Single Touch Payroll

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:39): My question is to the Premier. Given the Premier's concern with cherrypicking and regular reference to the Single Touch Payroll data from the ABS, is the Premier aware of the Australian Bureau of Statistics' disclaimer about that Single Touch Payroll data? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: The Australian Bureau of Statistics itself sets out in its methodology for your Single Touch Payroll data, and I quote:

Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia are experimental [statistics], compiled in near real time and published fortnightly. This information provides a complementary insight to Labour Force statistics on employment, which provide a more comprehensive view of the Labour market.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier has the call.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:41): I thank the Leader of the Opposition, Einstein over there, for pointing out the bleeding obvious. Of course there is a disclaimer. There is a disclaimer on every single statistic which comes out from the ABS statistics. The labour force statistics themselves are a survey. They are actually a survey of 1,700 people in South Australia, conducted over a fortnight every month, with 400 new people going on and 400 others going off. There are disclaimers with all these statistics.

If the Leader of the Opposition says, 'The number one and the only thing that we should look at is the labour force statistics,' well, let's do it. Let's take a look at the labour force statistics over the previous term of the Labor government. Do you know what they averaged? The unemployment rate over the four years of the previous government—the last four years of that terrible, terrible, pitiful 16 years that they were in government, sitting on the treasury bench—the average, was 6.8. The average of this government so far has been 6.4, and we have had a pandemic to deal with. There was no pandemic—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —yet their unemployment rate was higher. They're the statistics that they want us to use. I am happy to look at those statistics. They are helpful. They are insightful. They show us how incompetent that government was. They weren't dealing with a global pandemic. They weren't dealing with the complexity that the world has had to face, yet they had a higher unemployment rate when they were in government. We are not taking any lessons from those opposite. That would not be helpful for this state. They had 16 years—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for West Torrens!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and their record is there for all to see: a mass exodus of capital and young people out of this state, high unemployment, young people giving up hope in South Australia. Well, no more! We put a comprehensive policy in place to focus on new jobs in future industries, as well as supporting jobs in traditional sectors across South Australia. We have been lowering the cost of doing business in South Australia, making it more attractive for businesses to invest in trainees and apprentices.

We have put downward pressure on their electricity prices, we have slashed their water prices, we have slashed their emergency services levy bills and we have taken away payroll tax for every single small business in South Australia. That's what we have been doing. We are not saying that the job is done; there is a lot of work to be done. That is why we have a $16.7 billion infrastructure build program in South Australia, supporting tens and tens of thousands of employees in South Australia, and it is important to do.

But we also are now seeing the green shoots of private sector investment into this state. It was fantastic on the weekend to be down in Victor Harbor, where we now see that Discovery Parks are making a $40 million investment into that area.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Cheltenham!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We are seeing businesses in South Australia pushing ahead with programs that have been stalled for years and years under those opposite and their constant whingeing, whining, carping, complaining and incredible world-class negativity. Well, enough is enough. People want positivity. They want this state to do well. We want this state to do well, and we won't be deterred by that constant negativity; in fact, we use it as a motivator. We do know their negativity. We lean in harder. We try harder to support jobs, to support our economy and to continue to move our great state in the right direction.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the member for Davenport, I warn the member for Cheltenham.