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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-11-17 Daily Xml
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Single Touch Payroll

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (15:22): My question is to the Leader of the Government. Is the minister able to inform the chamber about what the latest Single Touch Payroll figures say about the state of the economy?

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! I call the Attorney-General.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:22): I thank the honourable member for his question. It is strange hearing the honourable member ask questions about Single Touch Payroll, but I am very happy to answer the question about informing the chamber about what the latest Single Touch Payroll figures say about the state of the economy.

I can let the honourable member know that the latest Single Touch Payroll figures, like any of the other Single Touch Payroll figures published before them, actually don't say much accurately about the state of the South Australian economy overall, which is something that I think we have learnt before in this chamber.

I am advised that the Australian Bureau of Statistics began collecting Single Touch Payroll data in 2020. The Australian Taxation Office receives a range of data from employers when employers run their payroll through a Single Touch Payroll system. Some of this data is then provided to the Australian Bureau of Statistics and published periodically. I understand the data was originally published fortnightly but is now produced monthly.

Unlike the labour force survey data, our members might be familiar with—from the ABS, which is generally regarded as a highly reliable figure—the Single Touch Payroll data measures payment through a payroll system, rather than people. It is an important distinction that I am advised has a number of implications.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics' website itself notes that, compared with the labour force statistics, the Single Touch Payroll figures use differences in concept, scope and methodology to produce these statistics and that can affect their interpretation as economic measures. As I think a number of commentators have said, the use of Single Touch Payroll data as an accurate reflection of the state of the economy is something that is probably best to be avoided, by the ABS's own statement.

The distinctions between the two have a number of important implications. It means that people who are normally employed but are not paid in the given reference period are not included in the Single Touch Payroll data, which is one particular reason it can be inaccurate and not properly reflect the state of the economy.

That means the data doesn't properly account for people on leave without pay or on temporary standdown or casual workers who didn't have a shift in the given pay period. It means that sole traders or owner-managers are not properly included in the data. It doesn't look at things from the perspective of the worker, meaning it can't offer any sort of picture of unemployment or underemployment in the economy. As we can see, it is a very limiting sort of measure to use. Really importantly, it is only available in its original form, without seasonal or trend adjustments.

What that means is that comparing one period to the next can be not just unreliable but actually might be downright misleading because it doesn't account for other factors influencing the economy. All this means that, to a layperson like the former Treasurer, the Hon. Rob Lucas, the data itself is far less reliable than the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Labour Force Survey, the sort of labour force survey data that shows a much more accurate record and picture of the economy.

I hope that goes some way to answering the honourable member's question. It is not fortnightly, but these statistics are now published monthly. If the honourable member would like to ask me this question every month, I am happy to go through again, on a monthly basis, why these measures don't accurately and properly reflect the state of the economy. As we know, the former Treasurer used to like to talk about these figures exceptionally often.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: I haven't finished, and I am being rudely interrupted by members of the opposition. I am happy to come back every month if the honourable member wishes to ask me every month. I might be able to find other reasons to talk about the Single Touch Payroll data and other ways we may have been misled in the past on these sorts of things.

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