State Economy

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (14:40): My question is to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer update the house on the South Australian economy?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer, Minister for Defence and Space Industries, Minister for Police) (14:40): I thank the member for Light for his question because since we last met at the end of last year there has been further good news for the South Australian economy and this good news continues a now prolonged run of great economic news and reports into the South Australian economy that have been released on a national scale.

Over the break, CommSec released their regular State of the States report, this time for the December quarter in 2024, and according to CommSec South Australia retains its position as the second-best performing economy in the nation, only behind Western Australia and sharing equal second spot with Queensland. This is the second time in a row that South Australia has been ranked as the second-best performing economy in the nation.

Of course, those two consecutive ranks follow three preceding quarterly reports from CommSec that ranked our economy as the best performing economy in the nation, so for five consecutive quarters South Australia has been ranked by an independent economic commentator as being either the first or the second-best performing economy in the nation. That is a remarkable result for our economy because, prior to those five quarterly reports, South Australia had never placed first in the report's 14-year history and that just underlines the economic momentum and progress that has been occurring, particularly over the last three years.

But in the most recent report, the December quarter 2024 report, South Australia has ranked first amongst states and territories on economic growth, with our current growth being 8.4 per cent above the long run average. Our economy has ranked second on construction work done, with current levels of construction activity being more than 15 per cent above the decade average.

We have also ranked second on dwelling starts, thanks in no small amount to the work that the Minister for Housing and Urban Development and Minister for Planning has been undertaking. Those levels of dwelling starts are only slightly below the decade average, which shows that, even in the face of a national housing slowdown due to the extraordinary increase in the Reserve Bank increasing the cash rate 13 times in a small period of time, South Australia's economy is continuing to hold up well with dwelling starts.

We have also ranked second for our unemployment rate, with our unemployment rate currently 30 per cent below the decade average. We have continued to enjoy historic lows in our unemployment rate, particularly over the last three years. Of course, that is a reflection of the strength of the state's job market. Fifty-two thousand jobs have been created since the 2022 state election. To put that in context, that is slightly above the number of people who witnessed Port Adelaide win the first Showdown played at Adelaide Oval in 2014—an extraordinary number of people. Of those 52,000 jobs, 34,000 are full-time jobs.

So our economy is performing well, we are ranked highly in the nation—a position we are not used to—driven by a strong jobs market. It is good news for our state's economy.