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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-07-07 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Business Confidence

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (14:19): My question is to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer update the house about business confidence in South Australia and how it compares to levels recorded over previous months?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer) (14:19): I thank the member for Light for his important question because, as we know, business confidence is a good indicator of sentiment within the community and is important for gleaning economic trends, particularly in these turbulent times. Mr Speaker, you would recall that shortly after the election there was a release about business confidence from NAB showing a remarkable turnaround in business confidence levels since the March 2022 election.

Mr Whetstone: Overnight.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Although we have become accustomed to being a little sceptical of the interjections from the member for Chaffey, he is right: it did happen overnight, and I can tell you the night that it changed—it was 19 March.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Don't we love his interjections in this place. There has been a remarkable turnaround in business confidence since the state election, an extraordinary increase to levels that are the highest in the nation. That is the information that I released. I was somewhat bemused last sitting week when the member for Colton took umbrage with these figures and made a contribution to this place saying that somehow we were fudging the numbers, that we were using trend terms rather than seasonally adjustable monthly terms and that we were artificially inflating these business confidence figures

I thought, 'Well, that's an interesting contribution.' Some members had approached me about it and said, 'Treasurer, could that possibly be true?' It was such a compelling contribution from the member for Colton for those who saw it. Some people referred to it as Churchillian, such was the gravity of the contribution made by the member for Colton, so I thought I would go back and have a look at the figures and I would update them for the house. So let's have a look at how the non-trend indicators of business confidence look on the same measure.

In October 2021, business confidence was at an indicator level of positive 14, so not too bad. But you will remember, sir, that shortly after that the member for Dunstan stood up at a press conference and said, 'Don't worry. We've got this. It's all going to go well throwing open the borders.' That's when it all went awry.

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: In November—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —it fell by 10 points to only four, and in December—

Mr Cowdrey interjecting:

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

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —it fell to negative 11. That's the level of confidence that the South Australian business community had—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —in the leadership of the former Liberal government. That was the level of business confidence and, as the member for Chaffey quickly drew our attention to, it did quickly turn around: it turned around virtually overnight. Well, in fact, not overnight—it was over the course of a Saturday that it turned around. That's when it turned around and got into roundly positive territory.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey!

Mr Cowdrey interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: They were very helpful interjections this time around from the member for Chaffey. So business confidence was looking good, but it didn't stop there.

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: We have also had Roy Morgan Research, which tracks government confidence—

Mr Cowdrey interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —as part of their regular national political polling, and it has shown—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —a marked increase in government confidence in South Australia since the Malinauskas Labor government came to power. As of June, the latest public release by Roy Morgan, their confidence index, it is at the highest level in the nation—120.5 points, well above the national average of 105. So I hope the member for Colton can take some confidence in those figures, just like the business community does.

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