Matt Williams (Hindmarsh, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today is budget day for South Australia. This should be a day of great expectation and great hope for South Australians. Thankfully, the state government has finally done something about the taxes in South Australia and taken away the levy for the River Murray. But there are more taxes and levies that they need to reduce, which have been far too high for far too long. Unfortunately, South Australia has been let down by a series of state Labor treasurers. The current treasurer, Tom Koutsantonis, again promises a surplus in the future, but as we have seen from Labor in federal parliament: who would believe they could deliver surpluses? I doubt the budget being delivered shortly will ensure the return of the state's AAA credit rating, which results in higher interest payments on the sizeable state government debt. But I do know that it means the state government will be unable to meet its promise to create 100,000 jobs by 2016. This is very disappointing.

South Australia has not had very much good news from the state government lately, and the jobs figures released last week show that South Australia has the highest unemployment rate in the country, and this is in spite of a fall in the unemployment rate nationally due to many of the job creating policies of the coalition government. These policies are helping jobs growth, helping families and helping the country. The good news is that we can turn around the South Australian economy as well, in spite of the high business taxes we face from the state government.

The other good news is that the coalition government will pick up the slack with our pro jobs policies, which include the $20,000 instant asset write-off. There are some two million Australian small businesses that are eligible to benefit from this initiative. The great news for these two million small businesses is that this week the Senate has passed the legislation for this initiative, which means that small businesses can go out and invest with confidence. Given that 96 per cent of businesses have a turnover of less than $2 million, these businesses will benefit from a 1.5 per cent tax cut from 1 July 2015. This is the lowest tax rate delivered to small business since 1967. For South Australia, this is particularly important as we are a small business state.

However, we are not focused on only one area. The federal government has announced five Industry Growth Centres, which, when established, will help drive growth around Australia where we have competitive advantages. They include advanced manufacturing; food and agribusiness; medical technologies and pharmaceuticals; mining equipment, technology and services; and oil, gas and energy resources. Close to $200 million has been provided to these sectors to lift competitiveness and productivity by focusing on areas of competitive strength. Each of these sectors has specific goals. For example, the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre will support collaboration between Australian manufacturers and research organisations, and help SMEs to diversify into new high-value products and services.

Over the last year I have visited Thermo Fisher in the Burbridge business park and Scantech in my electorate. Both manufacture advanced equipment, which is used by many of the world's largest resource companies. The Food and Agribusiness Growth Centre will help us to work together in the sectors where we have already got a stronghold. With the Northern Australia Plan, launched today—a great initiative—companies like Philmac and Clarke Energy, who undertake a significant amount of business in Northern Australia, will be particularly excited about the opportunities going forward. Philmac recently received a government grant of $2.4 million to help the future of their company. Also as part of the good news stories for companies, Giganis Bros, a great South Australian family business, announced 50 new jobs this week. The Medical Technologies and Pharmaceuticals Growth Centre will develop and implement a roadmap to ensure that we successfully commercialise research into profitable products and services. We have the medical health research fund. SAMHRI, the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, employs thousands of people and is doing some important and serious research.

In terms of mining equipment, technology and services, I visited Robin James Engineering, a great South Australian company. I thank Dean Cook and several of his staff for the good that they are doing and the ambitious growth plans they have. There are several ways in which a government can help an economy, including by encouraging innovation like the growth centres but also by encouraging entrepreneurs—entrepreneurs like Tammy May from MyBudget and Anthony Kittel from Redarc—to have skin in the game. That is why the employee share ownership scheme is such a great initiative.

Yesterday, we had the signing of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement—the third major trade agreement signed with one of our biggest trading partners. Importantly, the trade agreement will create jobs. There are 178,000 more jobs expected to be created and $17 billion worth of goods. By 2035, Australian households will be an extra $4,500 better off. We are a small market, but we have to take advantage of these international opportunities from free trade agreements. Take education. We had Minister Pyne today talk about the growth in student numbers. In South Australia, there are 8,000 full-time equivalent jobs in education. There are great opportunities and a great future for our state and our country.

House adjourned at 17 : 00