South Australia's Strategic Plan

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:19): Supplementary, sir: given that the Premier has outlined to the house today the new approach to new jobs targets, can the Premier update us on what the status of the State Strategic Plan is?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:19): The Strategic Plan covers about 100 areas of endeavour for the South Australian community. It is a plan that was compiled with the collaboration of many thousands of South Australians citizens. It covers social, economic and environmental issues, and it remains a guiding touchstone for the work of all our government agencies and, indeed, the work of everybody within the South Australian community.

What we are talking about here is a laser focus on the economic challenge facing South Australia. If there is one thing that emerged out of the last election which we have freely acknowledged it is that people in South Australia want to know the answer to the question: what is our economic future? What is the economic future for us; what are going to be the jobs that will support our children and make our families secure in the future? They were demanding of us greater clarity about what that vision looks like. We have listened and we have spoken to them.

We, unlike those opposite, have actually listened to the outcome of the last state election and sought to bring ourselves in sync with it. We have sought to be responsive to what happened at the last election with the way in which we have constructed this government, with the way in which we have gone about listening to people and the way in which we have designed a program for action in the future.

Of course, these are not challenges that are going to be met solely by government alone. It will be the collaboration across the whole of the South Australian community that will allow us to supply the answer to these questions. But there is momentum building on each of these topics. I defy anybody in this house to say that there isn't momentum building in the mining and energy sector, there isn't momentum building in the health sector, there isn't momentum building in the food and wine sector, and we aren't seeing tremendous opportunities in tourism and, also, the education sector. All of those areas of endeavour are showing wonderful signs of growth and opportunity but we need to do more because we know that the world around us is changing very quickly.

The rate of transformation of the South Australian economy has to be accelerated. That is why we are putting our energies into those sectors of the economy that we, on advice, have been told are going to be the fastest sectors of the economy. If you don't believe us, believe the Business Council of Australia (Catherine Livingstone) who have chosen almost identical sectors of the economy. If you don't believe us, believe the Deloittes report that says that each of these sectors is likely to grow 10 per cent faster than the rest of the national economy. These are the areas of growth.

They also happen to be areas of competitive advantage for the South Australian economy. We believe that these are going to be the drivers in the future. That's why we are investing in them and that's why there is so much excitement about the possibilities that exist in this state. Just for once, if those opposite could lend a hand rather than just carping on and whining about what they see is wrong with South Australia. They can't see what is right with South Australia.

The SPEAKER: Supplementary, leader.