Question Time

South Australian Economy

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:17): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Leader of the Government a question about South Australia's and the government's key performance indicators.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Since 2002, South Australia's share of the national total across a number of key economic indicators has fallen. Some of the more alarming ones that continue this dangerous downward trend include:

South Australia's share of the state gross product nationally has fallen from 6.72 per cent in 2002 to just a tick over 6 per cent at 6.08 per cent in 2015;

South Australia's share of merchandise exports nationally has fallen from just over 7 per cent in 2002 to about 4.5 per cent now;

South Australia's share of the national population has fallen from 7.8 per cent in 2002 to just over 7 per cent in 2016; and

South Australia's national share of tourists has fallen from 4.95 per cent in 2002 to 3.85 per cent of the national total today.

South Australia's net migration also continues to be in the red with 5,887 South Australians fleeing interstate in the last 12 months in search of greater opportunities. Many South Australians are concerned about the future prosperity of this state and what it means for their children and grandchildren. My question to the minister is: after 15 years of this Labor government can the minister explain why South Australia's share of the national total continues to contract across all of these key indicators?

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) (14:19): I would like to thank the honourable member for his question and his obvious ability to cherrypick two or three statistics to use in his question. We have discussed in this place that there are challenges facing South Australia for a whole range of reasons. I could waste five to 10 minutes going through those, including but not limited to the federal Liberal Party's decisions for Australia.

There are some areas we are doing very well in. For example, the area of food manufacturing in South Australia continues to be a major bright spot. For 17 years, year on year, this sector has grown—17 years, most of those under the stewardship of this Labor government.

Certainly, there are some bright spots on the horizon. Only in the last couple of months, KPMG's report about the cost of doing business in different cities around Australia found Adelaide the cheapest capital city in which to do business—the cheapest capital city. Recently, a review of states' economies found us as the second best performing state economy on a number of other indicators. So, I know the Hon. David Ridgway and many of his mates in this chamber, and many of his mates in the federal parliament, love to talk South Australia down. They are willing South Australia to fail. That's not what we will do. We will support South Australia.