Premier Mike Rann says "St Mark's students ask harder questions than Parliament"
The Premier of South Australia, the Hon. Mike Rann MP, Minister of Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change last week addressed over 80 students at St Mark's College in the historic Downer House Ballroom, where in 1897 the Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth was first drafted by Downer, Barton and O'Connor.
The title of the Premier's talk was the "The State of the State" and he spoke most positively about South Australia in the context of the current global economic crisis. The Premier spoke about the issues of water, in particular the Murray River, the desalination plant, recycling waste water and harvesting storm water with South Australia leading the nation in water recycling. The Premier also spoke about Adelaide being a centre for Education with initiatives such as the Thinkers in Residence Program (one of whom stayed at St Mark's in 2006, Dr Rosanne Hagarty, Director of Common Ground in New York; Baroness Professor Susan Greenfield, Neuroscientist Senior Research Fellow, Lincoln College, Oxford; social innovator Geoff Mulgan and so on....The Premier also spoke about funding directed at research programs in defence and advanced manufacturing - important industries that are vital to South Australia's economic future...the students were most appreciative of the Premier's time asking questions about water, legal reform commission among others...
