House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time CommSec State of the States Report CommSec State of the States Report Mr TELFER House of Assembly Flinders CommSec State of the States Report Mr TELFER (Flinders) (15:31): My question is to the Premier. What is the Premier's response to the latest CommSec State of the States report, which sees South Australia slipping from second to fourth in their ranking? The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier CommSec State of the States Report The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (15:31): I thank the shadow treasurer for his question. There is no doubt about the fact that the government was very keen to celebrate, and remains keen to celebrate, the fact that it is under the life of this government that for the first time ever South Australia was able to attain the position of the number one state in the country in the CommSec State of the States report, and then we didn't just hold that position once or twice but then three consecutive months. We concluded the calendar year 2024 as number one in the country, then in January we were ranked number two and now we are ranked number four. I have had an opportunity to traverse some of the detail within the State of the States report. While of course we would prefer to be number one and retain that position, it does contain within it a number of statistics that continue to provide much hope—in fact, more than hope: a sense of confidence that the government's policies in the areas that we are most focused on are making a difference. None is more important than what the government has been able to achieve in housing. Dwellings starts in the December quarter to 2024 are up 8.2 per cent on the decade average, and housing finance commitments in the same corresponding quarter are up 28 per cent on the decade average, which means that in South Australia both in terms of dwellings starts and in terms of construction work that is completed we are second in the country. In housing finance commitments, as I said, we are up by 28 per cent. Of course, the other area where the state is performing exceedingly well on any objective assessment is what is happening in terms of employment. We continue to retain our number two position in the country in terms of relative performance on where we are at in terms of unemployment. What I am particularly pleased about in regard to employment is that we haven't just seen more people in work; we have actually seen more people participating within the labour market. For the first time ever, we are now in a position where, as at the beginning of this year, we ticked over one million people participating in the labour market in the state of South Australia. To see more people participating means there are more people who are choosing to put their hand up for work than what we have seen in the past, yet despite that we have continued to retain a very low unemployment rate. As I think has been referenced previously but in my view is worthy of reiterating, there have been 16 occasions in the history of monthly records being kept regarding unemployment in the state of South Australia—of course, it is the Australian Bureau of Statistics that keeps these records. It has been doing it monthly for 47 years, and only on 16 occasions has the unemployment rate had a three in front of it in this state. Each of those 16 times has happened during the course of the life of this government. Never once before has the unemployment rate— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for Flinders, you are on your final warning. The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Premier The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We continue to devote our energies to the areas of the economy we think are of most need. Housing is a pre-eminent priority of the state. We continue to dedicate efforts. We are seeing results, but we want those to continue.