Legislative Council Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2) 54 2 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Question Time Business Investment Business Investment The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD Legislative Council Business Investment The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:09): My question is to the Treasurer. What information is available about the level of business investment currently in South Australia? The Hon. R.I. LUCAS Legislative Council Business Investment The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:09): As I have indicated on a number of occasions, the level of business investment in our state is obviously a critical factor in the pace and rate of economic recovery that will be possible in our state, and in the nation as well, as we emerge from COVID-19. As I have previously argued, and I do so again today, I see a key determinant of that being confidence—confidence from small businesses to invest and confidence to be able to employ more South Australians. The December quarter private new capital expenditure figures have been released in the last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It is pleasing to note that, relatively, whilst there has been a 7½ per cent decline in real private new capital expenditure in Australia as a whole for the December quarter 2020 to the pre-COVID December quarter of 2019, there was a relatively modest reduction in South Australia of just minus 1 per cent. Compared to our big Eastern States neighbours, there was a 15 per cent decline in business investment in Victoria, 14½ per cent in Queensland and 7.1 per cent in New South Wales. Just to demonstrate that there is still much more that we do need to do in South Australia, when one looks to the west, business investment actually increased by 4.7 per cent, and in Tasmania business investment increased by 10.2 per cent. We can comfort ourselves in South Australia by noting that we are doing better than the national figures. We are certainly doing much better than our big Eastern States neighbours, but the challenge for us is to have a look and to reflect the levels of business investment in Western Australia and Tasmania. There is much that needs to be done. My final message is the same message that I gave on behalf of the government in the budget speech in November of last year; that is, business confidence is absolutely critical to the state's economic recovery. Therefore, the gloom and doom merchants in our state who continue to talk the economy down or continue to highlight some of the negative impacts of COVID-19 do our state's economic recovery no good at all. They lower the level of business confidence in this state. All that means is that businesses won't invest at the rate we need them to invest and won't employ more South Australians at the rate that we need them to employ.