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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-05-01 Daily Xml
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STATE ECONOMY

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (15:18): For years and years we have sat in this house listening to the government talk up the economic benefits of the big mining boom and the huge number of infrastructure projects in South Australia, and in recent days they have even admitted to spruiking it up. Reality has it that this talk is nothing but spin, a result of years and years of the government leading the South Australian public into a false sense of security.

Under Labor, South Australia has the fastest growing debt and the second lowest economic performance in the nation. The government is guilty of misleading the public, talking up the massive dollars they are spending on infrastructure in the state, when reality has it that projects here in South Australia account for only 3 per cent of the national total. So, the spruiking is well and truly happening.

A new report released by Engineers Australia has revealed that, although investment in infrastructure across Australia may be at a record level, spending is not necessarily being spent evenly across public assets like water and transport. The growth rates for economic infrastructure show that activity in South Australia has in fact contracted since the last infrastructure report card was released in 2010. Once again, South Australia has been left to dither while other states are moving ahead in leaps and bounds.

To add to these dismal figures, the decision to shelve the Olympic Dam expansion has had dire consequences for the state's economy, with recent data revealing a 37 per cent decline in the state's projected activity as compared with the same time last year. South Australia's share of our national economic output has declined from 7.4 per cent in 1987-88 to a projected 5.8 per cent in 2014-15.

These figures are in direct conflict with what we continually hear from this government, a government that has based its success on the polls and spruiking and, as they admit, on talking up the state's fantastic infrastructure. For a state that has a so-called abundance of natural resources, it really is concerning that there is a lack of construction in terms of new mines.

This state government has put all of its eggs in the one basket with the Olympic Dam expansion and, now that has fallen through, we are left with a state that is struggling economically and the outlook for the future is grim if you take into consideration this newest infrastructure statistic. South Australia is being out-performed by other states on a number of fronts. We are falling behind and this government continues to dig an even deeper hole in our state's economy. Taxes are high, the cost of living is high, our economic growth has been stunted, and infrastructure is failing.

South Australia is 'Heaps Good'. I think the release of the new logo for our state is timely because, at so many levels in terms of management by this government, there is no way our state is heaps good. Yes, we have plenty to offer in terms of tourism attractions and beauty, but this government is really tarnishing this Heaps Good image with high taxes and an economy that it is failing to stimulate.

Earlier this year, the Premier said, 'The way you grow is you invest in productive infrastructure which grows the jobs of the future.' Clearly, this government is not investing enough in productive infrastructure projects for the state. Clearly, the state's debt levels are rising and here we have a Premier who is not even willing to rule out a further increase in the state's debt level. We can blame the rampaging of the Australian dollar and the slowdown in the home construction building industry, but this government has failed with its lack of forward thinking and planning. Under this Labor government, South Australia continues to take a back seat to the other Australian states.

We are still 10 months from the election and I hate to think how bad it will be by then. That makes us question these fixed term elections—it cannot be all that good. I hate to be negative and I try to be a positive person, but we in opposition have a role to perform and we have to tell the people how bad it is. I was in this house listening to the then deputy leader of the opposition (Mr Foley) criticising our government with very negative strong rhetoric. It was nothing compared to this. So, for us to be criticised as being carping and negative, we are nowhere near as bad as them when they had nothing to complain about.

State debt is increasing to $14.6 billion and the budget deficit for 2012-13 is forecast to reach $1.2 billion. This is worse than the State Bank, because how do we turn it around when the government changes? We do not have the levers that we had in 1993 to turn it around. You are going to leave the state in a very bad condition. You should not have won the last election and you should not be there.

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