STATE ECONOMY

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (14:23): My question is to the Premier. Why was South Australia the worst performing state for domestic economic growth and the worst performing state for export growth in the December quarter?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:23): The Leader of the Opposition continues to make the same mistake. It is not a measure of economic growth: it is one component of our economic activity—the state's spending.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I have the briefing. You should get yourself an economics degree.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's right; they don't get handed down through the generations.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Can I just point to those pieces of good news that are going on in the economy, because those opposite obviously need some persuading of what is actually happening which is positive in the economy. What we are seeing is massive growth, continuing growth in our defence sector.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: We are continuing to see growth in a range of our defence sector—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: We are going very well overall, yes we are in fact. Our defence sector jobs are up from 22,765 jobs in 2007-08—

Mr Marshall: 2007-08!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —and the total is expected to increase to 30,847 jobs in 2013-14.

Mr MARSHALL: Point of order, Mr Speaker.

The SPEAKER: Would the Premier be seated. It is fortuitous that you have risen on a point of order, because I would like to warn you for the first time.

Mr MARSHALL: My point of order is relevance: my question specifically related to the December quarter statistics—specifically; there was no other reference. I am happy to bring it up, Mr Speaker, if you would like to have a look at the question. I am very interested in anything the Premier has got to say on the December quarter.

The SPEAKER: Well, the December quarter statistics don't mean terribly much unless they can be compared with some other quarter—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: So I—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. I.F. EVANS: Point of order, Mr Speaker: in fairness, the question compared the economic performance of the December quarter to every other state—

The SPEAKER: Yes, I heard the question.

The Hon. I.F. EVANS: Because the question asked why South Australia was the worst performing in domestic economy and exports. That was the comparison: South Australia to other states.

The SPEAKER: I am sure the Premier is well aware of the question, and I will be listening carefully. I call the Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The question is actually predicated on a false premise, as we said before. The part of the economy that spending represents doesn't represent the economic activity for our economy. We canvassed this last time—you made the same mistake last time. You came in here predicting recession, and you were proven wrong by the annual figures. So you come in here, making the same mistake twice—

Mr PENGILLY: Point of order, sir—and I think you know what it is.

The SPEAKER: You think I am clairvoyant?

Mr PENGILLY: I do, sir—No.8.

The SPEAKER: Standing order 98—it would be that the Premier was debating the matter. Well, the question was combative. I will listen carefully to what the Premier has to say. Before he rises, I will call the member for Morialta to order, for multiple offences, that I will treat as one offence—

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The SPEAKER: —and the member for Waite, who has probably forgotten his offence, so long ago was it. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: As I said, it is wrong in so many ways. It is hard to actually articulate all the ways it is wrong, but the first sense in which it is wrong is that it is not a measure of economic growth to actually talk about spending: it is a component of growth in the economy. If those opposite wanted some evidence of that, when they came in here trotting these figures in last time, which happened to then be revised—so, they weren't actually the final figures; in fact, the two figures they relied upon were revised from the negative to the positive after last year.

So, there is the first question about whether they will actually be the final figures. But, leaving that small matter aside, sir, they also only reflect a component of our economy, not the whole of the economy, which is measured for these purposes. So, that is the second sense in which they are wrong. To the extent that they suggest that we are, even on their completely erroneous analysis they are wrong about the fact that we actually had the slowest result in that quarter. I think Tasmania had a worse result in that quarter.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Well, I have one in front of me—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —and in any—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I call the member for West Torrens to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: In any event, it ignores what is happening in the rest of the economy. We are seeing strong growth which is emerging. We know that the last quarter of last year was a difficult quarter. Those opposite that have been advancing this idea that our investments in infrastructure projects were somehow a false economy, imagine if those 9,000-odd jobs, which are in the economy because of what they suggest is the false economy, weren't there. Imagine the baying that would be coming from those opposite about the state of the economy. They would have us in recession; that is why they predict the recession so often. They would have us in recession if we adopted their economic policies.