City-centric Labor continues to forget regional SA

The Opposition is calling on the Malinauskas Labor Government to urgently work with regional South Australian communities to address critical skills and housing shortages.

On the weekend the State Government announced the release of residential land on the outskirts of metropolitan Adelaide but disappointingly there was no such plan for regional South Australia.

According to Regional Development Australia, nearly $50 billion of economic activity could be unlocked if action was taken to address the skills shortage and housing crisis in the regions.

Opposition Leader David Speirs said the Malinauskas Labor Government needs to prioritise regional South Australia.

“South Australia’s regions are an economic powerhouse for our state, but the current skills shortage and housing crisis is crippling opportunity,” Mr Speirs said.

“Since becoming State Liberal Leader I have visited more than 60 different regional towns and the message from the community is always the same – we need more workers and we need more houses.

“This is a huge handbrake on our economy and in some cases, businesses are actually choosing not to invest in projects because of the skill shortage and lack of accommodation.

“We welcome the release of land for housing development in metropolitan Adelaide and our regions deserve the same level of attention but that’s not happening from our city-centric Premier Peter Malinauskas.”

Shadow Minister for Regional South Australia Nicola Centofanti said more needs to be done.

“There is significant opportunity to grow our regions but that’s being put at risk due to critical skill shortages and the housing crisis,” Dr Centofanti said.

“Unfortunately Peter Malinauskas has shown time and time again that he is more interested in media opportunities than delivering real outcomes for South Australia and in particular our regions.”

Shadow Minister for Regional Planning and Regional Population Growth Sam Telfer said the Speirs Liberal Opposition is focussed on economic growth for South Australia.

“South Australia’s regions are a fantastic place to live, work and raise a family and we want more people to be able to experience this,” Mr Telfer said.

“The Liberal Party will continue to work with regional communities to achieve sustainable growth unlike the Labor Party who are only interested in Adelaide.”