State Economy

Mrs PEARCE (King) (14:38): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier update the house on the South Australian economy?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:38): I want to thank the member for King for her question. I was with the member for King just last week in her electorate, as we occasionally get the chance to do, and I was somewhat buoyed by some of the conversations we were having with members of her constituency who were talking about the challenge of finding people to employ. It feels like an entirely different conversation to the one that the state was having this time 15 years ago.

Demand for labour in South Australia has never been higher; it's having a profound impact. It brings with it challenges but it is very much a demonstration of the fact that notwithstanding the challenges that exist within the economy, particularly when it comes to cost of living, our state is flying. This isn't a set of stats that has been cherrypicked, or whatever the allegation might be; these are actually numbers that are being frequently produced by independent agencies.

Last week, for the first time in the history of the Commonwealth Bank producing the State of the States report, we came number one in the nation—number one in the nation. It is extraordinary. It comes on the back of the ANZ's Stateometer which had us in a similar position. The ABS seems to release data on a highly frequent basis that almost perpetually has South Australia leading the nation. Just yesterday, when it comes to export growth—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —what we saw was South Australia with over 8 per cent growth. I think the next best state was Western Australia, with somewhere over 1 per cent, and then everybody else was negative. We are not just outperforming the rest of the country by a little bit, we are doing it by a very, very long way. The CommSec State of the States report pointed to a number of areas of economic activity that actually really matter to people's wellbeing, the most compelling of which is the fact that we lead the nation in new dwelling starts in South Australia. We know new dwelling starts matter because—

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Florey!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —we've got a housing crisis around the country—

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —so, if you want to get into a new home, your best chance of doing that is in South Australia. The question is: is this an accident or is it because the government is actually intervening in the market and doing something about it? Well, I can assure you it is the latter. We abolished a whole tax for eligible new homebuyers when it comes to new builds, which has been welcomed by industry; we have done the biggest land release in the history—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —of the state; we are moving—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Florey! The member for Colton is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —at warp speed when it comes to trying to make a positive difference to the housing market. What do we get from the opposition when it comes to housing policy? A vacuum, a period of four years of indifference as acknowledged by the Leader of the Opposition himself—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is on a final warning.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —and here we are: we've got Renewal with a full book, massive land release, tax reductions and in turn the highest number of new dwelling starts in the country—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —construction activity—

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Florey!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —employment growth, export growth—number one in the country. That is something that is worthy of celebration. We don't suggest for a moment that this government exclusively deserves the credit—

Mr Brown interjecting:

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —we also pay homage to small and medium businesses in particular in our state who work so hard to realise every opportunity they've got before them. We are their partner and we look forward to partnering for many years to come.

The SPEAKER: The member for Florey is warned.