Northern Economic Plan

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (14:30): I seek leave to make an explanation prior to directing a question to the Leader of the Government on the Northern Economic Plan.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Yesterday, I put a question to the minister, just to refresh his memory, that in the last sitting week of parliament when he was asked about the origins of the 15,000 jobs claimed target included in the Northern Economic Plan, and when he was asked who was responsible he said, and I quote, 'This was an aim that has been put forward by the local mayors and myself.' That was the exact quote from Hansard.

On yesterday's Adelaidenow website, an article from the Northern Messenger journalist Elizabeth Henson had direct quotes from three mayors, which I put on the record yesterday, which conflicted with the claim made by the minister in the house in the last sitting week. My question to the minister yesterday was:

…does the minister accept that he was wrong when he told the parliament in the last sitting week of this session, 'This was an aim that has been put forward by the local mayors and myself'?

Mr President, you and members will remember that the minister said he wanted to take it on notice and have a look at the words used. Given that it has now been 24 hours, firstly, has the minister now had a look again at the article that was written by Elizabeth Henson? I again put the question to the minister; that is, does the minister accept that he was wrong when he told the parliament in the last sitting week of this session, and I quote, 'This was an aim that has been put forward by the local mayors and myself'?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:32): I thank the honourable member for his question. The answer is, yes, I have now had an opportunity to peruse that article. The Hon. Rob Lucas just in the very last question was caught out telling half-truths. We know he has form in there. What is evident and is slightly pleasing—

An honourable member: Tell us about it. Tell us what the facts are.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: —I will tell you about it—is the Hon. Rob Lucas seems to have graduated to using partial truths and half-truths, rather than his previous tactic of just completely making things up. We all know the Hon. Rob Lucas's favourite tactic has been to just completely make things up. Phrases such as 'an anonymous fax to Liberal Party headquarters has said' are something that he has used time and time again, but he has been shamed now, shamed into not using that.

We haven't heard that for some time now. I suspect it is because his colleagues have told him it is completely untenable to just make things up and pretend there is a fax at Liberal Party headquarters. It might be the case that his staff have told him, 'People just don't use faxes much anymore.' They have showed him how to use emails. That could be the other reason that he is not using that phrase anymore. The Hon. Rob Lucas's assertion in the last question to the Minister for Water, and in his assertions in this place previously—

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Point of order, Mr President.

The PRESIDENT: Point of order. I can hardly hear what he is saying through all the rabble over this side.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Exactly. Point of order, Mr President.

The PRESIDENT: What is your point of order?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: The question that I put to the minister was in relation to the Northern Economic Plan. It has got nothing to do with whatever the last question might have been to a different minister.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: On that point of order, Mr President, he knows full well he has no substantive basis for a point of order.

The PRESIDENT: Order! Sit down. The honourable minister, stick to your question.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Thank you, Mr President. In relation to this question, everyone knows you've got to be very careful relying on anything Rob Lucas purports to quotes in this chamber—and that is for very good reason. He has form. As we have seen, he has form. Let's have a look at what else was said in the newspaper article. Let's have a look at that. Let's have a look at completing the quote, not just a half-truth that he seems to want to peddle here. Let's have a look. The mayors quoted in that article also said:

I understand that we talked about a job target…I can't remember at this stage at what stage we made that amount.

The mayors went on to say:

I told him what we've got to do now is we've got to have some targets to aim for.

The other mayor said:

Government officials discussed with council staff about aspirational job targets throughout the early stages of the plan.

These are the quotes the Hon. Rob Lucas didn't use yesterday. They are the ones he conveniently left out. They are the ones he didn't want all of us to know. He doesn't think we can handle the whole truth. We can, and that's what was said. He has also conveniently half quoted text from Hansard, which is his form. What I went on to say a couple of weeks ago, after what has been quoted, about the job targets is:

This was an aim that the organisations who put forward the Northern Economic Plan have come up with.

Let's also look at some of the other things that the mayors involved in the Northern Economic Plan have said about the plan when it was launched. Mayor Gary Johanson said this in relation to the Northern Economic Plan:

This is the sort of action that we need to regenerate this state. This is a close collaboration between state government and local government. The very first time that I am aware of, since I've been mayor, seen such close collaboration where we're bouncing ideas off each other. This is a chance to strengthen the community, to strengthen South Australia.

At the same time Mayor Gillian Aldridge said of the launch of the plan:

That will mean jobs, that will mean education, that will mean we are going ahead, and we are…going to be the engine room of the state. I'm very grateful to the Premier and minister Maher and my two colleagues who have worked very hard to make this happen. The spotlight is again on Salisbury, is on the north.

Also on that day, Mayor Glenn Docherty said:

In this Northern Economic Plan called 'Look North' the government and the councils have been working quite closely with business and industry sectors...hundreds and hundreds of businesses have been involved in the formulation and consultation of the plan.

As I said yesterday, the development of the Northern Economic Plan, including the ambition of increasing employment in northern Adelaide by 15,000 to 165,000 by 2025, was done in conjunction with the planning partners. The development of this plan, including this target, was discussed at numerous meetings of high-level officials from the partner councils and the state government, with the final version of the plan that included in excess of $24 million—in excess of $24 million—of new spending initiatives being approved by the state government.

The plan, including the jobs target, has the strong support of all three mayors and myself. I have spoken to each of the mayors over the last week and I've got to say that the leadership shown by the three mayors has been first class. Equally good has been the hard work from the council staff to help develop the plan. The plan continues to be supported by the three councils and the state government.

The plan identifies important growth sectors that have the potential to drive growth and employment. The six growth sectors identified by the plan are: the construction and urban renewal sector; health, ageing and disability; mining equipment and technology; tourism, recreation and culture; agriculture, food and beverage; and defence. The more than 70 businesses interviewed as part of the plan's consultation reported that they are planning new investment worth $247 million and creating 1,160 new jobs over the next 18 months alone.

In the construction and urban renewal area, immediate major construction projects outlined in the Northern Economic Plan could generate more than 1,500 direct new jobs during the next few years. These are projects like the northern connector, the upgrade of schools in the north as outlined in the budget and the 6,000 homes being built through the Playford Alive project. In the health, ageing and disability area, the full rollout of the NDIS is estimated to create 6,300 new jobs for South Australia, with a forecast of more than 1,700 in northern Adelaide. In the tourism, recreation and culture sector, the recently announced nature-based tourism strategy has the goal of injecting $350 million a year into the state's economy and creating 1,000 new jobs by 2020.

In the agriculture, food and beverage area there are growing job opportunities in primary production, food processing, transport and other services. The Food Park in northern Adelaide, for example, will co-locate food manufacturers, suppliers and logistics companies, which will drive efficiencies, create jobs and drive business in a sector that continues to grow. For 17 years this sector has grown year on year. The northern suburbs of Adelaide have a history of growing food, and processing that food will present opportunities for expansion and growth. Additional food production of $250 million could create at least 400 additional direct jobs and further flow-on employment opportunities throughout this northern region.

In defence, naval shipbuilding has the potential to provide thousands of future jobs, starting with the recently confirmed Future Frigate program. Together, offshore patrol vessels and future frigates have the potential to add around 1,700 jobs, and the 12 Future Submarines project could add in excess of 2,500 direct and 2,500 indirect jobs. In the mining equipment and technologies areas, projects like our Plan for Accelerated Exploration (PACE) and the Internet of Things mining cluster are working to increase sales revenue for South Australian businesses participating in the minerals and energy supply chain, and to increase the number of full-time employees in the supply chain.

The Northern Economic Plan is a significant plan. We have heard today some of the comments that have been made by people who were involved with the plan. It is a comprehensive plan, it is an ambitious plan, it is a big plan; it makes a thud. It is a decent plan. That is in direct and very stark contrast to what we saw from the Liberal Party, released at the end of last year. I would like to call it a flyer or a brochure but that would be giving it too much credit. This is their whole plan. It is a bit of paper, one bit of paper. This is their rehashed, previous thought bubbles. This is their plan, their economic plan for the whole of South Australia, the sum total of their accumulated knowledge and ambition for this state.

We can see the Hon. Rob Lucas giggling and laughing. He probably knows; he had a whole lot to do with this. It would be generous to describe this plan as ambitious, it would be generous to describe this plan as a single piece of paper. This is what their plan can do; it does not even float. It is a sinker of a plan, completely and utterly.