Port Pirie Unemployment Rate

Mr WINGARD (Mitchell) (14:44): My question is to the Minister for Regional Development. Can the minister explain why the unemployment rate in the Port Pirie region has increased by 3 per cent since he became minister and currently has the highest unemployment rate of all South Australian regions at 12.9 per cent?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The members for Stuart, Hartley and Mount Gambier are on their last chance.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:45): Sir, the unemployment rate in South Australia is unacceptable, and there is no-one in this parliament who thinks—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Kavel is warned for the second and final time. The member for Davenport is warned and the member for Mitchell is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I see the puppet master recognised for pulling the strings.

The Hon. J.J. Snelling: The evil genius.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The evil genius behind the scenes, yes. Unemployment in this state is unacceptably high, and the government has a series of strategies in place. Now, what we have done through prudent management of the government's and the state's finances is that we have been able to bring the budget back into balance, into surplus, paying down debt, and what we have done with that windfall is to institute some of the most comprehensive tax cuts in Australian history.

The tax cuts that we have implemented are the ones that the Prime Minister himself on the Insiders program recently was hailing as being very, very important. Now, we are undergoing a structural readjustment in this state. We are losing an industry that has been the bedrock of employment in this state, and that is our automotive industry.

Members opposite yell abuse and ill-timed interjections about unemployment without in fact considering that one of the reasons we are grappling with higher unemployment is the fact that the commonwealth government refused to invest in General Motors Holden. That is a bedrock employer in this state, not just in the assembly plant at Elizabeth but through our components manufacturers as well. So, what we have done is build up—

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Point of order. The question was specifically about unemployment in Port Pirie, not in Elizabeth and not to do with Holden. I ask you, Mr Speaker, to bring the minister back to the substance of the question.

The SPEAKER: Best when making points of order to have clean hands. The Treasurer has faced a torrent of interjections. Treasurer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: And they haven't been very clever, either. If they are at least funny it makes the job a bit more enjoyable.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer will return to the topic of unemployment in Port Pirie.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, sir. What the government has done specifically through its tax package is to target—

Mr Duluk interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Davenport is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The real question we have to pose to members opposite and, indeed, to the people of Port Pirie is: what would the situation be in Port Pirie had we not invested in Nyrstar, had we not done the arrangement—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Members opposite say, 'We've committed to it also.' Well, Mr Speaker—

The SPEAKER: The questions may not be hypothetical: answers can.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Thank you, Mr Speaker. So, given the interjections from the member for Hartley, I travelled to Geneva to meet with Nyrstar well in advance of any investment we made with it. The Premier met with Nyrstar in London well before the state election, and we had begun the process of talking about its investments not only in South Australia but, of course, in Hobart, and of course both those operations are very important.

We have come up with a process of allowing Nyrstar to reinvest capital into Port Pirie, and, quite frankly, without that investment I shudder to think what the scenario would be in Port Pirie. You would have serious social dislocation, you would have property values plummeting. And, if it was not for the leadership shown by the member for Frome in standing up for that city, that community and that town, insisting that we invest in Port Pirie and Nyrstar, I think you would find that it would have been a very, very different outcome in Port Pirie. Members opposite, for all their bleating, have never really offered any policies for Port Pirie.

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond is warned for the second and final time for interjecting out of his seat. The member for Schubert, who has returned to our midst, is called to order for the second time in question time. He commences with a clean slate. The members for Hartley and Stuart are right on the edge of being removed for persistent disorder. The member for Goyder.