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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-02-05 Daily Xml
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STATE DEBT

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (14:52): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier accept that the government has chosen to increase state debt to the point where taxpayers will be paying $2.2 million a day in interest instead of having that money available to spend on measures to reduce the cost of living and the cost of doing business here in South Australia?

The SPEAKER: That seems to be very like a previous question, but I call on the Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:53): It does; just the same thing said in many various ways, yet we do not accept the proposition that we want to shrink South Australia. We have been growing South Australia over the last 10 years. We have an economy that we inherited of $53 billion in size; it is now a $92 billion economy. That is our vision for South Australia's future—a growth vision for South Australia's future.

The way you grow is you invest in productive infrastructure which grows the jobs of the future. You also invest in the services that create the liveability of a community that attracts people to it. So, the statistics that we have just heard before by the Minister for Health, where he outlines why, within an internationally first-class healthcare system, we are sitting at the top of the tree—that is why people want to live here.

When they look at our education system and they see a great education system, they want to live here. When they look at the affordability of living in our suburbs, the excitement of living in our city—because we have invested in our city and suburbs and in the services and the amenities that people enjoy and love about being in South Australia—that attracts people and the prosperity that will grow this state.

That is all at risk under the alternative proposition; the proposition about shrinking, about pessimism, about the idea that somehow we should just get out of the way and allow some mythical, invisible hand of competition to dictate our future. It has never been the way here in South Australia. We have always had to fight for what we've got. We have always had to think a bit harder, do a bit better, and come up with the better ideas, because that is what it means to actually prosper in this place.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Premier is finished? Thank you. The member for Kaurna.

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