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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
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Question Time

STATE ECONOMY

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (14:57): My question is to the Treasurer. Is the Treasurer confident that state final demand can grow at the required 5.1 per cent in the second half of 2012-13 to achieve this year's overall state final demand growth estimate as outlined in the Mid-Year Budget Review in December?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:57): I thank the honourable member for his question. This is clearly an attempt to cover up for the mistake he made in the debate on Friday, where he confused state final demand and gross state product. Let's not return to unhappy moments.

What we are confident about is that we will continue to grow, and that was the burden of the economic statement that I published on Friday. What we did was look at our past and analyse where we are at the moment. Under any scenario, even the most pessimistic scenario, South Australia continues to grow.

One thing we have heard from those opposite is that, even in the face of comprehensive evidence to the contrary, they want to maintain their pessimistic view about South Australia's future because it suits their interests. But the problem is the momentum of this community is working against them, because the momentum is for a—

Mr PENGILLY: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: I presume the point of order will be that the Premier is not responsible for the opposition's momentum or lack thereof.

Mr PENGILLY: Along those lines, sir. He is debating the matter.

The SPEAKER: Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I wasn't actually reflecting on their momentum—or, inertia, I might say. It was rather the momentum that is building within the South Australian community, which is being reflected in the positive sentiment which is showing up in our economic indicators. We are seeing positive business sentiment; we are seeing positive consumer confidence. We are seeing it reflected in things like extraordinary box office sales in our festival events during this last month—something we did not see, except in periods prior to the global financial crisis, when we had our last very substantial surge.

So, we are confident that the real metric—the thing that we generally measure economic growth by, which is state final product—will grow strongly this year. I must say I cannot find a particular economic house or financial institution which is projecting anything other than growth for the South Australian economy during the course of this year. It is only the Liberal Party that is projecting the South Australian economy to contract. I must say—

Mr PENGILLY: Point of order: standing order 98.

The SPEAKER: Yes; the Premier is not responsible to the house for the Liberal Party's predictions, so I ask the Premier to, perhaps, segue back towards the substance of the question, which was 5.1 per cent growth, I think.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Can I say that there would be a sure and certain way that the result that those opposite forecast is achieved, and that is if we were to adopt their economic policies; the policies of contraction which are being rejected all around the world.

Mr PISONI: Point of order: debate.

The SPEAKER: I think I anticipate the member for Unley. Is the Premier finished? The Premier has finished his answer. The member for Port Adelaide.

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