MANUFACTURING SECTOR

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood) (14:26): Supplementary, Madam Speaker.

The SPEAKER: No, you have—

Mr MARSHALL: Well, the Premier raises the importance of Göran Roos's report which was actually received last year. Can the Premier tell us how many of the 48 recommendations in the manufacturing green paper his government is actually going to implement?

The SPEAKER: Member for Norwood, that is another question. You have had two now. The Minister for Trade.

Mr Marshall: The Premier wouldn't have a clue.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Minister for Trade, can you sit down, please, a moment until we get some order from the left. Member for Norwood, you will behave; you are on your last warning. Minister.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Manufacturing, Innovation and Trade, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Small Business) (14:26): I find it compelling that the member for Norwood is railing against—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —proposed and achieved cuts the government has made when he himself—if he were a minister—would cut one in four people in the Department for Manufacturing.

Mr WILLIAMS: Point of order. Madam Speaker, the government was asked—in fact, the Premier was asked—a very straightforward question about the response to a government report.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: What's the point of order?

Mr WILLIAMS: Relevance, Patrick, relevance. I thought even you would be smart enough to pick that one up, Patrick.

The SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order. Minister, continue your answer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Thank you—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: With manufacturing exposed to unprecedented levels of international competition, we accept that there is a key role for government in ensuring that this sector is able to transform and develop. Almost one-third of South Australians directly or indirectly rely on manufacturing for their income. To survive in an increasingly competitive world, South Australia needs to think smarter and also make more—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I'm only using your words, Isobel. Don't be so upset about it. They're your words. Madam Speaker, South Australia needs to think smarter and also make more of its strengths as a smaller economy focusing on its comparative advantages. This government is committed to ensuring that manufacturing continues to provide higher net incomes, employment creation and wealth distribution in South Australia—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —and is therefore developing an advanced manufacturing strategy. To begin that process—

Mr MARSHALL: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Point of order.

Mr MARSHALL: My point of order is relevance. I specifically asked a very simple question: how many of the 48 recommendations is the government going to implement?

The SPEAKER: Thank you. Sit down. The minister can answer the question as he chooses. There is no standing order on relevance. Minister.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Madam Speaker—

Mr WILLIAMS: Point of order, Madam Speaker. The question was a supplementary question to an answer given by the Premier where he started talking about the Göran Roos report—

The SPEAKER: Order! Thank you.

Mr WILLIAMS: —and the member is seeking some further information about that particular report, which has not been responded to—

The SPEAKER: Will you sit down?

Mr WILLIAMS: —and why thousands of South Australians are losing their jobs.

The SPEAKER: Sit down!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I wish to know under what standing order people are allowed to make a speech in the guise of a point of order?

The SPEAKER: Absolutely.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! We will have some order or I will close down question time.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It seems to me you don't want the Leader of the Opposition to speak today. You just keep on asking questions; outsider tactics.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Like a drowning man thrashing about trying to find something to hold on to. This government is committed to ensuring that manufacturing continues to provide high net incomes, employment creation and wealth distribution, and is therefore developing an advanced manufacturing strategy. To begin that process, the government released a manufacturing—

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order, Leader of the Opposition.

Mrs REDMOND: Standing order 98 requires that the ministers must answer the substance of the question. The question was about Göran Roos and the recommendations of his report.

The SPEAKER: Thank you. Sit down. If I could hear what the minister was saying I might be able to answer that. Minister, I refer you back to the question.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, ma'am. To begin that process, the government released a manufacturing green paper designed to—

Mr WILLIAMS: Point of order, Madam Speaker. You have just ruled that the minister should come back to the substance of the question and he has gone on reading from the same script—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr WILLIAMS: —which is totally irrelevant to the question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Sit down. Minister.

Mr WILLIAMS: A lot of people are losing their jobs, Tom.

The SPEAKER: Member for MacKillop, will you be quiet. Sit down.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The only Public Service job they are interested in is the member for Flinders', Peter Treloar. The moment she heard he wasn't going to renominate she gets on a plane—

The SPEAKER: Minister—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Sit down. Minister, you will go back to the question or finish your answer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: This government is serious about our advanced manufacturing strategy. We have the public servants and the resources in place to implement the report. The government will be back to the house, but I tell you one thing: you can't remove one in four public servants—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Thank you. Order! You will both sit down. There is no point of order. The minister has finished his answer.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Norwood!