Unemployment Figures

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:08): My question is to the Premier. With the lowest participation rate on the mainland, why did so many South Australians quit looking for work last month? Have they lost faith in your economic policies?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:08): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. As I was saying in my previous answer, we were disappointed with those figures. We are focused on creating every single job we can, but we can't just look at one set of data. We know how the ABS statistics are compiled. We know that it is a survey. We also know that the ABS statistics look at the entire pay as you go payroll for the entire country, and they put that comparison up state by state.

Nobody over there is raising those issues. Nobody is actually looking at that data series, which of course shows a situation where there are many people who are getting jobs in South Australia since the depth of the coronavirus pandemic here. They are responding to increased business confidence, increased consumer confidence, increased investor confidence in South Australia.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The numbers bounce around, but it's not good enough—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —for a lazy opposition to get out their pom-poms and jump for glee every time there is a slight movement in those statistics. Why do they want to constantly talk our state down? The rest of the state is very proud of the way that we have dealt with this global pandemic, and by continuing to work together—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —we will do everything we can to keep our state safe and our economy strong—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: This is going to be a challenging year. We know that last year was a challenging year. It was a challenging year for the world and it was a challenging year for South Australia, and we did finish the end of last year with very, very good results. However, 2021 is going to be similarly challenging.

We are now embarked upon the largest peacetime logistical exercise in the history of the nation with the rollout of the vaccine, but if we get this right it will give a further boost to confidence—business confidence, consumer confidence, investor confidence—that will translate into more jobs, and that is what we are focused on.

Every single day we on this side of the house are focused on creating more opportunities to support those people who are doing it tough through the coronavirus. We have seen massive, massive support at the state government level. Importantly, what we have also seen is a very cooperative relationship with the federal government, the Prime Minister and the federal Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —making sure that we can provide that support to those businesses who are doing it tough. I have been stopped on a very regular basis when I am out there by people talking about the $10,000 cash grant from the South Australian government. In fact, several people have received two of those cash grants because they are still doing it tough and we want to support them—a quarter of a billion dollars through that program.

And you would note, sir, that in the second iteration of that cash grant program we extended it out to sole traders, reflecting that there were still many businesses, sole traders, who had their own commercial premises and who were doing it tough, so we provided $3,000 support for them.

Then there are others who say that they are very, very grateful for the federal government JobKeeper program, which has saved many, many thousands of jobs here in South Australia and more extensively right across the country. There is so much more work to be done, and that work does not involve looking at a statistic and throwing a brick.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: That work needs to be done by rolling up the sleeves, getting out and talking to families, talking to employers, working through the issues, and that's what we have done. We look at every single issue that we can to help those people through this particularly tough era. That has been the way that we have gone so far since the coronavirus was first discovered here in Australia back in January of last year, and it is going to be the way that we go throughout this entire year.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Before I call the leader, I call to order the member for Light, I call to order the member for Elizabeth, I warn for a second time the member for Badcoe, I warn for a second time the member for Playford, and I warn for a second time the member for Lee.