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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
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Grievance Debate

STATE ECONOMIC REFORM

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite) (15:44): I rise to speak about state economic reform, but I do so at the end of an unseemly squabble in the last question time of the year, and reflect back on a year in this parliament that I think has been beset with personal invective, point-scoring and an endless focus on personalities, and the politics of politics, instead of meaningful policy debate on matters of substance and relevance to the families, the workers and the businesses of South Australia.

So, I get to the point of state economic reform as the shadow minister for industry and trade, and I point to five key challenges that I think the state faces—five keys issues that I think we should have been debating this year instead of spending endless time squabbling and bickering.

The first is the need for this state to optimise its competitive advantages against other states and, in particular, to work out the basis upon which it intends to compete economically, whether it will be on costs, on niche markets, on innovation and skills as a competitive advantage, or on some other basis, because our manufacturers and our businesses are facing dark times. In fact, the entire world economy is facing a dark time. This state needs some structural rearrangement if our manufacturers are to survive, so we need to sit down and have a meaningful debate about how this state is going to compete.

Second, we need to work out one of the biggest challenges we face, that is, how we spread the benefits of mining across the broader state economy. That has to do with tax and mining taxes, but it also has to do with jobs and whether or not those mining jobs will be local or fly-in, fly-out from other places. It has to do with contracts, whether or not they will be let to South Australian companies or to overseas or interstate companies, and it has to do with whether or not we will use mining as an opportunity to grow our population and our investment, not only in infrastructure but in science.

Certainly I have some doubts about whether the arrangement we have entered into with BHP in regard to the Roxby Downs expansion will deliver on the opportunities we all hope it will. I hope it happens but we need to monitor this process and any other mining developments to ensure that it does.

Thirdly, we need to work out how this state and its businesses will move up the value chain. I remind the house about the observations of the government's own Thinker in Residence, Goran Roos, who recently observed that South Australian industries have become a little lazy and have lost their innovative edge, and who urged our businesses to move up the value chain and look towards the high value-added end of manufacturing and production based on research development, science and innovation as a way to break clear, and to better compete with emerging economies and other states.

Fourthly, we need—and I think it is a great challenge—to modernise federalism. I think that there are a number of things going on at the moment that are worrying. Under the guise of harmonisation or standardisation, and national policies and approaches, a number of things have been brought into the parliament that I think are putting this state on its backside. We are debating at the moment the occupational health and safety arrangements that will be adhered to, arrangements that risk pushing up the cost of doing business in this state.

I do not want to canvass a bill before the other place but I think we must ask ourselves whether there is a whole stack of red tape in that proposal, as there was with the childcare legislation that we recently debated which is now past, that pushes up the number of staff to the point where childcare will almost become unaffordable. I think red tape and costly expenses are being driven into business structures and that will slow this country and this state down.

Finally, the fifth challenge we face is a simple one and it is about productivity. We are slipping and, unless we have a meaningful discussion about micro-economic reform, about tax reform, about further industrial relations reform and planning reforms, we are not going to lift our productivity. These five things: our competitive advantage; spreading the benefits of mining; moving up the value chain; modernising federalism; and improving our productivity, are the key to what this state needs to address if it is to go forward.

Time expired.

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