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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-06-17 Daily Xml
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Unemployment Figures

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:03): Supplementary question: does the minister think that it was insensitive of her as the Minister for Employment to have been gloating or boasting that the unemployment figures had indicated an increased level of confidence in the state's jobs market at a time when so many people were becoming unemployed, and the recorded level of unemployment was 7.6 per cent?

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: Joe Hockey will give you a lesson in being insensitive. 'Get a good job'! Hypocrisy!

The PRESIDENT: Order! Will the honourable minister please allow your leader to answer the question.

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) (15:03): It is gross hypocrisy in terms of the federal Treasurer's recent comments, but I will not be distracted. I was asked to comment on a number of the outcomes in terms of ABS figures that were released for May that included comments around the increased unemployment rates, and I certainly expressed my disappointment with that and talked at length about what sort of things might be causing that to happen and what sort of things this state government has put in place to address that problem. I was also asked to comment on the participation rates, and I did so, and also was asked to comment on the youth unemployment rate, which dropped significantly by 10 points.

Again, being completely open and honest, when the commentator suggested that that was a very positive result for South Australia I indicated that, although it was a move in the right direction, it was a figure that I felt was completely unreliable. A drop of 10 points in a one-month period is a very unreliable figure and would indicate that it is probably due to the very small sample size and not a real indication of what is happening with youth. As I said, I gave a very honest and open outline of a range of the key figures that were released and, in particular, as I said, the very disappointing result of the increase in our unemployment rate and our intense efforts to put initiatives in place to address that.

The PRESIDENT: Supplementary, the Hon. Mr Lucas.

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