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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-11-18 Daily Xml
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Job Creation

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:12): Supplementary: given that the government only expects 6,000 jobs to be created in mining and investment, where does the Premier expect the remaining 94,000 jobs, committed to in his 100,000 jobs target, to come from?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:12): Just to recap on the contribution we made the last time we were asked these questions, back in August we launched an economic vision for South Australia. It was about South Australia, the place where both people and business thrive. We set out 10 economic priorities for five sectors of the economy, the fastest growing sectors of the economy, in our view, and the real opportunities for growth. To remind members of the house, they include mining and energy, the food industry, the health industries, tourism and, of course, the knowledge sectors, and then there were five enablers about how we would ensure that those sectors would grow.

All of those particular priorities are directed at growing jobs for our citizens. That is the whole and sole purpose of achieving that growth. We have set ourselves an accountable target within the period of the life of this government. It is a braver target, frankly, the one that was set in 2010, because that one had a 2016 target and so was actually beyond the life of the next election. We fully acknowledge that that will be a difficult target to achieve, given the circumstances of the international economy in the period between 2010 and now.

We have held ourselves to account with a plan. Not only is that plan one that has been demanded by the broad cross-section of the South Australian community—the business community, the academia, the community sector, all of those people who asked us to produce such a plan—but the overwhelming feedback we get when we speak to those groups is, 'For God's sake, stop the negativity and actually get on board with allowing us to achieve those things.'

The reason we publish these economic priorities, the reason we publish these objectives, the reason we publish our success stories and the initiatives we have taken thus far is to show and guide the South Australian community on the way forward. We have accepted the function of leadership, and what we see opposite is the abject failure of leadership, the inability to lead.

The SPEAKER: Premier, you are not responsible for the opposition.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Mr Speaker, I am speaking much more broadly than the opposition. This is about something that goes directly to the psyche of South Australia. It's about whether we are going to stand up and actually lead and shape our own future, or whether we are going to just sit back, slink back into the corner and allow South Australia to slide into some genteel decline. That is old Adelaide, old South Australia—

Mr GARDNER: Point of order, sir: the question was where the other 94,000 jobs were coming from. The Premier's esoteric view of the psyche according to other people's point of view is not relevant.

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is called to order because that may have started out as a point of order but didn't finish as one, and the Premier will address the substance of the question.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The substance of the question is: where are these jobs going to come from? They will come from the ingenuity and talent of South Australians. That's where they will come from. With the guidance that we have provided with these 10 priorities, business will see where the commitments of this government are in terms of investment, where it's going to invest its policy effort, where it's going to direct the attention and energies of its bureaucracy.

They will be able to invest in the secure and certain knowledge that they will have a partner. They will have a partner in the South Australian government for growth and the creation of jobs. If those opposite think that the solution is somehow to get out of the way and allow business to do this by themselves, that is not the message we are receiving from the business community. They want a genuine partner for growth, and they have one in this South Australian Labor government.

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