Employment Figures

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (14:02): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier update the house on news that the number of South Australians employed increased last month, and what action is the government taking to create jobs for the future?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:02): I thank the member for Kavel for his question. Employment is a very important issue. It was the number one issue at the most recent election. It was one that we fought very hard on. We took some excellent policies, as you would be aware, sir, to the election, and we are very pleased today with the employment figures that came out. I would like to update the house that we learn today that the number of South Australians employed increased by 1,330 in April in trend terms. This is very good news for the people of South Australia. If we look at it in terms of seasonally adjusted figures, there were an additional 2,700 South Australians who were employed.

Mr Koutsantonis interjecting:

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

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We are absolutely delighted. I did try to have a look at the number of people employed during the last month of the previous Labor government because they are often beating their chest. Actually, it went backwards by 5,640 in seasonally adjusted figures, so it's quite a large turnaround. Nevertheless, sir, as you would be aware, these numbers do—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We hear the Leader of the Opposition always just jumping in, peppering—

The SPEAKER: The Premier will not respond to interjections. Premier, please continue without responding to interjections. Thank you.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We often hear in the parliament, as you would be aware, sir, members of the opposition trying to create some sort of spurious connection between figures. The reality is that the unemployment rate is a function between the number of people who are employed and the participation rate, so they do move around quite a lot.

A very good metric to look at is the actual number of people employed in South Australia. I just make the point that it went up in April with the new Liberal government. It actually went down in the last month of the previous Labor government. But are we satisfied? The answer to that is no. We want to create more jobs in South Australia. We want to grow our economy. Most importantly, we've got strategies in place to do exactly that. What we need is a parliament that is actually going to work together in the interests of the next generation to grow our economy and to create more jobs in South Australia.

As you would be aware, sir, we plan to pass through cost-of-living reductions for the people of South Australia on 1 July. We are going to be introducing a cut to the emergency services levy, imposed by the previous government, of $90 million—$90 million coming on 1 July this year. On 1 January next year, we are going to be removing payroll tax for all small businesses in South Australia, so anybody who has a payroll, anybody who has a—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier will be heard in silence.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I'm just clarifying that right now. Any business in South Australia which has—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —a payroll of up to $1.5 million will not be paying a cent—will not be paying a cent in payroll tax. That is our commitment. We took it to the election. We are very proud of it.

The other thing that we will be doing to create more jobs in South Australia is to deregulate shop trading hours in South Australia. Those opposite actually want to deny people who would like to have a job that job here in South Australia. Well, we are not going to do that because our position is very clear: we want to create jobs in South Australia, and that's what we are doing. That's one of the reasons why the Minister for Industry and Skills is working very diligently to create almost 20,000 additional apprenticeships and traineeships in South Australia. That's what we are going to be doing, and we can't wait for that opportunity.

Trend labour force numbers in South Australia are now the highest on record. There are 893,000 South Australians in work. Are we satisfied? No. We want more jobs, and that's what we're going to be doing.