Legislative Council Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2) 53 2 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Question Time Job Creation Job Creation The Hon. R.I. LUCAS Legislative Council Job Creation The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (14:34): My question is to the leader. Given that the minister is now almost at the end of her 10^th year as a minister, including responsibility during that period for portfolios such as employment, tourism, agriculture, food and fisheries, and regional development, can the minister now indicate one new policy initiative that she has been responsible for within her portfolios which has created a significant number of new jobs in South Australia, and how many new jobs were created by that policy initiative? The Hon. G.E. GAGO Legislative Council Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers Job Creation The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:34): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. Indeed, Mr President, I have been very fortunate in terms of my political career and am very proud of my achievements and do not plan any changes, in case those opposite were wondering. There has been a raft of policy areas and policy provisions that I have been involved in over the years. There was a whole range of initiatives in the environment and I played an integral role in the marine parks development which has helped create new clean— Members interjecting: The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. G.E. GAGO Legislative Council The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —jobs in our clean industries. I have also made important policy contributions in relation to the water-affecting activities of forests, which have made a big difference to farming activity in the South-East. In the past— Members interjecting: The Hon. G.E. GAGO Legislative Council The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Many of the people who vote for the Libs, their natural constituents, are farmers, and the policy decisions I made to ensure that forestry activity was made a water-affecting activity made a huge difference to farmers in that region. They can scoff and laugh at that initiative but, for those farmers who were having to absorb and subsidise the water consumption of forests, it made a big difference. They can laugh across the way. WorkReady is a very important policy initiative turning around training, linking training activities to real job outcomes and ensuring that we have better completion rates and closer links to real job outcomes. They have all been really important policy contributions and, as I said, I intend to go on and achieve many more.