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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-10-20 Daily Xml
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Question Time

UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:12): My question is to the Minister assisting the Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education. Why does Adelaide have the highest proportion of children in jobless families of all capital cities, as reported in the federal government's 'State of Australian cities' report that was released today?

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland—Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister Assisting the Premier with South Australia's Strategic Plan, Minister Assisting the Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education) (14:13): I thank the opposition leader for her question. The fact of the matter is that the job situation in South Australia is very, very good. The unemployment rate is 5.6 per cent—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: —and while numbers may fluctuate from month to month, as they always do, the number '5.6' has a '5' in front of it and is a good number. Just to outline how good it is and why it is so good, I will just outline a few little stats for us.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: The number of South Australians in work at the moment: 821,900. Since 2002—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: —138,800 new jobs have been created, of which 74,300 were full-time. It is good for families, it is good for people with children, it is great for our society. Under their entire reign—

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order, Leader of the Opposition.

Mrs REDMOND: Point of order, Madam Speaker: the question was not about statistics on unemployment. The question was about the number of children in jobless families in this city, compared to every other city in Australia.

The SPEAKER: Thank you, Leader. The minister can choose to answer the question as he wishes.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Ma'am, on a further point of order—and she did ask about a statistic, incidentally—I cannot hear the answer, and I would like to.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Members will realise there is considerable interest in today's proceedings; I would ask you to behave accordingly, and not let the rest of the state think that we are a shambles. Minister.

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: The only story is good. It is a good story for families in our state because there is an increasing—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition, you are warned.

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: The story is good in South Australia. Job after job after job is being created by this government—in the full term, 6,100 full-time jobs over eight years. If there is a disgrace, if there is a story of error, if there is a story of trouble, it is on that side. Unemployment—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Point of order, Madam Speaker. I cannot hear this excellent answer.

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Davenport!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Could they please—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Because I know our record.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I know we are better than you. Lose the red haze.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Pederick interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hammond, order! Now, minister?

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: While the number of 5.6 per cent may be slightly higher than our best result of 4.7 per cent achieved in February of 2010—you might remember that—the best achieved by the former Liberal government was 6.9 per cent for one month only in February 2001. The best result is less—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Davenport!

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: The unemployment rate has been 6 per cent or less—that is 0.9 of a per cent less than their best rate over the term of their government—for 84 months in a row. Since September 2004, 84 months—month on month on month—it was 6 per cent or better. The worst unemployment figure under the former government was 11.2 per cent. When they left office, it was 7 per cent—a number never to be repeated under the life of this government. Best participation rate under them was 62 per cent; under us, it is currently 63.5 per cent, but the best participation rate was 63.7 per cent. The participation rate is important. It says people have confidence. They are out there looking for work, and more—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, have you finished your answer? I didn't hear.

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: I will probably go on for a little bit longer, ma'am.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: The participation rate shows at 63.5 per cent that people are out there looking for work. They are confident they will get jobs, and they know that under us they will get the training they need if they need more training because we are investing more money in training, we are investing more money in infrastructure. The great news is that the future is only going to get better with the Olympic Dam expansion—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Unley!

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: —just around the corner.

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