Question Time

EMPLOYMENT FIGURES

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (14:11): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier explain why, after choosing jobs over the AAA credit rating, there are now 7,500 more unemployed South Australians under his premiership?

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I call the member for Finniss to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:11): I thank the honourable member for his question. The short answer is that the government infrastructure projects that we have invested in that were outlined, the $9.3 billion in infrastructure projects spending over the next four years, are—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Well, let's look at them: Adelaide Oval Redevelopment, 1,200 jobs; $350 million Adelaide Convention Centre upgrade; SAHMRI, 320 jobs; new RAH, 3,000 jobs; footbridge at the Adelaide Oval, 170 jobs—

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I call the member for Chaffey to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —and yard upgrade, 170 jobs; the South Road Superway, 2,100 jobs; the duplication of the Southern Expressway creating 1,040 jobs; the Seaford Rail Extension, 610 jobs; the Goodwood Junction, 250 jobs; $100 million Adelaide to Melbourne Road Corridor, 150 jobs—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I call the member for Morialta and the member for Heysen to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: There are 9,310 total direct jobs created as a result of this infrastructure spend, and that is without counting the flow-on jobs that occur in the rest of the economy. Nearly a third of our infrastructure spend is in the CBD and, as a result, we have leveraged billions of dollars of private investment in this city, as well as the investment that has been brought about through the new planning regime that has been shepherded through by the Deputy Premier. The essential point is that without this investment, of course, the position would be so much worse.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Of course, and I don't accept the characterisation of the situation over the last period. What we have seen is that trend employment rose—

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I warn the member for Morialta for the first time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Trend employment, which is the reliable figure, rather than the seasonal figures which jump around, rose in the last month for the fifth month in a row, so we have seen 5,500 new jobs created over that period. That happens to be the factual material upon which we have based our analysis, but how much worse would the position be in relation to employment if we were not making these public investments which are sustaining employment now and driving prosperity in the future? We would have the sort of headline that we saw in The Age on Monday, which was that that state is at a standstill. This is the vision that those opposite are proffering for the people of South Australia, and it is a vision we reject.