Question Time

Riverbank Arena

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:04): My question is to the Premier. When will the Premier cancel his basketball stadium?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The leader might repeat the question.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: I would be more than happy to, Mr Speaker. The question being to the Premier: when will the Premier cancel his basketball stadium?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:05): I don't know how the Leader of the Opposition or the Australian Labor Party go about their policy announcements, but we are not planning on cancelling the Riverbank arena. We think it's an excellent proposal. We think it's focused on jobs. In fact, the budget that was handed down on Tuesday was incredibly focused on two key areas: the first of those was job creation and the second of those was fixing the health mess that we inherited from those opposite, and we have very significantly leant into those two options.

Jobs are very important. We have more people employed in South Australia now than in any time in the history of South Australia. They hate that opposite, but in the last two months 20,000 jobs have been created in South Australia—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and Tuesday's budget was all about creating that ongoing momentum to create more and more jobs in South Australia to keep South Australians here, to bring South Australians back into South Australia. We've got the runs on the board. There are more people employed in South Australia now than at any time in the history of the nation.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Those opposite, when they were in the last four years of their pitiful government the unemployment rate was 6.8 per cent. It is now 5.8 per cent.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Kaurna!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The cherrypickers love to look at one month or one quarter, but look at the last four years they were in government—6.8 per cent.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is called to order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: No global pandemic. In fact, when the global pandemic hit, those opposite were saying, 'This is an absolute disaster. We're going to have double-digit unemployment in South Australia.' In fact, some of the political commentators were saying that we were going to have an unemployment rate in South Australia that was going to be 13.1 per cent. In fact, it's 5.8 per cent. We started off the year at 7.1 per cent; we are down to 5.8 per cent. We have created 20,000 jobs in South Australia in the last two months and there is plenty more to come, and that's what this budget was all about.

The Riverbank arena is not only about creating more jobs in South Australia—more construction jobs in South Australia but also more ongoing jobs in South Australia. We know that the Convention Centre here in South Australia is a great precinct, which both sides of politics have invested in over the longer term. I think that the original was Premier John Bannon with the ASER project.

Mr Boyer interjecting:

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

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I know that John Olsen and his government then did a further development. I think the previous government did two additional developments. It's a pity that they didn't do it to the requisite size because we know that we are continuing to lose more and more conferences and conventions to South Australia, and these bring money into our state. They create jobs in this state.

The Adelaide Entertainment Centre is much loved by all South Australians, but it's too small, it's tired and it’s in the wrong place. The Riverbank arena will address these issues. This is a project that has gone off to Infrastructure SA to make sure that there is a return on this project for the taxpayers in South Australia. The Leader of the Opposition likes to characterise this as a basketball stadium. He likes to characterise it—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: You did.

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —as something that is going to—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens is called to order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —cost the people of South Australia. Actually, it's an investment. After all the interest and all the depreciation, it returns a surplus to the people of South Australia, which can then be used—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —for other important projects in our state. It has been independently verified by Infrastructure SA, and most importantly it will create not only the direct jobs here in South Australia but a flow-on effect to our CBD in South Australia, which is doing it tough, like most other CBDs around the world.

Can you imagine, after a conference, after a concert, after a basketball or netball match, people flooding into the city. They don't do that at Hindmarsh. They finish their event and they go home. We want that economic stimulus. We want jobs. That's what we stand for in this government.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the leader, I warn the member for Wright, I call to order the members for Playford and Kaurna, I warn the member for Lee, I call to order the Deputy Premier, and I call to order the leader.