Single Touch Payroll

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (14:47): My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the chamber on the latest Single Touch Payroll figures?

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:47): I know that all members are excited at the fortnightly release of the Single Touch—as indeed they should. I am very pleased to be able to report—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Wortley is out of order.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: —that the most recent interim Single Touch Payroll figures—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order, the leader!

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: —for the fortnight ending 28 August show that the fortnightly change from the previous fortnight —

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Leader!

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: —showed that only two jurisdictions showed a positive increase in the number of jobs: Queensland and South Australia, at 0.3 per cent. Every other state or territory jurisdiction went backwards: Victoria 2.8 per cent, New South Wales, understandably, 1.6 per cent.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The leader is out of order.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Even jurisdictions like Tasmania, which are enjoying a COVID-free environment, went backwards by 0.7 per cent. South Australia and Queensland were the only two jurisdictions to actually show growth of 0.3 per cent. The national figure went backwards by 1.3 per cent. Members will also be excited by again the comparison with the low point of the pandemic, which was in the middle of April last year.

South Australia's job growth rate since the low point of the pandemic has been 15.6 per cent. The comparative Australian figure is still a healthy but nevertheless significantly lower 9.2 per cent, so 15.6 per cent in South Australia and 9.2 per cent nationally. South Australia is the third highest of the state and territory jurisdictions. What it shows is the importance of the various cash grant schemes and the various other supports that taxpayers are providing to businesses as they emerge from COVID.

In concluding, I want to clarify an answer I gave to a question yesterday in relation to the non-assessable and non-exempt nature of grants. We have so many grant programs that I may well have misled members. I said the most recent grants have been approved by the federal government as being non-assessable and non-exempt. I should have clarified that. That is the third and fourth round of grants, which were the lockdown grants and the ones soon after that. The business support and the additional business support grants have been assessed by the commonwealth as being non-assessable and non-exempt for income tax purposes.

For the more recent grant rounds, the tourism and hospitality and the hardship grants, we have an application in to the federal Treasurer to seek similar income tax treatment for those particular grants. We are hopeful that the commonwealth will again agree that they will be treated in a similar way to grant rounds three and four.