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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-06-22 Daily Xml
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GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood) (15:40): It has long been recognised that the Premier has a penchant for celebrity. He loves to use taxpayers' money to fund his personal indulgences. His personal relationship with Lance Armstrong has been a huge cost to South Australian taxpayers, and we are still unsure about exactly how much this has cost us. The Thinkers in Residence program is another example of where the Premier has preferred to listen to those from outside South Australia rather than tap into the enormous expertise of those living within our state—maybe it is because he was not born here, maybe it is because he was not raised here, or maybe, more pertinently, it is because he does not plan on living here much longer and he is trying to increase his network of contacts interstate and overseas. Whatever the reason, South Australia is missing out.

His policy of neglecting South Australians is now infecting the entire Labor government. In recent days, we have learnt that the contract for the redevelopment of Adelaide Oval will be given to an interstate architecture firm. This government has also outsourced the Riverside redevelopment project to an interstate firm. South Australia has some of the largest architectural firms in the country; in fact, Hassell, Woodhead and Woods Bagot are all headquartered here in South Australia. These make up three of the largest architectural firms in Australia, and they bid on a large range of projects here, interstate and overseas. It seems incredible to me that South Australian firms can win much larger contracts interstate and overseas but that this government sees fit to award our iconic projects here in South Australia to interstate firms.

The contract for the Royal Adelaide Hospital was written in such a way that virtually makes it impossible for South Australian firms to submit a tender on this project. Yesterday, the Minister for Health in this house told us, incredibly, of the state government's decision to train future nurses for this state's health system not here in South Australia but, indeed, in Vietnam. This is simply unbelievable considering the extremely high youth unemployment rate we have here in South Australia. Then only last week we heard again from the health minister that he had outsourced all new advertising work to a Western Australian advertising firm called 303 Advertising.

Until about 12 months ago, all South Australian government television commercials had to be quoted by at least three production companies based here in South Australia. This is no longer the case. The latest WorkCover ads have been produced interstate. This is millions of dollars that have been removed from our economy, from our advertising industry and from creating employment here in South Australia. The state government is the largest individual client in the state's advertising sector. Previous work done by South Australian firms on government projects has won national awards, yet the health minister and this government are still willing to turn their back on our talented advertising community.

Unlike other states, we do not have a large publicly listed corporate sector. It is therefore more important here in South Australia that our government procurement does not undermine the business sector, it does not undermine our economy, and it does not undermine our jobs. This recent decision to send health department advertising work and architecture work out of South Australia is a huge blow to this sector and the wider South Australian economy. Firstly, it sends state government money to an interstate economy. Secondly, it reduces employment in these important sectors here and makes people think, 'Should I be actually going into this sector?' It creates a perception that to get a decent job in architecture or in advertising you need to move to an interstate firm. Thirdly, it sends a message to people aspiring to work in this sector, as I have just outlined. Fourthly, it sends a terrible message to the wider business community that our own government does not back South Australian business.

It is time for this government to back South Australia. It is time for this government to use its considerable procurement power to build this state and support our business sector. The previous treasurer called South Australians a bunch of whingers. There is an obvious disdain within the current government towards the business community in South Australia. There was absolutely nothing for them whatsoever in the budget handed down the week before last. It is time for change. It is time for them to stand up for business in South Australia and time to stand up for jobs. If this government does not want to back South Australians, why do they want to represent them in this parliament?

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