Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In February 2010 the South Australian Premier stood up at his party's campaign launch and promised to create 100,000 new jobs by 2016. At the time, people said it was the sort of promise he might never be measured on. Now we are in a position where we can see how the South Australian government is tracking. After five years, the South Australian government is not close to creating 100,000 jobs; there are actually fewer jobs in South Australia than there were in 2010. There is a very telling graph that Alan Kohler has shown on the ABC and it has been printed in the Advertiser. The graph shows that while job creation is occurring in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia in South Australia and Tasmania it is flatlining. Emeritus Professor Dick Blandy has said that the South Australian economy is no longer connected to the mainstream economy. That is a disgrace. It is a serious matter for South Australia.

When we look at the latest Australian Bureaus of Statistics data, we see that South Australia has recorded its worst trend unemployment rate in 13 years. The unemployment rate has increased from 6.5 per cent to 6.9 per cent, seasonally adjusted, over the last few months and is now the highest in the nation. There are 3,100 fewer jobs in South Australia than there were 12 months ago. What has been the response of the state government? It has introduced a car park tax and it has increased the emergency services levy. Dick Blandy has said that what is required is to foster a culture where start-ups and innovation can occur. There are great possibilities with the SAMRI, the new medical health and research precinct, but we need a culture that encourages the commercialisation of that research.

Unfortunately, South Australia now has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, by trend and seasonally adjusted data. The participation rate has dropped, indicating that many people have given up work. Last year, more than 200,000 jobs were created Australia-wide. It is very disappointing that we are not seeing the same in South Australia. It is not a matter of playing the blame game, but we do need to see a culture where people are prepared to have a go, to take on new staff and to expand new business.