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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-05-14 Daily Xml
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Unemployment Figures

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:07): My question is to the Premier. Why have South Australia's health outcomes been some of the best in the nation but our employment outcomes the worst in the nation?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:07): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for that question. He is correct: our health outcomes in South Australia have been exceptionally good, and there are many reasons for that.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Playford is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: One of the primary reasons is that we made sure we were listening to evidence and advice as we put together our strong plan to tackle the coronavirus in South Australia. The Leader of the Opposition is correct: every South Australian can share in the pride that we have done extraordinarily well from a health perspective with good quality testing—the best in Australia and amongst the best in the world—and good quality tracing.

The Communicable Disease Control Branch in South Australia is doing a mighty job to make sure that, when there is a new case or an outbreak, it's jumped on as quickly as possible so that we know how far it has spread and put people into isolation. Sometimes thousands of people in South Australia have been in isolation, but it has all been for that common good.

Of course, the third part is having that rapid response capability. Thankfully, we haven't had to use it like they have had to in north-west Tasmania and with other outbreaks. There is one in Melbourne at the moment and others in aged-care facilities in New South Wales. Nevertheless, we put those strong plans in place. The Leader of the Opposition is also right to identify that we have an economic crisis in Australia and here in South Australia. What we know is that tens of thousands of South Australians have lost their jobs.

These are extraordinarily difficult times, and not only have people lost jobs but many people who retain their jobs have far fewer hours that are being worked. That is why it is very important that we continue to make sure that we are resourcing the economic recovery in South Australia. When we compare what we are doing in South Australia with other parts of the country, we are doing very well. When we compare our country with other countries around the world, we are doing very well. Can I tell you that many other cities and countries around the world are on the back foot, trying to respond to just the increased health expenditure. Australia has not only resourced the health expenditure that is immediately required but they have also been able to put this support underneath our economy as we go through this economic crisis.

JobKeeper has been a lifeline to so many businesses in Australia, and it will continue to be as we come out of this crisis. JobSeeker—increased payments, no reference to an individual's asset base and no period of waiting before people go onto JobSeeker—is very much regarded and very much appreciated by the people of Australia. One of the unique things about our country at the moment is that we have this good working relationship between federal support and state government support. Of course, at our level, we have put $1 billion on the table—$1 billion on the table—to bring forward as many projects as possible to create immediate opportunity—

Ms Stinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Badcoe!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and also make sure that we can provide direct relief to businesses and individuals who are most hard hit. There is of course a great concern around the state and the country with the employment figures that are coming out at the moment. Many people predicted that these figures would be significantly higher. The reality is that all of us—all of us—need to work every day to make sure that we can get through this and come out the other side stronger than before.

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