Mr PEDERICK: I rise to speak to the Planning, Development and Infrastructure (Exceptional Tree Register) Amendment Bill introduced by the member for Waite. Certainly, as a regional member and as one serving on the Natural Resources Committee, I am very well aware of the benefits that trees, scrub out in the regions and also shelter belts, whether they be in regional areas or in urban areas, have on the community. I want to talk a bit about what we are leaving for the next parliament. As part of the Natural Resources Committee is the investigation into the Native Vegetation Act and the management of native vegetation, which can be a vexed argument.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (14:58): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Can the minister please update the house on what the Marshall Liberal government has achieved in regional South Australia since the last election?

Mr PEDERICK: I rise to speak to the Planning, Development and Infrastructure (Exceptional Tree Register) Amendment Bill introduced by the member for Waite. Certainly, as a regional member and as one serving on the Natural Resources Committee, I am very well aware of the benefits that trees, scrub out in the regions and also shelter belts, whether they be in regional areas or in urban areas, have on the community. I want to talk a bit about what we are leaving for the next parliament. As part of the Natural Resources Committee is the investigation into the Native Vegetation Act and the management of native vegetation, which can be a vexed argument.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (16:01): I rise today to speak about all the magnificent funding that has come to the seat of Hammond since winning government in 2018. After spending 12 years in opposition and some of my friends spending 16 years in opposition, it is so nice to see some money focused in the regions and in my seat of Hammond, and I want to go through some of those funding commitments.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (14:49): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Can the minister please update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government has supported the forestry industry since the last election?

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:51): I rise to speak in support of the Road Traffic (Drug Driving and Careless or Dangerous Driving) Amendment Bill, which has been so well outlined by the member for King where we want this bill to be used into the future. I will not go into some of that detail again, but I would like to correct the record and the assertions of the member for Light. It is just outrageous that, in his words, we do not understand road safety on this side of the house, when we saw for 16 years in opposition—and I was in this place for 12 of those years—the regions totally devoid of road upgrades, infrastructure upgrades and work—

I have worked hard to attract funding to the Electorate of Hammond. Below is a list of funding since March 2018.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (15:15): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Can the minister explain to the house how the Marshall Liberal government is investing in projects to benefit communities in the Adelaide Hills?

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:48): I rise to speak to this Coorong Environmental Trust Bill and concur with the words of the minister in regard to this: we do not want superfluous legislation. I commend Minister Speirs and his department for the work they have been doing, working in partnership with the Coorong Partnership group, with former Premier Dean Brown as chair, and looking at the different options in regard to making sure that, especially with the southern lagoon of the Coorong, that highly salinated section of the Coorong can be freshened up.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:40): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise to speak on this select committee into the management of COVID-19. In the first instance, I am just so thankful that I live in this state in this great country—in this great state—with respect to this global pandemic. The last global pandemic was over 100 years ago, with the Spanish flu. It was straight after World War I, when tens of millions of people died. I believe at least 60 million people died because of the effects of the outbreak of war across the world. Directly after World War I we had the Spanish flu outbreak, when 500 million people across the world caught it and 10 per cent of those died: 50 million people died from the Spanish flu.