Shop Trading Hours

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:35): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier guarantee that no small business will close in South Australia as a result of shop trading hours deregulation?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my right will remain silent. Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:35): This is almost impossible to believe. The most destructive government in the history of this state, thrown out of office by the people of South Australia because of the atrocities they perpetrated on the people of South Australia, in particular small business, and they have the temerity to come into this chamber and ask questions of this government. The reality is, whether we look at it from their taxation perspective, their regulation perspective, their high energy prices in South Australia—

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —every single solitary thing they did—

The SPEAKER: The Premier will be seated. Let's hear the point of order.

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: Debate.

The SPEAKER: Debate. The question was about whether any business will close. Premier, could you please bring it back to the substance of the question.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The substance of the question is—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: And the Premier will be heard in silence, members on my right.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —about who is on the side of small business in this state. And I tell you: there is only one party that represents the interests of the business community in South Australia. Those opposite used to refer to people who put their private capital on the line—

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —to create jobs for the next generation as the employer class.

The SPEAKER: Point of order.

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: The Premier is not responsible for opposition policy.

The SPEAKER: What is the point of order? Is it for debate?

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: Relevance, sir, and debate.

The SPEAKER: Relevance and debate. Premier, the question was very simple. It was about whether any business will close. I ask you to please complete your answer or address the substance of the question.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Every day that we are on the government benches in this parliament we will be doing everything we can to support business in South Australia, to grow our economy, to create more jobs, to provide hope for the next generation, because under those opposite that wasn't the case. We want to turn that around. We want to create a more attractive environment for every single business to flourish.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Can any government in any jurisdiction in the world guarantee that there will not be some business failure? No, absolutely not. I don't know whether they thought this was some sort of clever wedge question. What jurisdiction in the world would say that there would never, ever be any business that would go out of trading under a set of circumstances?

But that's not the question. The question really is: will we be doing everything we can to grow our economy, grow jobs and give a future for the next generation?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: And the answer to that is yes.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the next question, I call to order the member for Waite and the member for Chaffey, and I warn the member of the Chaffey as well.