HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Member Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-10-16 Daily Xml
Contents
Xml

Employment Figures

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (14:35): My question is to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer please update the state on the South Australian employment market and how this supports small and family businesses?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:36): Family and small businesses are the heart and soul of the South Australian economy. When they do well, the state does well. When they grow, the state grows. I want to thank the member for her question. She is a big supporter of local business. She does a thing in her electorate where she chooses local bakeries or coffee shops and advertises to get people to that particular store. It's a really great way of supporting local small businesses, and I know many members in the house on both sides do what they can to support family and small businesses.

The ABS stats out today are very encouraging. They are a great example of what South Australians have built here in South Australia: a thriving economy. Small businesses are out there taking risks. They are employing people. They are doing great work. The total number of people employed in this state is now at a record level. As the Premier said, these records keep on getting broken, and it's a great testament to the South Australian economy and the resilience of South Australian businesses.

Nearly 85,900 jobs have been created since we took office. It's a testament to the outgoing Treasurer, who is retiring at the next election. He did an exceptional job of running a very tight set of books and he will be missed. He has done an exceptional job. I know that small businesses and businesses in South Australia were very passionate about the way he worked with them and I am very keen to continue that work. The participation rate is up as well, which is usually a difficult sign for the unemployment rate—but, interestingly, in these statistics even though the participation rate has edged up, unemployment still fell. So that is a good indication of the strength of the South Australian economy.

But there is one group of businesses that I am very, very worried about, and that is our coastal community businesses. They are doing it tough. They are doing it tough because they are suffering through a number of issues. One is a perception that it is unsafe to go to our coastal communities, being spread by misinformation and conspiracy theories. That has to stop. I am also very concerned about Glenelg. I drove to Glenelg last weekend. As I said yesterday, my parents had a family business on Jetty Road. It is very special to me because it's a great piece of beachside retail and a unique offering in South Australia, and it was an amazing formative part of my education for me when I was there.

But we are seeing those businesses struggle now, facing this perfect storm. You've got a Liberal MP saying it's unsafe to go to the coast. The government is throwing money at people to go down and try to redeem vouchers to eat at retail businesses and support coastal communities. Then the Liberal mayor and Liberal deputy mayor have now decided, at the beginning of summer, to basically shut Jetty Road and dig up the footpath in a vanity project, destroying foot traffic—but so outraged are members by this that they preselected not just the mayor but the deputy mayor to run for parliament.

Small business owners on Jetty Road, who have probably voted Liberal their entire life because they are small business owners, are looking at not only the Liberal mayor but the Liberal deputy mayor and the local member playing the fiddle while Rome burns. How are those businesses going to recover from this? How are they going to recover? How are those businesses going to survive this vanity project the Liberal Party has imposed on them on Jetty Road?

It's all great for us to celebrate these really good unemployment numbers, but what about those small businesses? Who cares for them? Where is the Liberal Party? Why are they silent? If their silence is about their pre-selection, why have they chosen the two people who have inflicted this on the businesses of Jetty Road to run for parliament? To inflict that damage on the rest of South Australia? I've got to say the Liberal Party in South Australia are lost.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT