Question Time

Unemployment Figures

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:17): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier believe that a 7.3 per cent unemployment rate, the highest in the nation, is no problem whatsoever?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:17): This is like a Dorothy Dixer. This is exactly the same question the Leader of the Opposition asked last week. They have completely and utterly run out of questions. But every single day that I'm talking about the economy and jobs in this house is a happy day as far as I'm concerned—

Members interjecting:

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

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —because we are now at peak employment in the history of the state. Jobs are growing.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: You may be interested to know, sir—not everybody is interested in good news, but you will be interested to know—that there are new statistics out today which look at job vacancies and compare our jurisdiction with the rest of the country. What does it show?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Does it show what the naysayers have been putting out there? Absolutely not. In fact it shows exactly the opposite—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Playford can leave for 20 minutes.

The honourable member for Playford having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It shows exactly the opposite, and that is that we are growing the economy and, importantly, we are growing jobs in South Australia. Let's have a look at what the federal department of employment, skills, small business and family business have put out today, looking at job vacancies in South Australia. They were up 0.6 of a per cent—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hurtle Vale!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: They were up 0.6 of a per cent in August, 3 per cent higher than a year ago—the strongest annual growth of any mainland state in the country. And they hate it! They hate good news.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morphett is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Any good news they absolutely hate.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens on a point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It's debate, sir.

The SPEAKER: The question was about—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Talking about the opposition is debate, sir.

The SPEAKER: Yes, I have the point of order: 7.3 per cent unemployment rate. When we start accusing the opposition of hating things we could be deviating, Premier, and I ask you to come back to the substance of the question.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you, sir, it's just an observation.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I would like to hear the answer.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It's just an observation.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I would like to hear the answer. Members on my left, be quiet.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I have been studying the opposition and some of their positions on policies. Some may even arrive at a position on a policy every now and again. At the moment, the leader is floating around like a feather on the wind, trying to work out whether he wants to actually support a land tax cut in South Australia.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: There's a point of order for debate.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Debate, sir, again.

The SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order. The Premier has the call. I would like to hear his answer, if the interjections could cease on my left, please.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you, sir. The heart of this question was really about employment in South Australia and what I was doing—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —was providing some information to the house on the surge in terms of job vacancies in South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hurtle Vale is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Those opposite, whilst I was making my response, said, 'What about the ABS?'

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Well, I quickly looked at what the ABS job vacancy figures were, and I'm happy to update the house because they, too, are good news for South Australia. According to the ABS, there were 10,900 job vacancies on average over the year to the end of May 2019.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: That is 9 per cent higher than the previous year and—are you ready for this—46.3 per cent higher than five years ago. Who was in government five years ago? The reality is that we are going to work hard every single day that we are in government to create jobs, and the job vacancy figures published last month by the ABS show that we are creating more jobs. Employment in South Australia is now at the highest level in the history of the state. Our participation rate in South Australia is now just a smidge—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Ramsay is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —off the highest in the history of this state. This is very good news that more people are wanting to participate in our economy.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Badcoe can leave for 25 minutes under 137A.

The honourable member for Badcoe having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: This participation rate is on the increase and this is very, very positive for our state.

The SPEAKER: Supplementary.