Adjournment Debate

Unemployment Figures

Mr WINGARD (Mitchell) (17:13): I rise today to speak on an alarming issue. I know we have a number of woes in South Australia, thanks to this Weatherill Labor government. Sadly, the list keeps getting longer and longer: elder abuse in care, child protection issues, chemotherapy dosing bungles and the list goes on. However, there is one issue that I would like to highlight this evening, which is South Australia's horrendous record on unemployment under this Weatherill Labor government.

Today, the figures came out and again South Australia sits at the bottom of the list. We have been the worst state in the nation when it comes to unemployment for 29 months in a row. All across the state, people feel sick to the stomach that this is the case and that our state is languishing in such a horrendous position. However, we look to the other side to see what the government is doing about it and we turn to the Minister for Employment, the person ultimately responsible for this poor trend in these unemployment figures that show that we are again the worst state in the nation for 29 months now.

The Hon. Kyam Maher in the other place was asked today about the poor unemployment figures and where South Australia is going. He said:

In terms of what are causes or reasons for a particular month's figure, there is no one particular reason you could point to. There is no one particular company that is responsible for a particular figure. Certainly, there are a number of components, and one of them is the sample size.

Here we are in this place staring at our 29^th month in a row where we have the worst unemployment rate in the nation and the Minister for Employment in the other place wants to blame the sample size of the data and the figures collected. He wants to blame the sample size. That is the worst buck-pass I have ever heard in my time in this place. It is a disgrace and it is a shame, and the minister should hang his head in shame.

Then we go to the Treasurer. He chimes in and wants to get involved, too. He gets involved on social media. Is he going to blame sample size as well? No, he blames someone else. He blames the federal government. What is their role in this as far as South Australia is concerned? The Treasurer in this state is very quick to blame someone else, and the federal government is where he pushes his blame all the time. He does not take any responsibility for the fact that Labor has been in government in South Australia for 15 years and here we sit, 29 months in a row, as the worst state in the nation when it comes to employment. We are at the bottom of the pile. We have the worst unemployment figures in the land.

Interestingly, when you look at the figures for this month and reflect on what the Treasurer had to say, every other state and the national figure all went down. They all went down. They all improved. Every other state's figures and the national figure improved. In South Australia, our unemployment figure went up. We are a disgrace and the Treasurer must take responsibility and stop buck-passing to either the sample size of the data collected or the federal government.

The Treasurer has come out in this place before and claimed he has delivered a jobs budget. The figures today and for the last 29 months show that he has failed to do that—there is no doubt. In January, when the figures were released, the employment minister back then said that there was still work to be done but that we were heading in the right direction. I challenge that call from the employment minister and I think all South Australians very much wonder what direction we are heading. Under this state Labor government, I can tell you that the direction we are heading in is down, and South Australians are starting to wake up to that fact as well.

In the middle of July last year, the Treasurer said that South Australians are through the worst of it, our economies are coming out and there are green shoots all across the state. Again, months and months after, we still languish at the bottom of the unemployment table. We are the worst state in the nation, despite what the Treasurer wants to try to spin and wants to try to tell everyone. From our side of the chamber, we want to create opportunities in this state. South Australia is a great state.

People out there are really struggling to find positives in South Australia because of what this state Labor government is turning out. If you go out and speak to people and ask them, 'How is our state going?' often the answer is, 'We're not going well.' Their heads are down and their shoulders are slumped. People do not feel confident in South Australia. The most recent Business SA survey came out, which said that state confidence is at an all-time low and a world record low in South Australia. People do not feel confident in where we are going.

However, on our side of the chamber, we back the people. We think people in South Australia are the secret to taking us forward. We have already rolled out some of our policies and we will have plenty more to come in the lead-up to the state election—there is no doubt about that. We have rolled out some exciting policies that really harness the energy of this state. What we want to do is grow exports in South Australia. Exports were at about 7 per cent when we left government and now they are down to around 4 per cent under this current Labor government, so we want to grow exports.

We know we need to grow our pie in South Australia to grow our economy. What we need to do is open trade offices overseas—that is what is really important. We want to open trade offices overseas and trade more internationally and bring money into our state. We also want to help out with the costs of doing business and the costs of living. We have already declared that we will return $360 million back to South Australians and South Australian businesses by returning the ESL remission.

That is putting money back in people's pockets so they can go out and spend their money. Businesses will have more money in their pockets as well so they can look for growth opportunities and employ more people. That is the plan and that is the strategy we have going forward. Globe Link is another plan that we have put out there. It works around shipping out and getting produce to market internationally. We have some great resources, products and produce here and we want to be able to get that to market as quickly as possible, and the Globe Link plan really does bring that on.

Entrepreneurial skills is another policy we have announced. Again, we want to encourage young people to get in, start a business and get entrepreneurial. We want to work in schools and get people into that mindset at a very early age and give them the encouragement to do it here in South Australia and not leave. We know we have a people exodus over the border and leave South Australia every year. We have a negative net population, so more people leave than come. That really does put us on the back foot, so we need to keep people here. Entrepreneurial skills will give people an exciting opportunity to want to stay and grow and be here in South Australia.

We mentioned a bid fund, a boost for events in South Australia to bring in more tourism and attract more interest. That is a great policy and we look forward to attracting more events here to South Australia and selling the wonderful things that we have. We also put it out there that we have a single market renewable energy target. That means, let's not have a state-based target, let's go in with the rest of the country, not put ourselves at a competitive disadvantage. That will give us more secure, cheaper and reliable energy. It would be a great way forward for a lot of our businesses. We have also talked about deregulating shop trading hours, which will open up plenty of opportunities for small businesses here in South Australia and plenty of employment opportunities as well.

Deregulating shop trading hours will mean shops can be open more. On Sunday mornings, you can go to your local supermarket and get some bread and milk and make your bacon and eggs. It will give other businesses and shops an opportunity to grow and open when the market is there, allowing them to get customers through the door. That will give people more opportunities. We have heard about the IGA down south that has to close because of the current shop trading hours. It closes on a sunny night when people are leaving the beach and, as they are closing their doors, people are walking across the road to the service station to buy their produce. This shop owner is missing out on that sort of income because the law says that he or she has to close. That will be a fantastic innovation.

Those are just a few of the Marshall Liberal plans for South Australia in the upcoming state election and beyond. There are exciting times ahead. However, it is alarming—and, again, I know why a lot of South Australians are going around with slumped shoulders, feeling very dejected about what is going on here—when we see the unemployment figures today: 7.3 per cent for South Australia. I will run through the seasonally adjusted figures: 7.3 per cent for South Australia; the next worst is Queensland at 6.3 per cent; Victoria, 6.1 per cent; 5.9 per cent for Tasmania and Western Australia; and 4.7 per cent for New South Wales. The national figure is 5.7 per cent, and it is 7.3 per cent for South Australia seasonally adjusted.

That is really disappointing and has people dejected, but where do they look to work out why this is happening? They look to the other side of this chamber and the Weatherill Labor government. They are the ones who have brought this on. They have no policy for helping South Australia, and they have no policy for getting South Australia moving again. The Liberal Marshall team does have that, though. I have outlined some of our policies, and we will have plenty more to come.

We need to create a place where our young people want to be. I have children and a lot of my friends have children, and we need to have a place where people want to come. We want opportunities for young people, not just for mine but for all the young people I know out there. I think that is what we need to be focused on. We need to be focused on creating opportunities here in this state, where South Australians can build a career, build a life and have a job. If they leave and they want to come back one day, they need to have jobs and industries to come back to. Today's figures show that this Weatherill Labor government is not working for South Australia, and it is a real shame to see that. We must think about our young people when we think about the job situation.

We must have a plan going forward, and I have outlined some of our policy ideas in regard to that, and there will be more to come. We need to really turn this state around, because if you ask anyone South Australia is not travelling well at the moment. When you talk to people out in the street, at supermarkets, at sporting clubs, when doorknocking or wherever you might be, that is how they feel. We can turn it around. We need to work hard. You need to be part of the Marshall Liberal team to do that, to follow our plan and to take this state back to where it deserves to be.

At 17:23 the house adjourned until Tuesday 30 May 2017 at 11:00.