On Tuesday, 10 February 2015, the Governor, His Excellency Hieu Van Le, delivered a speech to the State’s Parliament, outlining the Government’s agenda for South Australia.
Premier Jay Weatherill reinforced the Governor’s messages in his own presentation, saying he believe South Australia is the best place in the world to live and bring up a family.
Weatherill went on to say “if we are to meet the significant challenges that lie ahead of us and create the jobs of the future, we will need to lift our ambitions.
Our Government has outlined a new agenda for South Australia and I want everyone to be involved.”
First on the Premier’s agenda? He says the Government will establish a Royal Commission into the nuclear industry to investigate what role South Australia can and should play in the nuclear fuel cycle.
This will investigate the potential contribution the nuclear industry could make for the South Australian economy.
Weatherill says they will begin the process of establishing a new taxation system – one that is focused on fairness and creating jobs.
“Your health should not be determined by where you live and what time of the day it is – that is why we have commenced a massive transformation of our State’s healthcare system – with the number one principle being the quality of care.”
“We have great local schools – but we can do better” says the Premier.
The Government will will also start a review of our public education system, giving principals the freedom to lead, training the best teachers – aspiring to excellence will be our guiding principle.
The Premier went to to say that they have started consultation on the question of South Australia’s time zone – asking the community whether it is time to for us to be better connected to the nation and the world.
Premier Weatherill also stated that he wants Adelaide to be the world’s first carbon neutral city.
“Electric and hybrid vehicles will in the future be our preferred means of transport in our CBD.”
International trade and investment is an important way to grow local jobs and Premier Weatherill says we will increase our focus on trade, doubling our efforts on engagement with South-East Asia, as well as with China and India.
In regards to the great benefits tourism can bring to the vibrancy of our city and State, Weatherill says they will invest in aggressive tourism campaign to market SA as a unique and attractive destination to attract more visitors and grow hospitality jobs.
South Australia is great at hosting major events and the State Government wants more of them – so they will increase the Government’s investment to attract more of these major events, starting with bringing the Adelaide Fashion Festival into the city.
Another topic discussed was how the urban sprawl of Adelaide must stop.
Premier Weatherill suggest that we should enshrine a boundary for our city’s footprint – protecting our prime agricultural land.
In his speech, the Premier went on to say “there is a great history of social reform in South Australia and we will embark on a renewal of our Housing Trust homes, rebuilding more than 4500 old homes by 2020. We want our justice system to be speedy and accessible and for all elements of the system to work better together to make our community safe.”
“In all of this, we will be involving you in the decisions that affect your lives.”
“In short, I want South Australia to be the place where people and business thrive. And I want all of you to be involved in shaping your future.”
Not a bad bit of inspiration to lead us into the afternoon. What do you think about these bold suggestions for the State?
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