Question Time

Employment Figures

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:24): My question is to the Minister for Employment. Given that South Australia has a highest unemployment rate of 7.7 per cent, the highest underutilisation rate of 17.4 per cent, the second lowest employment to population ratio in Australia (and equally the participation rate), will the minister tell us when the government will start delivering improvements on South Australia's job crisis?

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) (14:25): I thank the honourable member for his question and his interest in these matters. We have a range of initiatives that are tackling this very problem. We have our economic priorities, our 10 economic priorities. We also have the Northern Economic Plan that was released only this year, an ambitious plan to increase employment in the north. It is interesting to contrast that with what the opposition offer us.

We saw the Hon. Robert Lucas happily waltz in here today with his Marshall 2036 plan under his arm as if that is something to be proud of. The number of times that that plan mentioned the northern suburbs, automotive workers and Holden was zero—not once. This is the combined wisdom of the opposition after 14 years and not one single mention of it. I know the Hon. Robert Lucas is fond of quoting things in this chamber—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Allow the minister to finish.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: —so I thought I might quote a couple of things about their plan, their plan for the whole of South Australia, the sum total of their wisdom and ambition. The award-winning journalist Daniel Wills talks about their plan that the Hon. Rob Lucas is so proud of and states:

It's hard to find much to say about the 2036 vision Mr Marshall has handed down…There wouldn't be a single person who doesn't believe in 'a stable job in a growing economy', 'vibrant regional communities' or having the 'best schools in South Australia'.

That award-winning journalist finishes by saying that, until the Liberal Party actually brings some detailed and costed policies to the public, it will remain what it is—a flashy new prop but little else. The award-winning journalist Tom Richardson talked about this last week and said:

For starters, the obviously implication is that, so futile are their electoral aspirations, the Libs have already completely given up on 2018 and set their sights further afield, to a year in which there isn't actually a state election.

I think there is a very stark contrast between what this government is doing, what are our ambitions and what the opposition is doing.