Housing Industry

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (14:33): My question is to the Premier. How many more home builders have to collapse before his government takes action?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order: that question was clearly rhetorical, with argument.

The SPEAKER: It could be seen to be rhetorical, yes. Would the member for Lee like to amend the question, or I will come back to you?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: My question is to the Premier. Given more than six home builders have already collapsed, how many more must collapse before he takes action?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Premier appears to want to have a go at that one.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:34): I don't accept the premise of the question. Our action in terms of tax relief is not predicated on business failure; in fact, we will be doing everything we can to stimulate economic activity in this state. It is interesting that those opposite—

Mr Hughes interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Giles is warned for a second and final time.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —have been out there in the first part of question time today, telling us that there has been a massive freefall in terms of job creation in South Australia, so I thought what I would do is just check what the ABS statistics actually provide. It is interesting, when we look at the trend terms between January last year and January this year, that apparently there was a freefall in terms of the number of jobs.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Let me update the house on exactly what the situation was, because it would be terrible if those opposite—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee has been warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —were misleading the house, making it up and telling fibs. It would be terrible if that was the case.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order: the Premier has accused the member for Lee of misleading the parliament. You cannot do so without a substantive motion.

The SPEAKER: I didn't hear that.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Mr Speaker?

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee, are you trying to assist here?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: He accused me of telling fibs and I ask him to withdraw and apologise.

The SPEAKER: I didn't hear that; there were some interjections. I will have a look at the—

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I am sure if you read the Hansard, sir—

The SPEAKER: Premier, I will do. Can we please get on with it?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and I am sure if those opposite listen, they would be very clear on what I actually had to say. I am very clear about what I had to say. It would be terrible if a fib was told in parliament and somebody misled, so it is important for us to check the veracity of some of the comments—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —that are made by those opposite. Let's just check what actually happened January this year versus January last year, so our first January in office versus their last January in office.

The Hon. S.K. Knoll interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Transport is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Did jobs fall as those opposite have suggested? The reality is no. There were 7,000 more jobs—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Lee!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —January this year versus last year and 9,600 more full-time jobs this January versus last January. This is the problem with the opposition that we have in South Australia at the moment. They are like the boy who cried wolf. Everything is a disaster, everything is a calamity—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —everything is going in the wrong direction, but the reality is that the people of South Australia feel far more confident under the government that we are operating. There are more jobs in South Australia. There are more full-time jobs in South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: There are more young people employed in South Australia and we are getting on with delivering even more of that in 2019.

The SPEAKER: I will come back to members on my left. Member for Davenport.