House of Assembly Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1) 54 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Business Confidence Business Confidence The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Business Confidence The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (14:37): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier believe the fall in state final demand over two consecutive quarters has improved or damaged business confidence in South Australia? The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly Dunstan Premier Business Confidence The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:37): Again, I am happy to talk about the positives in the state; those can talk about the negatives in the state. They love it. The reality is we are doing everything we possibly can in the situation that we are provided with to grow the size of the South Australian economy. We are very proud of the fact that we have the record employment in the history of the state at the moment. We are only 0.01 per cent, I think, off the highest participation rate in the history of our state, so there are more people wanting to participate, increasing the productive capacity of our economy, and that is something to actually really celebrate in South Australia. I will tell you some other things that are really good to celebrate in South Australia at the moment; one is that Berkshire Hathaway, one of the most significant investment companies in the world, have actually opened an office here in South Australia—no questions from those opposite about that. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Last week, I was absolutely delighted— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is warned. The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —to read about a very significant investment in South Australia, where some interstate and some overseas investors combined together to purchase 50 per cent of the Marion shopping centre; in fact, that transaction was $670 million. It was the largest property transaction in the history of South Australia. Mr Malinauskas House of Assembly Mr Malinauskas: And that's under the current land tax regime. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Leader! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It was the largest property transaction in Australia this year, and in fact it was one of the largest property transactions globally this year. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The reason was that investors are feeling more confident about the future in South Australia—a sensible, grown-up government stopping the fake fights with Canada— The Hon. V.A. Chapman House of Assembly The Hon. V.A. Chapman: Canberra. The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —with Canberra—and Canada! We are stopping all those fake fights and we are getting on with growing the size of the South Australian economy. We are very pleased to do that. Yes, there are some headwinds. There are some headwinds nationally, and there are some headwinds globally, but that's not a reason to basically give up, pack up your bat and ball and go home. In fact, that is an opportunity to double-down. That is an opportunity to do everything you possibly can to push reform in South Australia. That is why we on this side of the house remain absolutely convinced that we need to drop our annual land tax rate, at the highest marginal rate, from 3.7 per cent down to the mainland average of 2.4 per cent. This will stop the flow of capital out of our state from South Australian investors investing interstate and will actually attract more investors from interstate and from overseas to come in, grow the size of our economy and create more jobs. This is why we are focused in this government on doing every single possible thing we can. Every government has choices: you can whinge and whine or you can blame somebody else. What we saw for 16 years was that every time the going got tough— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for Light! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —we would see the previous government picking a fight with somebody in another state, another jurisdiction, the other political parties, rather than taking responsibility. What we are doing is taking responsibility. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Deputy leader! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We are working hard every single day. Every single day the government is focused on growing the size of our economy, and we will continue to do so every single day that we are on the treasury bench.