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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-11-28 Daily Xml
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JOBS GROWTH FORECAST

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (14:46): Yes, thank you, sir. I note that the Premier didn't want to answer the previous question, but in his answer—

The SPEAKER: No, you won't note anything. Unless you ask a question, leave will be withdrawn.

Mr MARSHALL: No, I have a question, sir. In the Premier's answer, he said that he was unashamedly for jobs. My question to the Premier, following on from that statement, is: how many full-time jobs were lost in South Australia in the month of October?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:46): Half as many as would have been lost if we had listened to the Leader of the Opposition. Our investments in infrastructure have sustained growth in the South Australian economy: our decision to support the growing sectors of the South Australian economy, our decision to get in behind our education sector, our decision to get in behind our mining sector.

Within the figures that have been released today in the gross state product figures, what we saw were two standout performances: one in relation to the gas industry and the investment in the Cooper Basin, which is directly as a consequence of the steps this government has taken to encourage investment in that sector. The second very important contribution to the figures that we saw today has been the improvement in the performance of the export of services, and a significant component of that has been the performance of the international education sector—another standout sector of the South Australian economy which has been led by this government and the work that it has done together with our universities.

We now have a much higher proportion of the share of overseas students than we did when we first came into office, and that is important. Even though the percentage has grown by a very substantial proportion, if you look at the absolute numbers, we are talking about thousands and thousands of additional students—

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is warned for the first time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —coming into South Australia, providing jobs for the services that are provided to them: accommodation, all of the support they need to live their lives in this country, their parents visiting them from time to time and, of course, the whole apparatus of the academic institutions that support them. So, those two sectors, private construction, the investment in services and the services growth in our export sector are making an extraordinary contribution to this state.

If we had listened to those opposite, we'd be counting numbers where we have tens of thousands of people looking for a job in this state. Can I say, through their efforts, and if we do not resist them now, we will see 13,000 jobs disappear from the automotive manufacturing sector, we will see 25,000 jobs disappear from the state public sector and we will see thousands of jobs in jeopardy if they don't persuade their colleagues in the federal parliament to stop their cuts to infrastructure spending in our state.

The SPEAKER: A supplementary from the member for Fisher.

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