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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: Now, when I got this media release today, I just

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Speaker 2: saw it in my inbox about well a couple of

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Speaker 2: hours ago. I laughed because it reads like a joke,

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Speaker 2: and the joke would be on us. Let me read

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Speaker 2: it to you that the headline says Green's alarmed that

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Speaker 2: Flinda's job cuts proposal. And I read a bit further

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Speaker 2: the first line, and this is all you need to

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Speaker 2: know about it. The Greens are alarmed that reports thirty staff,

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Speaker 2: including six internationally recognized marine scientists, who are researching South

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Speaker 2: Australia's toxic algall bloom, are set to lose their jobs

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Speaker 2: under a proposed restructure at Flinder's University. Now, if it

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Speaker 2: wasn't so serious, that would be material for a Monty

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Speaker 2: Python sketch. At this point in time, we should not

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Speaker 2: be getting rid of people who are experts in algrell

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Speaker 2: blooms for goodness sake. Robertson's Green's Upper House MP here

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Speaker 2: in State Parliament on the line, Robert, good evening, Thanks

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Speaker 2: for your time.

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Speaker 1: Good evening, Matthew, and thank you for having me.

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Speaker 2: It's ridiculous, is it not. I mean, you would expect

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Speaker 2: the government to be doing this, but Flinder's Uni.

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Speaker 1: Oh, it's just an absolute joke. I mean, it's akin to,

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Speaker 1: you know, turning off the hoses in the middle of

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Speaker 1: a bushfire. You know, it's just really ridiculous stuff. And

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Speaker 1: what we should be doing at the moment is encouraging

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Speaker 1: that kind of research capacity, not laying off staff. And

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Speaker 1: so to see six experts in the marine biology field

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Speaker 1: being made redundant at the university I think is just outrageous.

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Speaker 1: And understand from media reports today that actually one of

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Speaker 1: the researchers that's on the chopping block was one of

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Speaker 1: the first people that has recognized that this our gull

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Speaker 1: bloom is going to be with us for many years

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Speaker 1: to come, potentially here in South Australia. So his research

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Speaker 1: is really cutting edge, and yet that's not enough to

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Speaker 1: save him from the university's razor gang. And it's a

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Speaker 1: particularly a galling decision when you consider that just last

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Speaker 1: week the Parliament voted against my bill to cap vice

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Speaker 1: chancellor's salaries, So they're laying off academic staff to save money,

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Speaker 1: and yet they're still paying salaries in excess of a

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Speaker 1: million dollars. The vice chancellors and universities here in South

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Speaker 1: Australia it's just a joke.

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Speaker 2: What do you do to earn a million dollars? How

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Speaker 2: does one get into that game?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, I think a lot of us are

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Speaker 1: just scratching our heads around that. I mean, I think

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Speaker 1: vice chancellor's salaries are just absolutely outrageous, particularly when we're

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Speaker 1: in the middle of the cost of living crisis. You've

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Speaker 1: got universities laying off academic staff, You've got so many

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Speaker 1: South Australians struggling to make ends meet, and yet these

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Speaker 1: vice chancellors are earning in excess of a million dollars.

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Speaker 1: My bill was actually a proposal to cap their salaries

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Speaker 1: in line with the premiere, which is I understand about

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Speaker 1: four hundred and fifty thousand dollars a pretty significant salary.

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Speaker 1: And you know, no one's disputing the fact that vice

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Speaker 1: chancellors work hard, but the idea that they should be

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Speaker 1: earning more than twice the premiere of our state, the

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Speaker 1: person that's actually leading our states, I think doesn't make sense.

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Speaker 1: And it's particularly galling when as staff are being laid

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Speaker 1: off so the university can save money.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. The scientists that you mentioned who raised the

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Speaker 2: alarm and suggested that this might be with us for

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Speaker 2: quite some time. I'm going to invite you to speculate.

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Speaker 2: To me, that sounds like almost payback.

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Speaker 1: Well, look, i'd hope that's not the case. What the

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Speaker 1: university has said is that this is part of a

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Speaker 1: broader restructure, but I think it's really tineered and it

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Speaker 1: demonstrates that they're not taking the climate crisis seriously and

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Speaker 1: they're not recognizing that this sort of research should be

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Speaker 1: a priority at the moment. And I think this really

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Speaker 1: is an issue where the state government should step in

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Speaker 1: and take some leadership. Understand, of course these are independent institutions,

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Speaker 1: but they are also public institutions, and i'd hope the

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Speaker 1: minister that now has carriage for our universities at Joe

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Speaker 1: Stockach would be raising this matter with the vice chancellor

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Speaker 1: at Flinders University to try and find a solution. I

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Speaker 1: should add also, Matthew, it's not just marine biology that's

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Speaker 1: being targeted here. They're also talking about merging humanities into

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Speaker 1: another department, and I'm really concerned about, you know, potentially

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Speaker 1: the loss of further staff in say politics departments at

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Speaker 1: a time when democracy is also facing significant challenge. So

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Speaker 1: I think that Flinder's university's my old university. It really

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Speaker 1: isn't doing its due diligence in terms of recognizing its

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Speaker 1: role as a leader in research here in our state.

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Speaker 2: Were these researchers advising the government in any way, Was

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Speaker 2: there research being taken into account by primary industries or

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Speaker 2: the minister even did they contribute to that?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not aware as that, but I'm sure that

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Speaker 1: this kind of research does inform, you know, public policy making,

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Speaker 1: and you know, at the moment, we should really be

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Speaker 1: prioritizing that, and I think government should be advocating for

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Speaker 1: our universities to do that. Sadly what we're seeing and

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Speaker 1: it's not just Flinder's University that's been doing it. This

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Speaker 1: was an issue within the former Adelaide University before the

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Speaker 1: merger as well, where you saw staff, academic staff being

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Speaker 1: laid off and a reduction in teaching capacity. And I

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Speaker 1: just think that's a real shame that these universities are

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Speaker 1: becoming degree factories. And you know, our young people in

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Speaker 1: particular are paying a fortune to go there, they're paying

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Speaker 1: huge hext debts, and yet they're not necessarily being given

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Speaker 1: access to the range of research opportunities that they should

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Speaker 1: have I mean, for instance, I understand from media reports

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Speaker 1: today too that there are warnings now that a number

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Speaker 1: of PhD students might be without their devisors so that

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Speaker 1: they can finish their research. And again at a time

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Speaker 1: when we really need people to be focusing on what's

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Speaker 1: going on in our oceans and our environment.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And look of PhD, You've put years into

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Speaker 2: that and if your supervisors ripped away, well what happens

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Speaker 2: to all that research exactly?

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Speaker 1: And can you find someone to carry that on for you? So,

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Speaker 1: you know, I just think it's shortsighted and really that

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Speaker 1: the government should be doing everything they can to try

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Speaker 1: and get the university to reconsider this. Now the university

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Speaker 1: is saying at this stage it's just consultation and you

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Speaker 1: know that no firm decision has been made, is my understanding. Well,

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Speaker 1: I hope that that's the case and that these positions

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Speaker 1: can be saved, because you know, this would be a

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Speaker 1: really disappointing outcome. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, A couple of issues. While I've got your one

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Speaker 2: related Cop thirty one, We've been talking about that this

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Speaker 2: evening on air, and I just had Graham on who

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Speaker 2: made the very very solid point I think seeing it's

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Speaker 2: between US and Turkey essentially as to who hosts COP

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Speaker 2: thirty one. And I think we'd all love to see

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Speaker 2: it here for the exposure it gives Adelaide and we

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Speaker 2: can show off what we've done with renewables to date.

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Speaker 2: But Graham's very valid point. A lot of these people

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Speaker 2: are coming from the northern Hemisphere, and to get to

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Speaker 2: Turkey from places in Europe, even from the US, would

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Speaker 2: be relatively easier than jumping on a plane be one

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Speaker 2: third of the time, for instance, than flying to Australia.

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Speaker 2: And given it's a conference about reducing emissions, shouldn't that

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Speaker 2: be the very starting point, the common sense place for

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Speaker 2: it as a result of that argument would be Turkey,

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Speaker 2: not Australia, not Adelaide at the bottom end of Australia

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Speaker 2: even got of you on that because you know, you

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Speaker 2: see the memes every COP conference of all the planes

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Speaker 2: flying in, all the entourages out and about, and it's

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Speaker 2: meant to be saving emissions. I think that's a very

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Speaker 2: solid point.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I understand that argument. At the same time,

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Speaker 1: if we adopt that approach, then the only people that

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Speaker 1: are going to be using our airlines are you know,

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Speaker 1: fossil fuel barons, and anyone who has concern about our

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Speaker 1: climate crisis is never going to be able to board

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Speaker 1: a plane so you know, to go to a conference

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Speaker 1: or visit family or whatever. I mean, the reality is

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Speaker 1: we all kind of have to make those decisions. We

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Speaker 1: live in the real world. I actually think the biggest

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Speaker 1: element in terms of hypocrisy is South Australia's connection to

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Speaker 1: the fossil fuel industry. The fact that we give millions

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Speaker 1: and millions of dollars in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.

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Speaker 1: We're saying we want this conference here, yet we're in

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Speaker 1: the middle of a climate catastrophe and we can see

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Speaker 1: that unfolding on our beaches. What are people going to

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Speaker 1: be greeted with when they come to South Australia potentially,

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Speaker 1: you know, beaches that look like graveyards. And at the

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Speaker 1: same time, the male now diiscvernment's response will be will

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Speaker 1: hang on, drill, baby, drill. We're still exploring for more

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Speaker 1: gas and we're still giving these huge subsidies to fossil fuels.

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Speaker 1: So I think that's the bigger issue of hypocrisy. Rather

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Speaker 1: than people boarding a plane to come to a climate.

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Speaker 2: Contle, although as you know we've had this discussion before,

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Speaker 2: we do need gas to keep the lights on at

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Speaker 2: the moment and probably for quite some time to come.

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Speaker 2: I mean, if we stop looking for gas and you know,

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Speaker 2: we float on the stuff, we need it for the

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Speaker 2: time being and will for at least ten years.

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Speaker 1: Well, you and I are on a roll there for

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Speaker 1: a while.

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Speaker 2: Though I thought I'll come back to something we will

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Speaker 2: agree on.

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Speaker 1: We're in furious agreement. But I think on gas, you know,

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Speaker 1: we do have different views. My view has always been

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Speaker 1: we should be investing in other technology, in particular battery storage,

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Speaker 1: you know, doing that at a community level as well

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Speaker 1: as at a larger scale level. I think makes sense.

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Speaker 1: And there's some real opportunities here that we could be

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Speaker 1: doing in South Australia, and the mal Analysis government just

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Speaker 1: doesn't have an appetite to do it.

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Speaker 2: All right. One we will agree on, and the opposition

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Speaker 2: raised this on the weekend is fifty cent fares. Now,

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Speaker 2: we've both in the past supported free public transport because

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Speaker 2: my argument for that is, well we subsidize it to

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Speaker 2: over ninety one percent. Now it may as well be free.

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Speaker 2: But I'll take fifty cents. Mind, you.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, and look, I'm totally with you on that.

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Speaker 1: You know, I've certainly been advocating over the years for

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Speaker 1: free public transport, and most recently when the Queensland government

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Speaker 1: rolled out fifty cent fairs, we pushed for that locally

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Speaker 1: here as well, and indeed I moved a motion in

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Speaker 1: State Parliament back in April urging the Mail and Nowsis

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Speaker 1: government to do this as part of their budget. Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, Matthew, imitation is the greatest form of flattery.

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Speaker 1: I saw the Liberals adopt the policy and I thought fantastic.

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Speaker 1: My mum always used to say blue and green should

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Speaker 1: never be seen, but in this instance, I actually welcome

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Speaker 1: the policy and I hope the government matches it.

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Speaker 2: Okay, all right, Well do you think they will though,

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Speaker 2: because governments hate to be led by oppositions, as you know,

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Speaker 2: doesn't matter which color.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, they do. But you know it's funny. I feel

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Speaker 1: like the government's on the wrong side on this one.

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Speaker 1: I think it is a popular Greens policy. I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's why the Opposition have adopted it themselves, and I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, the government are on the wrong side of it.

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Speaker 1: I've had lots of positive feedback and people saying, well,

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Speaker 1: hang on, the Liberals are doing it, the Greens are

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Speaker 1: doing it, the Adelaide City Council wants to see it happen.

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Speaker 1: Everybody's on board except for the government, and I think

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Speaker 1: they need to kind of get with the program.

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Speaker 2: All right. Is there scope for, at least in the

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Speaker 2: Upper House emotion in support of fifty cent fares that

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Speaker 2: then goes to the Upper House legislation even to that effect.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So my motion passed the Upper House back in

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Speaker 1: April calling on the Government to do it. They didn't respond.

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Speaker 1: We're a bit restricted in the Upper House in terms

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Speaker 1: of being able to do a money build, but the

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Speaker 1: pressure is there for, you know, the government to do something.

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Speaker 1: I just think it makes sense. I mean, it would

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Speaker 1: save South Australian families thousands of dollars a year. We're

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Speaker 1: in the middle of a cost of living christ people

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Speaker 1: are really struggling at the moment. We hear a lot

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Speaker 1: of complaining about congestion on our roads. This is a

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Speaker 1: really tangible way to take some of those cars off

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Speaker 1: our roads, ease that pressure. And it's also really good

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Speaker 1: for carbon emissions. In terms of talking about hosting cop

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Speaker 1: If we could boost our public transport usage and make

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Speaker 1: a real dent on carbon emissions. I think that even

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Speaker 1: further strengthens the case.

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Speaker 2: All right, well we can if we get it, we

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Speaker 2: can look forward to how long is it a week?

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Speaker 2: Ten days? Cop? Do you know? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's about ten days days.

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Speaker 2: I mean the city will be free of cars for

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Speaker 2: that period and that's for sure.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, look, I hope we do get it. I

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Speaker 1: think it'd be a great boon for our city and

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Speaker 1: an opportunity to showcase what's really great about Adelaide. But

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Speaker 1: at the same time, I think the government's got to

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Speaker 1: put their money where their mouth is and you know,

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Speaker 1: doing something about public transport infrastructure, doing something about those

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Speaker 1: subsidies for the fossil fuel industry and the like really

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Speaker 1: would be a good start.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh, I mentioned COP delegates coming to Adelaide finding

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Speaker 2: public transport is free.

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Speaker 1: I know, there you go, rather than what they're going

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Speaker 1: to have at the moment, which is, you know, if

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Speaker 1: they go to try and take a bus, well good luck,

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Speaker 1: you know, because we all know what that's like. And

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Speaker 1: the trams are shut down while their upgrades are happening.

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Speaker 1: But really, I don't think the mail. Mountis government have

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Speaker 1: taken public transport seriously over the last four years under

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Speaker 1: Tom Kotz and Thonas's minister, and I hope that Emily

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Speaker 1: Burke actually does take it seriously and recognizes that there's

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Speaker 1: a real opportunity here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Indeed, have you noticed, talking about the trams being

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Speaker 2: shut down, the replacement buses rattling up and down Anzac

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Speaker 2: Highway in the associated side streets following the tram route

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Speaker 2: almost all empty. Have you noticed that their ghost buses

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Speaker 2: there's no one on board.

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Speaker 1: I have. Actually my parents live up that way, so

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Speaker 1: you know, I know that area quite well. And this

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Speaker 1: is the problem. And you know, we had a parliamentary

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Speaker 1: inquiry a few years ago into public and active transport.

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Speaker 1: You know it did find of course fairs is a factor,

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Speaker 1: and particularly confusion around concessions and who gets what is

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Speaker 1: the factor, but also frequency and accessibility and reliability. They're

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Speaker 1: huge issues and if we want people to use this service,

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Speaker 1: they've got to know it's going to turn up when

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Speaker 1: you say it's going to turn up, and it's going

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Speaker 1: to be able to take you from A to B.

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Speaker 1: And the problem is with some of these replacement services

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Speaker 1: is they're just not at the same level of quality

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Speaker 1: as the tram, you know, in terms of the level

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Speaker 1: of frequency and reliability, and so I think people start

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Speaker 1: to turn away and that's a real shame. We can't

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Speaker 1: afford to lose that patronage on our public transport. We

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Speaker 1: need it to ease the congestion on our roads.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, all right, Robert, appreciate your time as always.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, really good to chat to you all right.

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Speaker 2: Robert Simms, Green supper House MP in State Parliament,