Adrian Pederick MP Member for Hammond House of Assembly 3rd July 2014 Country Roads Mr PEDERICK ( Hammond ) (12:20 :55): I move: That this house—

(a)opposes mandatory maximum speed limit reductions on country roads when there is no safety-based evidence to support the change, and

(b)calls on the state government to—

(i ) make public its review into maximum speed limits on regional roads in South Australia;

(ii) undertake a comprehensive safety audit of all country roads where the speed limit has been reduced from 110 km/h to 100 km/h in the past three years and, where there is no evidence to support improved road safety outcomes, immediately change the speed limit back;

(iii) commit funding to upgrade regional council and arterial roads currently posted at 110 km/h rather than further reduce speed limits; and (iv) prioritise regional road maintenance when addressing the $400 million on road maintenance backlog.

Mr PEDERICK ( Hammond ) ( 16:48 ): I rise to speak to the Appropriation Bill. Obviously, on this side of the house, we support the passing of the Appropriation Bill, but that does not mean we are happy with everything that is happening in the budget. When we look at what has happened over 12 years of Labor, we have seen deficits and budget blowouts, but what we have also seen, and what Labor does not tell us, are the GST payments that the Labor government in this state received for many years—$500 million a year—which was not budgeted for, but then was blown. It just blew into debt.

Mr PEDERICK ( Hammond ) ( 16:40 :18 ): I rise to speak to the Criminal Assets Confiscation (Prescribed Drug Offenders) Amendment Bill 2014. In giving some background, I quote from the Labor Party's policy from 2010 in regard to its Serious Crime election policy which stated:

Mr PEDERICK ( Hammond ) ( 16:14 :56 ): I advise the house that I will not be the lead speaker on this bill.

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

Mr PEDERICK ( Hammond ) ( 10:49 :18 ): I rise today to speak to the Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation (Firefighters) Amendment Bill. I think this is a very important bill. It is about seeking equity for Country Fire Service volunteers, and I know there are members of the Country Fire Service on this side of the house as well as the other side.

Mr PEDERICK ( Hammond ) ( 12:08 :55 ): I wish to support the motion by the member for Morphett:

That this house— 

(a)condemns the Housing Tenants Association for their despicable scare campaign and their misleading and deceptive conduct during the March 2014 election; and 

(b)calls on any member of parliament who assisted the Housing Trust Tenants Association in this campaign in any way, to apologise to the thousands of South Australians who were caused great distress as a result of this disgraceful campaign.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (15:43): I rise today to speak about the Lower Lakes and Coorong and, in particular, the scoping study into the future management of Lake Albert. This is a matter I have raised a number of times in this place and it is extremely disappointing to see the state government's lack of urgency in the completion of this important study.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:01): I move:

That this house expresses its deep regret at the death of Mr Henry Jones and places on record its appreciation of his long and tireless commitment to the River Murray and the Murray-Darling Basin.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (17:30): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will acknowledge that I am not the lead speaker.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: You are not the lead speaker; thank you.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:45): Thank you, Mr Speaker. In my opening remarks, I would like to congratulate you on retaking the very significant post of Speaker. I certainly noted your reluctance on taking that position two days previously in this parliament. I would also like to acknowledge Madam Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees, the member for Florey, for her rise to that position.

Ms Bedford: Meteoric.