E&OE...........
Thank you very much Dean, to you and to the Premier Rob Kerin, Rosemary Craddick and Senator Robert Hill, Minister for Defence and Leader of the Government in the Senate, my other Ministerial, State and Federal Parliamentary colleagues and fellow Liberals. It is a real delight for me to be here and to associate myself in every possible way with the campaign to re-elect the Liberal Government of South Australia and to maintain in office in Rob Kerin a person who South Australians have taken to as the quintessential, down to earth, authentic and genuine good bloke that we all want in Australian politics.
This State over the next period ahead needs the leadership of a person who understands the aspirations of the men and women of South Australia who is adding his own life';s experience, the opportunity to successfully found and build a small business, who';s come to politics with an understanding of every day needs and aspirations. Over the last few years I have observed on the frequent visits that I have made to South Australia the extraordinary resurgence of the South Australian economy. I';ve now been in Federal Parliament for 27 years and I';ve paid regular visits to South Australia over that period of time and I have to say to you that on every criteria the South Australian economy is stronger, its growth prospects are greater, the sense of optimism of its business community and the sense that the State has a real future is greater now than at any other time over the last 27 years. Some of that is of course due to the enlightened policies of the Federal Government. I just wanted to get [inaudible].
But you can';t run a successful economy, you can';t run a successful regional economy such as South Australia';s unless you have a Government that is sensitive to the needs of the business community, a Government that is a pro work Government and a Government that is going to give opportunities and keep the State moving forward.
This is an important election. It will be hard. All elections these days are on a knife edge and all of you should work until you drop at 6 o';clock on polling day and then if necessary for a bit longer in all of the very close seats because it will be very hard and you shouldn';t take it for granted. And we had a great result here federally in South Australia, we had great candidates and we had a great campaign, but this is very much a campaign about the future style of government in South Australia. Do you want somebody as Premier who is a quintessential good bloke, a person who relates and empathises to the needs of the average Australian living in South Australia or do you want somebody who is the cynical product and apparatchik of a political machine whose whole life existence has been about putting together factional deals and number crunching with little of the life experience that Rob has had in his business life and all the other lives that proceeded his entry into state politics. I suspect that if that comparison is effectively made over the next few weeks, I believe it will prove to be very important and very crucial in the assessment that swinging voters will make in this very important state election.
But in the years of Liberal Government, South Australia has grown stronger, the business base of the state has been strengthened, it has responded to some very difficult challenges, but there is a spirit of optimism, a climate of hope, a sense that some of the inevitable decline that the state governments were suffering, particularly in the debt ridden years of previous Labor Governments and never forget the association of the current leader of the Australian Labor Party in South Australia with the debt ridden policies of former Labor administration, don';t ever forget that [inaudible] with the policy that gave this state the enormous debt that the Liberal administration faced when it was elected in the early 1990s. Its never easy to win a third time, but I can tell you it can be done and it can be done very well.
Ladies and Gentlemen this is a very important election. It will be close that';s what [inaudible] a propaganda [inaudible] in the election we need every vote, even yours if we can get you on the roll. But ladies and gentlemen there is an opportunity for the progress of the last few years to be maintained. There is an opportunity for that greater sense of hope and optimism of which I have spoken to be entrenched, but it can only happen under the stewardship of the man I now invite to address you, Rob Kerin. The hope of South Australia for the next four years, a man who South Australians have taken to their hearts in the time that he has been Premier and I am sure a person who can give the [inaudible] of saving South Australia a sense of security, a sense of steadiness and a renewed sense of hope and determination about this State';s future, will you greet Rob Kerin, Premier of South Australia.
[ends]