Newstart Allowance

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (14:50): In the meantime, though, Premier, is there a faster, more direct way to assist jobseekers, particularly those supporting children, living on Centrelink benefits and living below the poverty line?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:51): Well, as I was saying in my previous answer, we are very sympathetic to people who find themselves unemployed in South Australia at the moment. We will do everything we can to create more jobs in South Australia and we are heartened by the early results.

We will also do everything we can to make sure that we can ease that cost-of-living pressure. One of the things that we want to do is, of course, not only focus on easing cost-of-living pressures through the emergency services levy and through energy costs but of course through council rates. There are very large council rate increases in some areas, which we find unacceptable on this side of the house. In fact, most people in South Australia find them unacceptable, and that's why they elected us to implement our plan to put a cap on any council rate increases that existed.

The other thing that the people of South Australia asked us to do was to grow more employment, especially for younger people and especially related to shop trading hours in South Australia. I think we are all quite aware that the vast majority of South Australians, and certainly everybody on this side—

Mr Malinauskas: Bring it on for a vote.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —or almost every person on this side of the house—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —would like to see an easing of the restrictions that—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It's hard to hear myself. They're all getting excited about the winter break. Of course, the Leader of the Opposition has been on strike today. He hasn't asked any questions. I don't know whether—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —he hasn't got any questions to ask or—

The SPEAKER: The Premier will be seated. There is a point of order.

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: Personal reflections on members, sir.

The SPEAKER: Yes. Premier, could you please return to the substance of the question or conclude your answer, thank you.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you, sir. I was talking about the deregulation of shop trading hours, which I know would create more employment.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: As I was saying to you, sir, there are a lot of interjections from those opposite. I'm not responding to any of them—

The SPEAKER: Good.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —but I just make the comment to the house that there are a lot. Some people who don't get put on the list to ask questions think that they can just add those sorts of syllables to the Hansard by shouting across the chamber.

The SPEAKER: Please do not respond to interjections, Premier.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We won't be responding because we are focused on the important things for the people of South Australia and, in particular, the commitments that we took to the election. One of those principle commitments that we took was to deregulate shop trading hours, and we do this on the advice of the people of South Australia. Various surveys show that more than 70 per cent of people in South Australia want to see more hours available. We already know that we have deregulated shop trading hours right across regional South Australia. Those opposite want to tell us that we have this—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —situation where, for example, Mount Barker is completely deregulated.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Reynell is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: They think that we should basically have one set of regulations in metropolitan Adelaide, one set of regulations in country SA—

Ms Bettison interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Ramsay is called to order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and the arguments they put forward don't make a lot of sense to me.

Mr Picton: Don't talk.

The SPEAKER: The member for Kaurna is on two warnings.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We are all about creating more jobs, we are all about creating more consumer choice—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and those opposite, as the Leader of the Opposition has just said, they're not. They're not about creating jobs. He just shouted, 'We're not.'

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: He says, 'We're not,' and he's right. They are not about creating more jobs, and they are not about creating—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader will cease interjecting.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —more choice for consumers. Well, we are. We take our responsibilities in government very seriously. We would like to grow the size of our economy. We would like to grow the number of hours that young people in particular can work in South Australia, and we would like to give consumers greater choice.

The SPEAKER: The member for Badcoe has the call.