Cycling Sector

The Hon. A.L. McLACHLAN (14:40): By way of supplementary question, minister, has the department made any projections on employment opportunities in relation to these initiatives?

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) (14:40): I thank the honourable member for his very good question, as they always are. Many people have canvassed the potential for him to be leader of this chamber for the Liberal Party at some stage. I notice that we have hard hitters wandering around the parliament today, back from other parts of Australia, so obviously something is going on—some sort of spill or reshuffle is due to occur with the factional hard hitters who have been wandering around the chamber over the last couple of hours.

The question was about cycling jobs and any sort of prediction. As with many of these areas where we are seeing rapid change and new innovations, it is exceptionally difficult to, with any sort of certainty, predict exactly where the industry is going to go. We know, from what I have talked about before, that globally bike sales are estimated to be worth $65 billion in only a few short years, so with some of the industries starting up we will no doubt see jobs in South Australia. But, as is the nature of innovation, it is difficult with accuracy to predict exactly how beneficial this will be for South Australia.