Nick Minchin is a great loss to the Liberal Party With the announcement of Nick Minchin’s retirement the Liberal Party has lost not only a substantial figure but also one of our great warriors. It is fair to say that Nick doesn’t like the Labor Party and nor do they like him. There are few people in the Liberal Party’s history who have had a more significant role in the direction and fortunes of our great Party, particularly in South Australia.  His loss will leave a major hole for the Liberal Party and our national Parliament. His record as a Minister is second to none.  He was Australia’s longest serving Finance Minister and unlike the current incumbent he managed to be part of the senior economic team that delivered surplus budgets, paid off debt and invested money to meet our future challenges.  He realised, unlike Lindsay Tanner that the job of Finance Minister was to reduce government spending rather than increase it. He was one of the key pillars of the Howa... more

State elections: It’s not over until the fat lady swings The South Australian election is not over just yet.  Some 20% of votes are yet to be counted and there are three Labor seats which are too close to call.  Bright will most probably be Liberal by the end of the week and Hartley and Newland are still in play.  If all three come to the Liberal Party then Labor will only have 22 seats and will need to do a deal with independents to survive. We should consider the facts on Saturday night’s result.  There was an eight percent state wide swing to the Liberal Party resulting in approximately 52% of the state wide two party preferred.  There will be at least five new members of the Liberal team, an increase of a third to the Parliamentary team.  Better still the new members including Dan Van Holst Pellekann, Steven Marshall, John Gardner, Tim Whetstone and Rachel Sanderson have genuine talent and will add some real fire power. On the other hand Labor los... more

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  RUDD GOVERNMENT BACKDOWN  ON YOUTH ALLOWANCE   The Liberal Party has succeeded in eliminating retrospectivity from the Rudd Governments changes to Youth Allowance legislation and created a pathway for regional and remote students to access the independent rate of youth allowance.   Under the Rudd Government’s original changes young people in rural and remote communities needed to find an almost impossible 30 hours of work a week for 18 months over two years to qualify for the independent rate of youth allowance.   After months of pressure from the Liberal Party however, the Rudd Government has backed down and over the next four years as many as 7600 students will receive assistance due to the changes.    Students living on Kangaroo Island will be able to access the allowance under previous rules and will be able to qualify by working 15 hours a week over two years or by earning $19,532 over an 18 month period.   While this is a p... more

SA election: Why Mike Rann’s time is up In his book, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, the exiled Czech novelist Milan Kundera, explains how to rewrite a states history: “The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory.  Destroy its books, its culture, its history.  Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history.  Before long the nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was.” Mike Rann must own a dog eared version of this book if his Punch interview is anything to go by. The claims Mike Rann made in his interview with David Penberthy on the Punch on Monday can only be taken seriously if you believe that Mike Rann was beamed down from another universe at the start of 2002. Mike Rann claims in this interview that the reason South Australians should be falling over themselves to re-elect him is because he singularly dragged the State from the doldrums and delivered an age of prosperity.  Really?
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WATER DEAL A PRE-ELECTION STUNT Yesterday, the Liberal Party wrote to Penny Wong regarding the Critical water planning for the Murray Valley and Lower Darling communiqué issued by the New South Wales Government’s Office of Water.   The communiqué appears to confirm the NSW Government’s intention to release water from Lake Pamamaroo into Lake Menindee with the expectation that increased in-flows from recent flooding in Queensland will ‘justify’ this action.   The Liberal Party is seeking urgent clarification from the Minister regarding whether the Murray Darling Basin Authority supports the intentions of the NSW Government and if Mike Rann’s January deal with Premier Keneally has severely diminished South Australia’s negotiating position over in-flows from the recent floods.   I support this action and hope the Minister responds with the utmost urgency considering the significance of this issue in South Australia. more

Rudd's Health Plan A Threat To Regional Hospitals  Regional hospitals throughout the Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu Peninsula are under threat from Kevin Rudd’s health plan.   Kevin Rudd’s proposal for the take over of the state health systems threaten the existence of country hospitals because it will significantly reduce funding for smaller regional hospitals.   This highlights the recklessness of Mike Rann handing over the health system to Kevin Rudd in a phone call prior to considering the detail of the plan. Unfortunately with Mr Rann it is always politics before policy.   The Rudd/Rann plan threatens the viability of the Victor Harbor, Strathalbyn, Mount Barker, Kingscote and Gumeracha hospitals.   Unfortunately Labor just doesn’t understand regional health. We have seen State Labor’s country health plan that would have decimated country hospitals and now we have a new and real threat to South Australia’s regional health system.   South Austr... more

 ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AMENDMENT (RECREATIONAL FISHING FOR MAKO AND PORBEAGLE SHARKS) BILL 2010, 15 March 2010 Mr BRIGGS (Mayo) (12:10 PM) —Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to address this Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Recreational Fishing for Mako and Porbeagle Sharks) Bill 2010. The opposition is supporting it because it has been brought to this House largely due to the actions of the opposition spokesperson on this issue, Senator Richard Colbeck, who campaigned vigorously over the summer months to ensure that this bill could come before this House because of the failure of the Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts in the way he went about addressing this issue. I will deal with that later on in my speech. I thought it was important, firstly, to talk about the importance of recreational fishing in my area in Mayo in South Australia. It is a very important industry to the Fleurieu Pe... more

  SALUTING THEIR SERVICE GRANTS   The Alexandrina Council and Mount Lofty Districts Historical Society Inc have both been granted $4000 under the Federal Government’s Saluting Their Service program to undertake wartime projects in Mayo.   Saluting Their Service, an Australian Government initiative, aims to honour all Australian servicemen and women and promotes appreciation of their sacrifices.   The Alexandrina Council will use the grant to help re-build the Second World War Memorial Lookout in the Soldiers Memorial Gardens at Port Elliot and the Mount Lofty Districts Historical Society Inc will use it to restore and preserve the Stirling East School First World War Honour Roll.   It’s important that we continue to recognise the sacrifices made by those who fought for this country and we must keep all out wartime memorials in the condition that befits those who gave their lives. I pay tribute to the organisation's for ... more