ADVANCED MANUFACTURING STRATEGY

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (14:59): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier inform the house about last week's announcement to reform advanced manufacturing in South Australia?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:59): Before I do, I must just observe—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —that the Leader of the Opposition leads on health just to draw attention to the fact that she is completely paralysed from being able to reshuffle—

Mrs REDMOND: Point of order: standing order 98. What is the relevance of the Premier's statement to the question that was asked by the member for Mitchell?

The SPEAKER: I am sorry, leader. He has only been speaking for about 20 seconds so I really haven't seen where he is leading. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I was just warming up, Madam Speaker. I was warming to my task, which was to address the honourable member's question. I thank the honourable member: being a former automotive worker, he understands the importance of manufacturing for our beautiful state. While the opposition were fighting amongst themselves under leadership, we were introducing reforms in the manufacturing sector that will secure jobs for South Australians for decades to come.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Deputy leader, order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The decision by the Hawke and Keating governments to open up the economy to international competition, of course, has brought 21 years of uninterrupted prosperity for our state, but it has been uneven. It has had a particular impact on the manufacturing sector, which has been exposed, of course, to international competition. The old methods—the high tariff wall, the low costs behind that large tariff wall—are no longer available, so we believe a strong manufacturing sector is a vital part of a diversified economy. One of the major lessons that I think has been learned through the global financial crisis—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —is that those economies that do have a strong manufacturing sector, like Germany and the Scandinavian nations—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Who did you line up with? David, you are on whose side?

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr MARSHALL: Point of order: standing order 98, relevance. The Premier is completely straying from the question—

The SPEAKER: Thank you.

Mr MARSHALL: —which is about manufacturing—

The SPEAKER: Thank you.

Mr MARSHALL: —which he's got no idea about.

The SPEAKER: Thank you. Deputy Leader of the Opposition, you do not get up and debate the question yourself when you have a point of order. Also, Premier, I would ask you to refer to members by their title.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Madam Speaker, I was just trying to quieten down those members opposite because they were engaged in a conversation across the chamber. I think this is an important issue that does need to be attended to.

While Adelaide remains the most competitive city in Australia to do business and Australia is one of the most developed nations in the world, there is no realistic way that we can compete on the basis of low costs and low wages, and we would not want to. We want to retain our capacity to ensure that our workers get decent wages and conditions and a decent quality of life. In the future, our manufacturing sector must compete on the basis of our ability to sell high quality goods built in an innovative way for which consumers across the world are prepared to pay a premium price.

That is what our manufacturing work strategy is all about. It is about transforming our manufacturing sector so that we can secure jobs in this most crucial sector over the coming decades. We will focus on building clusters of activity to bring people together from across industry, together with academics and our vocational educational institutions. Many of these clusters are already well developed, like the automotive industry in Edinburgh Park and the defence industry in Port Adelaide and Mawson Lakes. Others are emerging, like the biomedical precinct in City West and Thebarton and the CleanTech precinct.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: There's a constant stream of abuse. Maybe, Madam Speaker, if he could—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Just like you were trying to help Isobel. Trying to help Isobel out, were you, just wandering in—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Point of order, Madam Speaker. The latest Deputy Leader of the Opposition should know it is out of order to interject. It is no use taking points of order if you are going to interject.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The Crown rests, Your Honour.

The SPEAKER: There has been a barrage of interjections coming from my left—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Madam Speaker, just like he tried to help the Leader of the Opposition. He walked in trying to knife her and then walks out a half hour later—

Mr MARSHALL: Point of order: how can this possibly be relevant to a question on manufacturing?

The SPEAKER: Thank you, sit down. Premier, I refer you back to the question.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Thank you, Madam Speaker. These clusters that we have invested in are going to be an important part of bringing together those innovative businesses which are going to be the future of manufacturing in our state. We believe that this is the future, because this is the means by which we spread the prosperity of our nation amongst more of our citizens. Those countries that have a strong manufacturing sector are the ones that are able to maintain the greatest degree of social cohesion as they spread the prosperity that comes into their economy amongst a larger number of workers, and that is what has always held South Australia together. That is our vision for the future of South Australia.

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition.