Investment and Trade Initiatives

Mr GEE (Napier) (14:49): My question is to the Minister for Investment and Trade. Can the minister update the house on investment attracted to South Australia?

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Minister for Investment and Trade, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (14:49): I thank the member for Napier for his question. It was a great day yesterday, when the Premier unveiled the massive expansion plans for South Australia by Inghams Enterprises. It was a good example of a major national enterprise choosing to expand in South Australia where, in their own words, they saw the best conditions for businesses to make such decisions.

I congratulate the Treasurer for his initiatives in last year's budget to add to the attractiveness of doing business in South Australia. Yesterday, the poultry producer Ingham's confirmed that more than 800 jobs would be created by the expansion of its South Australian facilities in multiple locations. It is another feather in the cap of the Investment Attraction South Australia agency, in partnership with Regions SA and my friend the member for Frome. I thank my colleague (the Minister for Regional Development and Independent member for Frome) for his work on the project. We want to create jobs in the regions.

It's a big win for jobseekers with trades, skills in high technology equipment and process workers, and it comes just days after the opposition tried to whip up some bad media about the investment agency's activities. Well, the very following day, here was the fruit. The opposition would have you believe that the investment agency is just a group of public servants who process grant applications. Tell that to the more than 800 people who will get jobs as a result of the Inghams decision. The opposition doesn't like public servants, and it sure doesn't understand winning.

Mr GARDNER: Point of order, sir.

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: Hundreds of jobseekers were winners yesterday.

The SPEAKER: Point of order, member for Morialta.

Mr GARDNER: The minister is—

The SPEAKER: The minister will be seated.

Mr GARDNER: —defying you right now and, before that, he was debating.

The SPEAKER: Yes, I uphold the point of order.

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: Thank you, Mr Speaker, I will try to contain myself. Inghams will double its production across 15 sites in northern Adelaide and the Murraylands. The $275 million investment will create more than 380 direct roles and generate more than 460 contractor jobs.

In October 2015, the South Australian government established the Investment Attraction SA agency to lead the state's efforts in pursuing investment from overseas and interstate. In the nine months since then, eight companies have been provided assistance, primarily in the form of case management services. This has led to more than $890 million worth of investment projects for the state that will create more than 3,300 direct and associated jobs in South Australia. I very much look forward to budget estimates and questions from those opposite so that we can go into the details.

These investments have included ScreenAway, Orora Limited, Wineflow, Micromet, Hornsdale (Neon France), West Franklin Development on Franklin Street, Buddy Platform and now Inghams Enterprises. These results support the findings of Deloitte's Investment Monitor report released in March 2016 which shows that the value of investment projects in South Australia has risen 14.2 per cent in the year to date to reach $41.5 billion—a credit to the government and the businesses that have made that a reality.

The state government is committed to ensuring development continues in South Australia, which is why we have committed $10.8 billion in the 2015-16 budget towards a capital investment program over the next four years to support 4,700 jobs per annum. We have also announced $670 million in tax cuts in the Mid-Year Budget Review and will assist in driving private capital investment in South Australia. I look forward to further negative carping about the investment attraction initiatives of this government because it allows us to repeat the success of the past months and the latest success story, and there will be much, much more to follow.