Ben Hood was elected to the South Australian Legislative Council in March 2023. He lives in Mount Gambier with his family and is a passionate advocate for regional South Australia, for smaller, less interventionist government and conservative values.

Ben Hood MLC is at Parliament of South Australia.

6 hours ago

South Australia has recorded the lowest business confidence in the nation in 8 of the last 9 NAB monthly business surveys.

Yet Labor's Small Business Minister says she's meeting "business after business confident about the future", taking global challenges "in their stride". The reality? Businesses don't have any other choice.

The Liberals will keep pushing for payroll tax reform. It hasn't changed since 2019, and at a $2 million payroll it's the highest in the nation. We'll back private enterprise and back small business, not grow government. ... See MoreSee Less

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Ben Hood MLC

11 hours ago

Today, we are introducing tough new laws to parliament to create an independent construction watchdog. It’s about protecting taxpayer money and the integrity of South Australia’s major projects.

South Australians are paying for some of the biggest infrastructure projects in our history: Torrens to Darlington, the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital and Northern Water. Every dollar has to go into building them, not into the pockets of criminals.

Our Construction Industry Commissioner will be independent of the minister and report directly to parliament.

The Commissioner will be able to:
🔹 Investigate criminal behaviour and intimidation on construction sites
🔹 Enforce a new building and procurement code, developed directly with industry
🔹 Ban contractors who break the law from tendering for government work for 12 months
🔹 Recommend that their existing government contracts be terminated
🔹 Protect workers and businesses who blow the whistle

When federal Labor abolished the Australian Building and Construction Commission, it left a gap. Since then, the Malinauskas Government has sat on its hands.

These laws fill that gap.

The message is simple: if you want taxpayer dollars, obey the law and keep the crims off the job. ... See MoreSee Less

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Ben Hood MLC is at Beverley Uranium Mine.

1 day ago

Last week I headed out to Heathgate Resources’ Beverley operation, between Lake Frome and the Northern Flinders Ranges.

Heathgate opened Australia’s first in-situ recovery uranium mine here in 2000. Instead of digging a pit, they pump a solution through the ore underground and bring the uranium up dissolved in it. There’s no open cut and no waste rock dumps. Once a wellfield is finished, it’s rehabilitated, and as the before-and-after shows, you’d struggle to find where it was.

Twenty-six years on, Beverley’s uranium goes to the US, Canada and France to fuel their nuclear power stations.

South Australian uranium is good enough to power other countries’ grids. It should be good enough for ours. Australia remains the only G20 nation with a legislated ban on nuclear power. That needs to change.

Thanks to the Heathgate team for the tour. ... See MoreSee Less

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