Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (15:44): I rise today to talk about the fantastic electorate of Hammond and about the things that have happened as a result of the different iterations with respect to redistributions. I was privileged in my first term in this place to look after the wonderful precinct of Strathalbyn between 2006 and 2010 before it went into the seat of Heysen. At the last redistribution, just before the most recent election this year, Strathalbyn came back into Hammond, but it has been well looked after by two members for Heysen.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (12:18): It is with great pleasure that I rise to speak to the Address in Reply. I have been fortunate to have been elected five times to this place. Cognisant of new members and their initial speeches, I will make sure I do my best to work around those time frames.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:41): Thank you, Mr Acting Speaker. I salute your re-election to this place and the high office you are holding momentarily. I rise to speak to the South Australian Public Health (COVID-19) Amendment Bill 2022. I will not hold the house long because I know we want to get to committee and I know that we have Address in Reply speeches to be given by new members to this house and others, but I want to talk about COVID management in relation to someone representing a border community.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (17:21): I rise to speak about a very important event I attended on Sunday with the member for Taylor hosted by the Australian American Association—the 80^th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea, which was a significant event in our history during World War II and essentially changed the tide of the war.

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: 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) (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—

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.