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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-11-14 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Employment Figures

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:04): My question is to the Premier. What does the Premier say to South Australians who are struggling to get the hours of work that they need to survive in the current cost-of-living crisis? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: Today the ABS Labour Force Survey revealed that South Australia had the highest rate of underemployment on mainland Australia.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:04): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. Certainly, as far as the labour force data being released today is concerned, obviously there is a lot of good news in there for the South Australian economy, and the people of South Australia more broadly. The number of jobs that grew over the last 12-month period is something that is quite to behold and speaks to an economy that continues to power along and generate so much opportunity for South Australians, particularly young South Australians, which I think the Leader of the Opposition specifically referred to in the context of his question.

We currently see more people employed in South Australia, essentially almost more than at any other point in our history, which is quite extraordinary. I think it's fair to say that in our recent memory is the closure of Holden some 10 or 12-odd years ago, when people were predicting that South Australia would hit double-digit unemployment and no-one really knew where the growth was going to come from. Fast forward to today and more people are employed than at any other point in our history.

We have an unemployment rate that sits at 4.2 per cent. The national unemployment rate is 4.1 per cent. This speaks to our exceptionally strong labour market, and of course at other periods throughout the course of this calendar year we have seen an unemployment rate in South Australia with a three in front of it. These are strong numbers.

Of course, today's data and the reduction in the unemployment rate in the state of South Australia in the most recent period also come on top of the fact that the participation rate went up for South Australia in these numbers. The participation rate went up, I think, by 0.3 per cent, from memory, when I looked at the numbers this morning. The participation rate went up and the unemployment rate went down. That is the best of both worlds. We want more people participating in our labour market. We want young people—and older people, for that matter—choosing to put their hand up to go out and grab the opportunities that we know are coming our way.

Just this morning, I was with the Minister for Housing and Urban Development at Port Stanvac. Port Stanvac, the site of an oil refinery in the past, closed some 20 years ago, and this government has been the government that after 20 years has finally unlocked the Port Stanvac site for development for the people of South Australia. We are going to see 3,600 homes provided on that site, with the first homes made available to South Australians in 2028.

The Hon. V.A. Tarzia interjecting:

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The Leader of the Opposition is interjecting. He keeps asking when. I am telling him: in 2028 the first people are expected to be able to move into that site. More than that, what we know is that of those 230 hectares being made available we are also going to see the return of 400,000 square metres of land to the people of South Australia for a coastal park. A beach that was once locked up is now going to be opened up. This is a result—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: I was very proud—in response to the interjections of those opposite—very proud to be able to stand next to Mr Andrew Buxton this morning, a Victorian developer. He said their business is increasingly calling South Australia home, because they know this is the state where the action is. This is the state where the government is providing a stable land tax regime which stands in stark contrast to what we saw only three or four years ago.

These are the types of stable policy settings that are unlocking growth and unlocking more new homes for young South Australians. More young South Australians are choosing to stay in South Australia, because this is where the work is. We have a whole synergy coming together in ways that are welcome, and today's labour force data was yet another representation of that.

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