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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-07-29 Daily Xml
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Skills for Jobs in Regions

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:25): I have a supplementary question. If we have learnt so much, how come we have the worst unemployment rate in Australia by a long way?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (15:25): Truly, this honourable member is one of the most ill-informed, badly read, ill-prepared—

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: Why? I'm wrong, am I? Our unemployment rate is not the worst in Australia?

The PRESIDENT: Order! This is not a debate; it is an answer to a question. Let the minister answer.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: He is such a lazy member, Mr President. He comes into this place—

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: You're lazy for failing this state! You're a disgrace, an absolute disgrace—

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Stephens, control yourself.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: He comes into this place unprepared, Mr President—

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: —and you should be apologising to the people of this state rather than talking yourself up.

The PRESIDENT: Order! Hon. Mr Stephens, I have a lot more regard for you than the behaviour you are showing right now. The people of this state expect a little bit more respect and behaviour from our members.

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: It's about jobs, Mr President.

The PRESIDENT: 'It's about jobs', well, the fact is, though, you don't get jobs by abusing and attacking a minister while they are trying to answer your questions. The honourable minister.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Thank you, yes, I will just finish off quickly, Mr President. The honourable member knows that training does not create new industry jobs. Training prepares individuals for a skill set to be better equipped to work. It does not create new jobs out there in industry, so his premise is completely off the mark.

All the honourable member needs to do is pick up a paper or, as I said, go online and read anything about what is happening and he would know that South Australia has been faced with a number of very significant challenges that are resulting in unacceptable unemployment levels—unacceptable levels. It is something that we are working very hard to turn around. He knows that, with the challenges to our dollar, the heavy reliance on our traditional manufacturing automotive sector, South Australia has—

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: We haven't lost any jobs yet.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: We have lost jobs

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: We haven't lost those jobs yet.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: This is how—

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: We haven't lost those jobs yet.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: We have; we have started losing jobs out there already and we have for a number of years.

The Hon. T.J. Stephens interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: This man is just so ill-informed.

The Hon. T.J. Stephens interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: It is gobsmackingly embarrassing; it is embarrassing, Mr President.

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: Absolutely hopeless!

The PRESIDENT: This is bordering upon bullying. Now stop it; desist.

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: Yes, she should be bullied.

The PRESIDENT: You've asked a question; the minister is trying to answer it. Have respect for the fact that she is trying to answer it. You might not like the answer, but she is answering it. The honourable minister.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Thank you, Mr President. South Australia has had an economy that has been heavily reliant on the traditional automotive sector, and therefore changes to that sector have had a huge impact on our economy and on jobs. There is also our heavy reliance on commodities like iron ore; the price, as we know, has dropped significantly and that has also had a double whammy effect on us. Not to mention the triple whammy.

If the Hon. Terry Stephens really was genuine at all and sincere about trying to grow jobs in South Australia, he would be lobbying his federal colleagues, his federal mates who abandoned our manufacturing sector, who taunted Holden to leave South Australia and refused to provide assistance to that industry. It was his federal mates who have created this demise.

Countries all around the world heavily subsidise their car manufacturing industries, but no, not the Abbott Liberal government and not the state Liberal opposition. We know that that has already had a huge impact on jobs in this state. We know that overall this is going to have a devastating impact on jobs here in South Australia, with 1,700 jobs anticipated to be lost as a direct impact on Holden leaving; 6,000 jobs in the supply chain—6,000 in the supply chain—and 13,000 to 23,000 indirect. This is all because of the Hon. Terry Stephens' Liberal federal mates who have refused to support this industry. That's part of the triple whammy, and the other—

The Hon. T.J. Stephens interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Stephens, you have said it about a dozen times; it is not getting any more effective by repeating it, so allow the minister to complete her answer.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: The other part of the triple whammy is, of course, the reneging on our submarine contract. Shame on the Liberal Abbott government! Shame on them. We were guaranteed that contract and now we see the federal Liberal Abbott government reneging, and what does the Hon. Terry Stephens say and do about this? Nothing, absolutely nothing. He sits there on his hands doing absolutely nothing, and he went to Germany last week—went to Germany! And how many jobs has he brought back?

The Hon. T.J. Stephens interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: So he's talking up the subs to the Germans; what about talking up the subs to Abbott—the Abbott federal Liberal government? What about talking up the submarine contract to his federal Liberal mates who are quite prepared to simply renege on a promise? Shame on them, and shame on the Hon. Terry Stephens!

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