I rise to speak on the Supply Bill and, in particular, an issue of government spending cuts that has particularly affected members of the Enfield electorate. Prior to my arrival in this place, the Marshall Liberal government announced that it was closing three Service SA centres in the last budget. One of those three Service SA centres is the Prospect Service SA centre in Northpark Shopping Centre in the Enfield electorate. That service centre provides vital services to my constituents. In particular, it provides vital services to those who have no internet access in my electorate, which particularly targets the elderly and those who cannot afford to have internet access, and people who have limited English skills.
The Prospect Service SA centre was the third busiest centre in the state in the last few years. In the 2016-17 financial year, more than 104,000 South Australians went through and used that centre and it processed 269,000 transactions that year. The Prospect Service SA centre is not being closed because of declining use; this is clear on the facts. In the 2017-18 financial year, according to the government's own numbers 105,000 South Australians used the centre and it processed over 277,000 transactions.
I go into the Northpark Shopping Centre quite regularly and I often see long line-ups—in fact, they go out of the door on many occasions. Again, this is supported by facts, with a 20 per cent increase in waiting times in the last financial year. The Minister for Transport says that 82 per cent of transactions processed through Service SA can be done online. That may well be right, but I think the minister might discover that people are not choosing to stand in long lines at Northpark Shopping Centre because they think it is fun or because they have nothing better to do. Most of them are there because they actually have no other choice. These are the most vulnerable people in our community.
If the Marshall Liberal government cannot provide adequate services to the people who really need them in South Australia, I question what they are doing with their time. Getting involved in building fancy hotels is not helping the people who need government support. In particular, in my electorate there are elderly people who do not know how to use a computer or who are on the pension and simply cannot afford the internet, and there are people who cannot speak English well and need face-to-face contact. Indeed, many services provided by Service SA centres have to be done in person, such as renewing a driver's licence or getting a proof of age card.
The ABS tells us that 17.5 per cent of South Australian households do not have internet access at home and that 15 per cent of South Australians do not use the internet at all. Many of my constituents do not have the luxury of being able to afford the internet, and this cut is going to affect
them severely. The Marshall Liberal government seems not to care about these people and has abandoned them. Many of my constituents have asked time and time again, 'Why exactly is the government closing Service SA? We can see it's so busy?' The only answer I can give them is that it is cost cutting; it is as simple as that.
Given all the frustration and all the worry that this has caused—not only to the people of the Enfield electorate but, as we have heard time and time again from the member for Florey, to her electorate and even to the member for Adelaide's electorate—I can tell you that the total budget savings for the closure of Prospect are $1.2 million per year and only $3.1 million per year for all three centres. If you compare that with the $20 million plus that KordaMentha is being paid per year to run a hospital for the government, I hope that it puts the cuts in perspective. I hope that will be considered by the government in its next budget and when making its spending decisions.
I want to know if the government closes down the Prospect Service SA centre where my constituents are going to go to apply for a driver's licence, renew their car registration and get their disabled parking permit. If the government is going to close down one of the busiest Service SA centres in the state, what measures are going to be put in place in the next budget for the surrounding centres? What will the government do about the increased waiting times due to the influx of these people going to other nearby centres? I am new to this, but I would have thought that these are prudent questions to ask before a slash-and-burn budget announcement over six months ago and that they are perhaps the sorts of questions that might be considered by the government in framing its next budget.
I understand that more than 15,000 South Australians have signed petitions to keep the three Service SA centres open. I stand with those South Australians in calling for the government to reverse its decision to close the Service SA centres, and I ask minister Knoll to urgently provide the community with some certainty about the issue, given that the announcement was over six months ago, and in particular before the next budget.
