Business Confidence

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (14:20): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier please update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is building confidence in our state, particularly in light of the recent Infrastructure Australia priority list?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:20): I can, and I thank the member for Flinders for his excellent question, which is really focused on two things: one is the confidence levels in South Australia and the second is the Infrastructure Australia priority list. They go hand in glove very well indeed. Can I just say that recently we have had another confidence survey, which has been released. This time it's the BankSA State Monitor.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Not one new project.

The SPEAKER: Order, member for West Torrens!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: In the results for February, business confidence reached the highest level since—are you ready for this?—2005. Last time I looked, that was quite some time ago. The reality is business confidence is very high and it's surging, and this is completely and utterly at odds with what most people would have expected would be happening right around this time. We are dealing with a very difficult pandemic at the moment. This has made many people feel anxious and concerned about the future but, because of the way the pandemic has been handled in South Australia, people are actually feeling more confident.

Business confidence is up. Consumer confidence is up even further. Consumer confidence surged 9.2 per cent up to 124.9 points. This is the highest level in more than a decade. There is high business confidence, high consumer confidence and high investor confidence in South Australia, and that is going to continue into the future because the people of South Australia know they have a government that is focused on delivering for them.

The member in his question also referenced the Infrastructure Australia priority list. Can I tell you we had six projects that were listed as high priorities or priorities. This is the largest number of—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Not one project.

The SPEAKER: Member for West Torrens!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —new proposals for South Australia in the list's five-year history. It is the highest level since this list was created, with six new projects for our state. This will give great confidence to those people in the business community in South Australia. The initiatives identified are consistent with Infrastructure SA's 20-Year State Infrastructure Strategy, which I think highlights the value of Infrastructure SA, an election commitment that we took to the 2014 election and the 2018 election and that we have now implemented here in South Australia.

We were the last jurisdiction to develop an infrastructure body. It was a shameful situation. It was done at the national level and it was done in every other jurisdiction. Ultimately, it is here in South Australia now and delivering for our state. The two high-priority initiatives are really important for our state. The first is the Adelaide outer ring route capacity initiative, which will build what matters on our outer ring by improving safety and also travel times.

The second one is the South Australian road network initiatives, aiming to reduce the increasing backlog of maintenance on roads throughout the state, which was estimated to be more than $750 million back in 2019. These projects, together with the other projects, will build on the $16.7 billion worth of infrastructure and investment that is currently in train. It was announced in our budget last year. I know many members are feeling very positive about that. Most importantly, what we are seeing is business confidence sky-high. That's flowing through to consumer confidence.

Despite every single issue that has been thrown at South Australia in the last couple of years, whether it be dry or drought conditions for our farmers, whether it be devastating bushfires on Kangaroo Island, in the Adelaide Hills, down in the South-East, over on Eyre Peninsula or on Yorke Peninsula or the coronavirus, we have been able to stand up, deliver for the people of South Australia and provide them with a government that is inspiring their confidence.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Before I call the member for Kaurna, I call to order the member for Chaffey, I call to order the member for Cheltenham, and I call to order the member for Hurtle Vale. I warn the member for Lee and the member for West Torrens.