The Giles electorate has typically been a Labor seat, going back to the days when mining and industry first came to the region. The seat is held by the Labor's Eddie Hughes who is running again for his seat. Candidates in the Whyalla electorate are Australian Labor Party's Eddie Hughes, Green's Jane Mount, One Nation's Barry Drage, Family First's John McComb, SA Best's Tom Antonio, Liberal's Graham Taylor.
What do you believe is the biggest challenge facing Giles?
HUGHES: Access to medical services and the challenge in attracting general practitioners and specialists. On top of that is the long waiting list for public patients needing to see a specialist. Attracting and retaining teachers, especially in the sciences and maths, is a challenge. Skill shortages and housing availability are important issues.
McCOMB: I believe the greatest challenge is the drug abuse, suicide and family breakdown. There are enough jobs and income around for people, but so many people are hurting.
ANTONIO: The biggest challenge facing Giles is years of neglect from successive governments. It's an insulting big city "out of sight, out of mind" mentality.
TAYLOR: Attracting and retaining skilled workers largely caused by the reluctance of city-based residents to relocate to the region's for work. In addition, encouraging investment in entry level housing.
DRAGE: It's in the back of many people's minds in Whyalla - keeping the steelworks open and securing jobs. I'm also very concerned about the proposed radioactive waste dump at Napandee - we need a better location far away from farming and settled areas.
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What do you see as the major issue affecting SA agriculture? How would you rectify this?
HUGHES: The medium to long-term issue that is going to have a profound impact on agriculture in our state is global warming. We must play our part when it comes to serious global mitigation efforts while investing heavily in research to assist adaptation in the primary industries sector.
McCOMB: I believe the problems of finding farm workers, and keeping youth in rural areas, is affecting all of us living in rural areas. There should be more special farm workers' visas, and more financial encouragement for kids to stay at local schools and online university courses being free of charge to rural students.
ANTONIO: There are always ongoing issues impacting our agriculture industry - drought, floods, storms, fluctuating stockyard prices and costs, fuel costs, seed costs, etc - not to mention the cost of water and electricity.
TAYLOR: Agriculture faces a shortage of skilled labour. We need to be better at selling the wide range of career opportunities in modern agriculture and provide alternative pathways for those who have no prior experience. Also the sudden and sharp increases in agricultural inputs, especially fertiliser and chemicals, largely generated by the disruption of COVID-19. We need to take careful note of what items are essential for Australia and invest in domestic production.
DRAGE: Farmers in our region remain at the mercy of trading partners who don't reciprocate when it comes to abiding by the rules and terms of agreements. Recently we've seen it with China and important SA commodities, and with India and chickpeas. We need fairer trade agreements that advantage Australia, and we must always try to open markets for SA farmers so they can diversify their exports and be more resilient to trade shocks. I'm also keen on keeping prime agricultural land solely in Australian hands.
Do you think enough funding is being directed to regional infrastructure, eg roads and health facilities?
HUGHES: Country areas lag behind the city when it comes to investment across the board. There needs to be a far greater emphasis on access and equity and investment in infrastructure both physical and social including enhancing liveability in regional communities.
McCOMB: Family First have called for the full road to Port Augusta to be urgently made into a dual carriageway. We all know people who have affected by accidents on this road. The health facilities are stretched to the limit, but more preventative health needs to be undertaken, especially in regards to alcohol abuse.
ANTONIO: Absolutely not. SA's road maintenance backlog is estimated at $780 million - and the majority of that would be regional roads. Again, an "out of sight, out of mind" arrogance by city-based state and federal governments. Accidents are occurring on regional roads due to their dilapidated state.
TAYLOR: Infrastructure investment in regional areas is at record levels, never better demonstrated than the huge effort on regional roads at the moment. With the federal Coalition government, more than $2.8 billion is being invested on regional roads. I believe that SA finally has a government that is investing in the regions and tackling the health workforce challenges.
DRAGE: Most definitely not, and that could become a major issue for the grains industry on the Eyre Peninsula now the rail network has closed and all that grain is moved by truck. We need to plan and fund a major program of road maintenance and upgrades in our region. I'd also like to see Australian steel to be used for such projects.
- The Green's Jane Mount was invited to participate but did not respond before deadline.
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