Employment Figures

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:08): Supplementary: does the Premier honestly think that a 10 per cent unemployment rate is acceptable?

The SPEAKER: Before the Premier answers, we had this contretemps yesterday when the leader asked a rhetorically charged question and got, oddly enough, a rhetorically charged answer. So, the peril of asking the Premier 'does he really believe' is that he might and say so. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:09): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I think it just needs to be disposed of in short form by saying that, of course, we don't want to see unemployment levels reaching those levels . But, make no mistake, if we are not able to successfully transform the South Australian economy, that is what is ahead of us. We have a massive challenge in front of us. Can I just urge those opposite, and indeed anybody in the community who simply wants to raise their voice and be part of the cheer squad of opposition and the cheer squad of negativity, that we cannot afford the luxury of that at the moment.

What we need to do is to all put our shoulder to the wheel, to actually make the changes necessary to grow jobs in South Australia, and if those opposite have any creative ideas—we have set out 10 economic priorities, our economic plan for South Australia; there are lots of different ways that we can achieve those objectives—and if those opposite want to propose an initiative which advances our economic plan, we would be more than happy to work with them to achieve that.

We don't have the luxury of wallowing in self-criticism here in South Australia. We need to take action. We are getting on with the job. We are putting a positive reform agenda before South Australia. There is a bit of kelp on the keel. I won't refer to who that might be because that apparently would be disorderly, but there is a bit of kelp on the keel which is slowing our progress in the water, but we would like to accelerate the pace of reform and we would like those opposite to cooperate.