Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My constituents, like the rest of South Australia, will be eagerly looking forward to the state budget this afternoon. It is, I think, in many ways the last roll of the dice for the Weatherill government. Already, the Premier has been out there saying that the budget is about creating jobs. That is a good thing. That is exactly what he said for the 2015 budget, the 2016 budget and now, of course, this budget. In that time, South Australia has been easily winning the unemployment stakes in Australia—a very sad thing indeed. In fact, we have 7.3 per cent unemployment. The next worse state is Queensland, with 6.3 per cent. The national average is 5.7 per cent. We are in a very dire state after 15½ years of Labor government. It is worth noting that our state net debt level is $13.6 billion. For a state the size of South Australia, that is a considerable and very onerous amount of money to be owing.

The government is beset by disasters and maladministration all around it, starting with the care of the aged and the disabled with the now disgraced Oakden facility. The child protection system is in complete disarray and there has been such a great number of children that have been harmed by those who are supposed to care for them. Our unemployment rate, as I said, has reached 7.3 per cent. We have a new hospital, which is 12 months late in opening, that is apparently is the third most expensive building in the world. What a wonderful thing to be able to brag about. Certainly, looking at the size, it is quite big, but I have seen much, much bigger and flashier places all over the world. I think we have to worry about the fact that it has not been delivered on time.

Then, of course, there is electricity. I have spoken in this place many times about the state of the South Australian electricity grid and what it is costing our state in terms of investment and population. Our children are moving out of the state at an ever-increasing rate. Our population is falling as a percentage of the Australian population. In fact, it is highly likely—it is on the cards—that South Australia will yet again lose another federal seat before the next federal election, which would reduce us to 10. We used to have 13, but, in the space of 20 years, we will come down to 10. That is a very clear indication of what is happening in South Australia. It is a tired government; it is out of ideas; it is time for a change. They have plunged my state, a state that I am very proud of, into disaster.