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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
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ECONOMIC STATEMENT

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite) (15:30): My question is again to the Premier and Treasurer. Why has his economic statement failed to outline any new detailed and funded plans to address 10 key problems which have been identified by business in SA, including excessive state taxes and charges, counterproductive mining and carbon taxes, the failure and costs of WorkCover, uncompetitive utilities costs, declining labour productivity in key sectors, the burden of state debt and unfunded liabilities, red and green tape, planning law reform, population decline instead of growth, and government inefficiency?

The SPEAKER: The member for Waite's question is so open ended that I hope he will not interject on the Premier as the Premier attempts to come to grips with it. The Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (15:31): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Can I say the economic statement addresses—

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I warn the member for Morialta for the first time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Can I say that the economic statement addresses each and every one of those issues—each and every one of those issues. In relation to the business costs environment, which comprises half the list that the member for Waite mentions, KPMG tells us that of all capital cities looked at we are the most competitive around the nation.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Well, let's laugh at KPMG. Of course, they know better. These are the people that supply their own economic forecast for the future of the economy and now they are going to tell KPMG they don't know how to actually measure business costs. This is the height of arrogance. They think they can just throw out these allegations about our economy and challenges in front of it and somehow people are going to accept their version of the world. Well, the truth is that we have the most competitive business environment in the nation of the capital cities that were analysed by KPMG.

In relation to population growth, we addressed this question. We addressed the question of population growth squarely, and the truth is that population growth is fundamentally affected by two factors, the ones that at least we can have some influence over. It is influenced by other factors that are very difficult to shift, but among those things we can have real influence over is, of course, the commonwealth migration policy, and when we did have preferred status we did see a substantial influx into the state and we did see a strong correlation of economic growth.

We continue to advocate with the commonwealth to ensure that we get our fair share of migrants into South Australia because they are also, rather than being drivers of economic growth in their own sense, the source of the entrepreneurs which will grow and make the changes we need to make in our economy. It is estimated in the economic statement that about 50 per cent of our exporters are actually migrants and an even greater proportion of our entrepreneurs are migrants to this state.

It is an extraordinary source of vitality and growth for our nation, and that is why we support the openness of our state, the invitation to people to be here in South Australia. We do address the question of government efficiency. What we do say is that we are committed to an efficient and productive public sector. That's why we have a public sector renewal process—because we believe we need to accept the responsibility through innovation within the public sector, just as we are suggesting they should occur in the private sector.

To talk about taxation, the share of taxation as a proportion of the economy is lower now than when we came to government in 2002. So, this nonsense of the burden of taxation across this economy is an absurdity. We have prudently lived within our means; we try to do more with less, and that is what we are attempting to do. But what we won't do is mug this economic recovery by withdrawing the role of the public sector from the growth of this state.

Ms Sanderson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I call the member for Adelaide to order. The member for Lee.

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