House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-12-01 Daily Xml

Contents

Unemployment Figures

Mr MARSHALL: I was mumbling, sir.

The SPEAKER: Or is it an impromptu speech?

Mr MARSHALL: No, not at all. I don't believe in those. They are against standing orders.

The SPEAKER: Could you ask a question?

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:41): My question is to the Premier. Given that the best case low unemployment scenario in the 2015 economic statement requires employment growth to nearly double just to prevent the unemployment rate from increasing, how confident is the Premier in his government's ability to double the state's rate of employment growth?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:41): It is a massive challenge, and I could not say that we have great confidence about that because this is a massive challenge. It will require a massive collective effort on the part of the people of South Australia, the businesses, the community, the government, governments at all levels—federal, state and local government—

Mr Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley will leave under the sessional order for the next half hour.

The honourable member for Hartley having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I think that we can achieve this if we work together but I do not express great confidence about it because it is a massive challenge and we will need to mobilise every single effort that we have in our state to achieve our objectives. This year has been a year when we have tried to put forward some bold measures about creating activity and growth in the South Australian economy, and we are going to have to even accelerate those efforts further. We are not done yet with this year. There are still very important measures that are yet to be announced as part of the Mid-Year Budget Review and next year we will be accelerating our efforts even further. What I can offer the people of South Australia and this parliament is a year of very hard work, a year of us redoubling our efforts to pursue our economic plan.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It is a sound plan and it stands in stark contrast with those opposite who have no plan at all for the future of South Australia. So, if—

The SPEAKER: That would be debate.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Mr Speaker, I was asked about my—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer is warned.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —state of confidence about this. It would be assisted by those opposite in joining with us in meeting the great challenges that we face in transforming the South Australian economy. We invite them to work constructively with us. There have been some important areas this year where we have worked constructively together. I hope we are going to do that again on the planning legislation which is before the other place and there will be many other big challenges next year. We will have a very substantial debate about the future of nuclear energy in this state and we will have a number of other important measures as we seek to realise our ambitions about a carbon neutral economy, a carbon neutral city. These will require massive collective efforts to achieve—

Mr Wingard interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mitchell is called to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —these things, so I ask those opposite to work with us in achieving these ambitious targets.