essentially lost in the premiership here in South Australia. He did the electoral reform process that he thought was the right thing to do, and the Chowilla dam process. He looked at everything and weighed it up as, 'What is the right thing to do here?' He was a man of true conviction who served not only this state but this nation for decades, and I doubt whether the service will ever be equalled in this country.