State Government Agenda

Mr MURRAY (Davenport) (14:13): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier update the house on what action the government is taking to deliver more jobs, lower costs and better services for South Australians?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:13): It is a great pleasure to rise on this, the last day before we go to the winter break, and update the house on the progress that the new government has been making against the promises, the commitments, that we made to the people of South Australia in the election that was conducted on 17 March. At that election the people of South Australia decided to change the government. They were sick to death of the poor performance of our state under the previous regime, which left us with the highest cost energy in the country and the least reliable grid.

We had a stagnant economy. We had the highest youth unemployment rate in the nation and people giving up hope in this state, but the good news for all those people in this state is that there was a change in government. We took a strong plan for real change to the election: more jobs, lower costs and better services. This government has been working every single day to deliver exactly and precisely what we said we would: a focus on more jobs and, in particular, a focus on increased exports out of our state, selling more goods and services interstate and overseas and bringing more money into South Australia.

One of the things that the new government is doing is looking very carefully at reopening many of the trade offices that the previous government had closed. We are working now to open an office in Shanghai, in Tokyo, in Kuala Lumpur, in the Middle East, in the US and, quite frankly, anywhere we think we will be able to assist business to sell more goods and services to grow the size of our economy.

Lower costs was a big issue that we took to the last election, and that's why so far we have already acted to reduce the cost of living on the people of South Australia by returning $90 million in emergency services levies that those opposite imposed upon the people of South Australia without warning—every household, every single business. What we are doing is putting $360 million back into the economy because we want to lower the cost of living for people in our state.

Of course, the other issue that we took to the election was improved services. I am very proud of the fact that we are starting to unwind some of the failures of those opposite. In particular, I commend the Minister for Child Protection. This government is taking the area of child protection extraordinarily seriously. Under the previous regime, nobody wanted to take responsibility. In fact, at one stage, I think we had three separate ministers who were all putting up their hands, saying that they were responsible. What we know from reading the Nyland royal commission report—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —is that that sector was in complete and utter chaos after 16 years of Labor maladministration in the area of child protection, looking after our most vulnerable. We have a renewed focus on looking after those people who need our support. Child protection and looking after our older citizens in South Australia—these are important areas that we will focus on. More than that—more than more jobs, lower costs, better services. We are engaging in a new relationship with the federal government.

Those opposite had created a toxic relationship between Canberra and the administration here in South Australia. We have worked very hard, and I am very proud to lead a government that is engaging with the federal government and making sure that we can get the very best deal for the people of South Australia. We have already conducted much of the GST negotiation. We heard nothing whatsoever from those opposite.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: When their federal leader was saying, 'Rip the money out of South Australia. Send it to Western Australia,' what was the Leader of the Opposition doing? Sitting on his hands, doing absolutely nothing, not standing up for the taxpayers of South Australia. We are very proud of our working relationship—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —which will deliver positive results for our state, while those opposite sit over there, making up allegations about this government—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and the fine work that we are doing today.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the member for Badcoe, I call the following members to order: the member for Lee, the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Playford, the Minister for Education and the member for Morphett. The member for Badcoe has the call.