House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time State Economy State Economy The Hon. A. PICCOLO House of Assembly Light State Economy The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:04): My question is to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer update the house on the South Australian economy? The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer Minister for Defence and Space Industries State Economy The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer, Minister for Defence and Space Industries) (15:04): I am very grateful to the member for Light for his question. Members might have seen that in the most recent CommSec State of the States report, South Australia has again been ranked the number one performing economy in the nation. That is according to their State of the States report. It follows South Australia in their last quarterly report being ranked number one for the first time in that report's 14-year history. South Australia was ranked fifth in the nation two years ago, when the Malinauskas government came to office. According to the latest CommSec State of the States report, South Australia again ranked first in four of the eight key indicators that are used by CommSec. First, in relative economic growth, economic activity in South Australia is 9.1 per cent above its long-term average. Ranked number one in unemployment, South Australia's unemployment rate is currently 35.8 per cent below the decade average. First in construction work, South Australia's construction activity is 22.2 per cent above the decade average. It is first for dwelling starts. It is important to point this one out. Pressure on housing construction has resulted in dwelling starts going backwards in every single jurisdiction; however, here in South Australia, we have seen dwelling starts slowing the least in the nation, and that is good news for those seeking housing here in South Australia. South Australia has also ranked first in the nation on the Housing Industry Association's Housing Scorecard only last week. The ANZ Stateometer report noted that South Australia has been the only economy consistently operating above trend over the last two years. That report noted that South Australia, along with Western Australia, is 'leading the way' in the nation in terms of economic performance. One that I am particularly pleased to report to the house is that our comrades at the Institute of Public Affairs have ranked South Australia as the second-best performing economy, ranking South Australia first or second in the nation for per capita economic growth, business investment, productivity growth and rental costs. Only late last year, South Australia was ranked the best place in the nation to do business according to none other than the Business Council of Australia. These are rare accolades indeed for our state's economy. Of course, what has been driving all of these reports and the extraordinary performance of the state's economy is the performance of the state's labour market. South Australia's unemployment rate has now consistently been at or below 4 per cent since July last year. South Australia's unemployment rate, at 3.9 per cent, is amongst historic lows for our state. There are now almost 940,000 South Australians in work, almost 40,000 more than at the time of the last state election. It is remarkable that while we are reporting these statistics, job vacancies in South Australia remain at record highs. According to the Bureau of Statistics, there are now 25,900 job vacancies here in South Australia while our unemployment rate is at such a low level. South Australia is the only jurisdiction in the country to record growth through the year in job vacancies, with that number growing by 13 per cent. Nationally, that number fell by 18 per cent. So the state's economy is performing very, very strongly.