Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I had the good fortune on the weekend to hear the South Australian Treasurer, Kevin Foley, speak at the state ALP convention. He made the very salient point that not only is Australia the best-performing economy in the OECD but South Australia, my home state, is the best-performing state in the country. While the Adelaide Crows may not have won this year’s AFL premiership—nor for that matter did Port Adelaide—South Australia has delivered impressive results this year in growth and economic development.

As one of South Australia’s Labor senators, it gives me a great sense of pride to place my state under the spotlight because, despite the tough times our nation is currently experiencing, South Australia, led by the Rann Labor government, is leading the nation. Adelaide and South Australia have it all. Where else in Australia can you buy a three-bedroom town house within the city square mile for less than $400,000, have an airport 10 minutes from the CBD—you cannot have that in Hobart—and enjoy an old-fashioned counter meal in a city pub for less than $5 or dine out at a typical restaurant for $25 a head?

Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McEwen interjecting—

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McEwen is agreeing very strongly here. You can be less than an hour’s drive from fabulous palate-tingling wineries such as those of the Barossa Valley or the Southern Vales and a flagon’s throw from the exceptional family-friendly beaches that are the envy of the nation. Even Adelaide’s rush hour generally lasts less than 60 minutes—you will be interested in that, Mr Acting Deputy President Forshaw, coming from Sydney—and all this is in a city of one million people.

South Australia has about eight per cent of the national population, but it is proof that small is good and the best things come in tiny packages. As I mentioned at the outset, the South Australian economy is in good shape. The world financial crisis may be affecting many other countries, but Australia and South Australia, thanks to the Rudd and Rann Labor governments and the targeted stimulus spending they have undertaken, have avoided recession. Recently released statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that in the June quarter Australia’s GDP rose by 0.6 per cent, while the state final demand increased by 1.3 per cent. That represents an increase of 5.2 per cent over the past year in seasonally adjusted terms and means that South Australia recorded the strongest annual growth in state final demand of all the Australian states and territories.

None of that happened by accident. South Australia worked hard to ensure that it regained its prized international AAA credit rating in 2004 and it has held onto it ever since, despite the recent worldwide financial downturn. Since the beginning of the decade, South Australia’s business investment is up by 57.3 per cent, employment has grown by almost 17 per cent and merchandise exports are 37.8 per cent as at the end of June 2009. South Australia currently has more than $40 billion worth of major projects either underway or in the pipeline. I will repeat that for you, Mr Acting Deputy President: $40 billion worth of projects either underway or in the pipeline.

The Rann Labor government was the first in Australia to draft a state strategic plan for economic and population growth, prosperity and wellbeing, with targets that were set over a decade and some stretching through to 2050. It initially contained 84 clearly defined targets covering areas as diverse as business competitiveness, sustainability, innovation and fostering closer communities. Last year, when the Rann government revised the plan and lifted the number of targets to 98, audits conducted by an independent and expert committee reported that the state had achieved, or was on track to achieve, more than 50 per cent of its targets.

South Australia’s economic strength is underpinned by the mining and defence industries, which in recent years have undergone unprecedented expansion. When the Rann Labor government came to office in 2002, South Australia had four operating mines. This year the number will reach double figures and by the end of next year it is expected to reach 16. Mineral exports for the year to February 2009 totalled $3.1 billion, which is around 30 per cent of our state’s total merchandise exports. The mining industry is not only delivering jobs and economic benefits to centres where these resources are located but creating opportunities in the engineering and science sectors, for tradespeople and for service industries in metropolitan Adelaide and regional areas.

The government has also fought aggressively to establish South Australia as the nation’s undisputed defence hub—including among the contracts it has won the $8 billion Air Warfare Destroyer project—while the federal government’s recently released defence white paper has confirmed that 12 next-generation submarines will also be constructed in Adelaide. That contract, believed to be worth $30 billion, represents the biggest defence contract ever awarded in Australia and helps to ensure the industry’s long-term future in South Australia.

South Australia is also taking a leadership role in the crucial area of renewable energy and currently has around half of Australia’s wind power capacity and about 25 per cent of the nation’s grid-connected domestic solar photovoltaic capacity. Since 2002, the state has attracted more than 90 per cent of the national investment in exploration and proof-of-concept projects for geothermal energy—or ‘hot rocks’, as it is known. I was up there at Geodynamics a couple of weeks ago. Geoscience Australia estimates that if just one per cent of Australia’s geothermal energy were extracted it would equate to 26,000 times the nation’s total energy consumption.

South Australia in 2007 became the world’s third jurisdiction to pass dedicated climate change legislation and has a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 60 per cent of 1990 levels by 2050. The state is also on target to reach its goal of generating 20 per cent of its power needs from renewable green sources by 2014. Of course, the new desalination plant will be entirely provided for by that energy. As a result, the South Australian government has set itself an even more ambitious target of sourcing 33 per cent of its power from renewable sources by 2020. Even by global standards that is a bold aim, particularly in a state that does not have any hydroelectricity.

Earlier this year, South Australia became the first Australian state to ban the single-use plastic carry bags issued by retail outlets. This ban will remove about 400 million plastic bags a year from the state’s waste and litter streams. South Australia recently launched Australia’s first and only television and computer monitor glass recycling plant, which each year is expected to recycle glass from more than 300,000 TV and computer screens.

South Australia will spend a record $11.4 billion in infrastructure projects over the next four years, with this expenditure supporting an estimated 14,000 jobs over that period. South Australia is rolling out a range of projects, many of which are supported by the Rudd government. This includes a doubling of the capacity of the new $1.8 billion desalination plant to provide Adelaide with up to half its annual water use and assure its water supply for decades. South Australia leads the nation by currently recycling around 30 per cent of its waste water, with that level to be increased to 45 per cent by 2013. In conjunction with the federal government, South Australia is embarking on a 10-year, $610 million Murray Futures program to help protect the Murray River.

The Rudd government is also partnering with the Rann government in the upgrade and expansion of the state’s public transport networks, including the re-sleepering and electrification of the Gawler rail line and the extension of the Seaford line. The state government has also begun work on the extension of the tramline from the city proper to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. In addition, its health services have received $200 million from the Rudd government to build a new health and medical research facility adjacent to the proposed new $1.7 billion Royal Adelaide Hospital. The new centre will house up to 675 researchers and become an integral part of this world-class health precinct. Of course, Adelaide is also famous for its festival of arts. It is little wonder that the Economist has voted it one of the world’s most liveable cities, offering a high quality of life and the lowest cost of living of all Australian mainland capitals.