Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a great privilege to rise to give this speech-in-reply, particularly having been given the immense honour of being re-elected to this place now on five consecutive occasions. Like previous speakers I'm incredibly humbled by the faith that the people of Barker have placed in me. It was a humbling experience in 2013 and it has been a humbling experience on every single occasion since. These are not privileges that are earned solo; they are part of a broader team's effort.

I want to take the opportunity early in this contribution to acknowledge one team member. I was in regional Victoria campaigning in my role as shadow minister for roads and road safety when my staff told me I needed to find a quiet place to take a call. At that point I thought, 'Hmm, I wonder which journalist has found something to ask me about.' The caller asked me if I was feeling okay, and then they said, 'Tony, we have some really sad news to tell you.' That sad news was that a very close friend and someone who'd been on this political journey with me for a very long time had passed away. His name was Nevin Lamont.

Nevin had served as the Barker FEC treasurer since 2013. At the last AGM that Nevin attended, which was the AGM of 2024, he pulled me aside and said, 'Tony, I think this election campaign might be my last.' He didn't mean his last on earth but rather his last as treasurer. But it turned out that Nevin didn't get to see the outcome of the election in 2025. I want to pay tribute to Nevin. Nevin's own grandfather served in this place as the member for Barker. Nevin was a loyal supporter of mine, someone who would walk on broken glass for me and for the Liberal movement. He was a farmer from Glencoe. He was then someone who became a photography enthusiast, which led to a business in retirement. He threw his support behind the Liberal Party. I just want to pay my respects to Nevin in this contribution. Nevin, it's a measure of your contribution that people continue, both as part of that campaign and in meetings subsequent, to refer to how Nevin would deal with a particular matter. So vale, Nevin Lamont.

While I'm dealing with volunteer contributions, perhaps I can give the shout-outs now. In particular, I want to give one to Barker FEC President Sophie Wilksch. This is a young lady who was elected to the presidency in the lead-up to the 2022 election. She was a quietly spoken individual. She has grown immensely, and she assisted in my campaigns in 2022 and 2025. Sophie was an amazing support during the campaign. I'd also like to give shout-outs to Sue Andrew in the Riverland, and Greg O'Brien and Suzy Howell, who I'll mention again, in the Murraylands. Shout-outs also go to Clayton Scott in the Barossa; the Peuckers, Mark and Julie, in Mount Gambier; and, through MacKillop, Matt Neumann and Lachy Haynes, who of course has served for a number of years as rural and regional chair of the Liberal Party in South Australia.

Thanks also to my staff, many of whom go above and beyond, some of whom have taken the decision, after a number of elections and terms—in particular, my former chief of staff, Vanessa Juergens—to move on to greener pastures. To Ness I want to convey my thanks. It's a particular challenge when you come to work for a member of parliament like me, having worked for former foreign minister Alexander Downer. The electorate office that had my name on the door was the first electorate office I had ever been to in my life. Mine was not a journey through staffing or other things, so Ness had a hard time in the first three or so years. I'm incredibly grateful for her service. Equally, thanks to Charlotte Edmunds, who worked with me in electoral seats and also did much of the work in the portfolio responsibilities I had. I'm so pleased to see her career journey progressing now through the Limestone Coast Local Government Association as their chief executive officer. To Suzy Howell, who has been a long-term stalwart in my office and was much loved by constituents, happy retirement!

While I am acknowledging people, can I acknowledge the former leader of the opposition, Peter Dutton. This is a man who, at times, for political reasons or otherwise, has been derided, but I think on election night we saw a glimmer of the character of the man. In his acknowledgement, his concession speech, when he spoke about the Prime Minister and how proud the Prime Minister's mother would have been of his achievements, I think that volumes of the Peter Dutton I knew and do know. I want to thank Peter for his service to the Liberal Party, his service to the parliament and, in particular, his service to the nation. I want to also thank him for giving me the great privilege to serve as assistant shadow minister for infrastructure and transport, and subsequently as shadow minister for roads and road safety.

I listened to the member for Kingston's contribution, and it was fine. It reminded me of one thing when she was acknowledging the new members of the Labor caucus. I want to acknowledge one group of people who I expect have not been necessarily acknowledged—at least, not frequently—in this debate, and that is the cohort of Liberal candidates who presented themselves to the Australian people. I had the opportunity to meet many of them and campaign with some of them, and I have to tell you that the result those opposite achieved at the election was not a reflection of the quality of those candidates. Those candidates were let down, and I have offered my personal apology to many of them, as I have to conservative voters, notwithstanding the result in Barker.

I want to quickly again thank my staff, who, during my time as assistant shadow minister, took on portfolio responsibilities over and above electoral responsibilities, because there wasn't an allocation of additional staff. That's a huge burden, but it was one they dealt with to great effect. I want to thank them particularly for the development of our policy on road safety. The concept of delivering to this nation the first ever no-fault investigation program—which the Australian people ultimately rejected, but I hope those opposite consider it—is an incredible achievement against a background of doing that with very limited resources.

I want to also acknowledge, both as a South Australia member of parliament and, more importantly, as the shadow minister for roads and road safety, as I was then, the announcement we made around the Truro bypass and the greater Adelaide freight route. For those not familiar with Adelaide, Adelaide remains the last of the capital cities in Australia to have the main trucking route boring all the way through it. It means all the heavy vehicle traffic that comes from southern Australia, Melbourne and the south-east of South Australia needs to traverse through the middle of Adelaide on Portrush Road or Cross Road. These are some of the most densely populated suburbs of Adelaide. Disappointingly, it's apparent that too many schools are located in this area, and it's also at the bottom of the sharpest descent into a capital city anywhere in this country. There is every sort of risk that presents itself with this heavy vehicle traffic. It was our policy to remove the majority of that heavy vehicle traffic from the streets and suburbs of Adelaide via a commitment of $1 billion to build the Truro bypass, to duplicate the Swanport Bridge and, of course, to build the interconnection between the Dukes and Sturt highways.

Unfortunately, that project will not be proceeded with. As it relates to the Truro bypass, it was a project that was about to start when the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government began her infrastructure review and effectively knocked that project off the to-do list. It is disappointing. I'm sorry to make this assertion, but those opposite went to the South Australian people with a proposal to build half of that road. Unfortunately, the South Australian state government simply doesn't have the money to pay the balance, which is a sum greater than half a billion dollars. That was, in my assessment, an attempt to hoodwink the people of South Australia into believing that it didn't matter, that they were getting a road in any event. They've now woken up to the reality that the road is more than a decade away, and I pray most days that the road safety risks that the failure to make that investment represent won't realise themselves.

Let's talk about the regions. It's hard for me to make a contribution without saying it. Those opposite enjoy an incredibly strong—and I referred to it the other day—hypermajority. Having said that—and I would've said this before the events of Ballarat a week ago—that's not a universally agreed position across the country. The National Party are fond of saying that their members of parliament did particularly well at the last election. I can tell you that, in truth, regional, rural and remote members of parliament, particularly those on the Senate right, did well at this election. I note my colleague opposite referred to some seat, and that might be true, but when we're close to losing the seat of Bendigo, you might need to be a little concerned about what's happening in regional Australia.

I can tell you what is happening in regional Australia. Regional Australia is feeling ignored. It felt ignored during this campaign and it's feeling ignored right now. When you've got people pleading with the Prime Minister to save their industry, an industry that's done every single thing that government has asked of it—and I appreciate you, Deputy Speaker Wilkie, don't share my view on this topic. The campaign to keep the sheep was one that resonated in two electorates, and perhaps that's why the call to save the live sheep industry fell on deaf ears.

I'll tell you about another policy area that's falling on deaf ears, and that's the Australian wine industry. I've got viticulturists in my electorate that have lost money in three or four successive vintages. This can't continue. Those opposite were fond, in the lead up to the election and indeed in the lead up to the '22 election, of blaming former prime minister Morrison for his actions vis-a-vis China. The truth is that didn't help, but the reality is that's a misunderstanding of what's happening globally to the wine industry. Globally, demand for wine and the propensity to drink wine is in sharp decline. That might be because people want to be healthier. It might be because people are choosing alternative drinks. The reality is demand has crashed, and it has crashed globally. Indeed, Australia left the Chinese market, and our competitors, Italy, Chile, France and America, all saw a market decline at the same time. So a major exporter, Australia, leaves the market, and it is still in decline. The reality is that there needs to be structural assistance in relation to the Australian wine industry. We're going to lose this industry, and I fear for older producers who simply have no other option but to fall destitute. I call on those opposite to heed the calls of the Australian wine industry.

Regional Australians, particularly South Australians, have been forgotten during this drought. Much of regional South Australia is living through the most severe drought in living memory. There is limited to no support available—no specific support. When, in 2016, we found ourselves in drought on the east coast and in South Australia, our then government provided grants to local government and specific grants to farmers. None of that has been forthcoming. I suppose I am effectively suggesting that if it's not in the metropolitan news cycle—if it's not affecting metropolitan Australians—then you're not seeing a lot of love or attention.

The farmers in my electorate, who've been in drought for more than two years, are particularly interested in the approach of those opposite to the algal bloom in South Australia. Nobody, not a farmer I know—salt of the earth as they are—would be opposed to any form of support going to the coastal communities on the back of this. But I just think it's interesting that dead fish on beaches in Adelaide lead to almost twice-daily visits by senior ministers from the government of those opposite to Adelaide, to profess their undying and loving support for these coastal communities, when I've got farmers on bended knee asking for support.

While I've got the time I have, can I just make a couple of other observations. I was sitting through question time, listening to the minister for health talk about GP clinics, particularly urgent care clinics. Can I tell the House and the minister—I know he's aware of this because, while he might not hear my regular speeches on the topic, I understand the South Australian state minister for health has written to him about it—the Mount Gambier urgent care clinic has been closed since June. I don't mean 'not open in particular hours'; I mean closed. Why? It went into liquidation. You might say, 'Mr Pasin, that's impossible, because these projects are block funded.' True, they are, but the operator of that business went into liquidation and, as a result, it is closed.

There's a tender process going on. I call on the minister to expedite that, for no other reason than this: there are four GP clinics in Mount Gambier—four—and every single clinic has now confirmed publicly that it is not taking on additional patients. So you've got four GP clinics that aren't taking on additional patients. It's great if you are a patient of the clinic, and, to disclose an interest, I am. But, if you're new to Mount Gambier and your kid's sick, you can't go to a GP clinic. You can ring all four of them, but you'll be told, 'We are not taking on extra clients.' Then you can go around to the urgent care clinic, but it's boarded up. So where do you go? You go to emergency. That's not good enough, and it's something that needs to be addressed immediately. When asked why this happened, I said I warned this would happen in 2022, when the minister for health changed the distribution priority areas. The minute he did that—the next day—I got phone calls from clinics saying that doctors had resigned.

Finally, can I say that I was privileged to make commitments to the following organisations as part of the campaign: the Murray Bridge Players and Singers; the Tailem Bend RSL; the Penola bowling club; the Mount Gambier and District Saleyards, via the District Council of Grant; the Kapunda Soldiers Memorial Garden and their efforts at Dutton Park; and the Mount Burr Netball Club. To all of those organisations, who are incredibly worthy and who have been ignored for too long: can I tell you I will continue to campaign for the funding and support you need. No-one was more disappointed than me that we failed to form government at the last election. I went to bed that night thinking about each of your organisations and how happy you were when I came to your facilities and gave you a commitment that a Dutton-led Liberal government would fund your respective projects. I'm going to work hard every day to ensure that whatever opportunities are available—and, sadly, in the last term there were too few; I hope there are more—deliver the social capital communities need particularly in my electorate of Barker. I will work every day to make sure we can deliver on those.

Finally, it is an immense privilege to serve as the member for Barker. If you had asked a young, perhaps primary school aged Tony Pasin whether he would ever serve in this parliament, he would have thought you were crazy. I don't take that privilege for granted. I'm fighting every day for the people of Barker.

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