Unemployment Figures

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (16:20): My question is to the Premier. Given this government has inherited the third lowest unemployment rate in the nation, and the Premier, on 20 April, said, 'We can do better,' by when will the Premier deliver—

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: I will hear it.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: —the second lowest unemployment rate in the nation?

The SPEAKER: The leader will be seated.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Standing order 97: I know the leader is new to the house, but you can't include argument in a question except by leave of the house.

The SPEAKER: I will listen carefully, but I don't believe it is argument. What I will do is, if the leader does have that reference, I will see it. If you can obtain it, I would like it, please. Continue.

An honourable member: The claim?

The SPEAKER: The claim in April.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: The Premier, on 20 April, was quoted as saying, 'We can do much better in our unemployment rate.'

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (16:21): I thank the leader for his question. We can do better, and the reality is that we welcome with open arms any improvement in the unemployment rate because for most of the last five years in South Australia we have been at the bottom of the table. We have had the highest unemployment rate in the entire nation. Whilst those people sat opposite are trying to blame every other possible person for their failures, they did nothing really useful. The Leader of the Opposition points out that in one single statistic at the end of their 16 years they got off the bottom for one. He doesn't reflect on the fact that for most of the last three years—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —we were on the bottom. A point that needs to be understood by this Leader of the Opposition is that there is one thing to actually reduce unemployment; there is another thing to actually grow employment, and that's our ambition in South Australia. We welcome an improved performance, that South Australia is off the bottom of the league table, but we believe we can do much better.

In my previous answer, I outlined some of the policies that we were taking to the people of South Australia that we will focus on: reducing payroll tax on small business, and I also spoke about the important area of trying to grow exports out of South Australia. A third area that we want to focus on is an area where I have a dispute with the Leader of the Opposition, and this is the area of deregulating shop trading hours.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: When we look at this in every other jurisdiction where it has been implemented, this has created jobs. Surely that—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The leader is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —is the number one thing that we should be doing for the young people in South Australia. I direct those—

Dr Close interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —people opposite to perhaps cast a glance at the most recent Productivity Commission report, where the Productivity Commission made it very clear that there are huge advantages waiting for those states who go out and deregulate shop trading hours.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: In fact, the Productivity Commission said a $200 million benefit would be derived by the Queensland economy and went on to say a similar benefit would be derived here in the South Australian sector, in the South Australian economy, if we could deregulate our shop trading hours.

Dr Close interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: What we know is that this will create more jobs. Those opposite dispute this. It really begs the question why they hold this position. I want to put a couple of things to this parliament because I think this will become quite critical in the coming weeks as we debate this legislation. Firstly, does the Leader of the Opposition suggest to this house that what we should actually be doing now in South Australia is regulating shop trading hours across regional South Australia? We have this incredible situation in South Australia where we have full deregulation in country SA and full regulation—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for West Torrens is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Almost all regional South Australia. Almost all.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Kaurna is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Almost all.

The SPEAKER: The member for Wright is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: But do the members opposite suggest that we should be regulating shop trading hours across country SA? How does the Leader of the Opposition justify to the people of South Australia who want more jobs, who want further deregulation of shop trading hours, that we can have full deregulation in Mount Barker but you drive a couple of kilometres down the road and we have regulated union-controlled, government-controlled shop trading hours in Stirling? It's not good for South Australia. It's not good for jobs. Listen to the people of South Australia. You said you were going to do it. It's now time to act.