- GREAT DEBATE: Watch Jay Weatherill and Steven Marshall debate each other live on adelaidenow from 12.55pm Friday
- EXCLUSIVE POLL: State Liberals surge to huge lead over Labor
SOUTH Australia must be more innovative and outward-looking if it is to grow its economy and become a regional manufacturing and resources hub, Premier Jay Weatherill says.
Mr Weatherill this morning released an economic statement outlining four major economic priorities for the state going forward:
GROWING advanced manufacturing
SPREADING the benefits of the mining boom
A FOCUS on premium food and wine
CREATING a vibrant city.
To achieve these aims the state must better foster innovation and be more "outward looking", including embracing markets such as Asia.
Mr Weatherill said a continued contribution by the State Government to the economy would also be crucial.
The economic response has been hotly anticipated in industry circles since the Olympic Dam expansion delay but many may see it as a motherhood statement.
The 130-page document contains no new funding commitments and many of its key points have been previously announced by government.
In response to a push by the business sector for tax relief, the document says it should be a "priority" for government but only "when budgetary circumstances allow".
EXCLUSIVE POLL: State Liberals surge to huge lead over Labor
Mr Weatherill said the statement would act as a blueprint for business and the community.
Among its aims - which Mr Weatherill said would be seen by some as "outrageously ambitious" - it suggests SA become the mining services hub of Australia, offering affordable accommodation for workers in the resource sectors of Queensland and Western Australia.
"We must make choices about backing the businesses that are inventing the new products, designing the new services and taking them to the world," Mr Weatherill said.
"South Australia has always worked best when we have had strong government working with strong business."
Mr Weatherill's statement comes ahead of his hour-long economic debate with Opposition Leader Steven Marshall at the Adelaide Convention Centre today from 1pm.
Mr Marshall plans to exploit Mr Weatherill's "part-time" role as Treasurer in the face-off.
He has accused Mr Weatherill of avoiding talking about the economy "like the plague" since taking over as Treasurer in a reshuffle in late January.
"I look forward to ... exposing Premier Weatherill as a part-time Treasurer whose Government has led the state to the brink of financial ruin," he said. "Today is about highlighting to South Australian families and the business community that their struggles are a direct result of the Weatherill Labor Government and its economic mismanagement."
Before releasing his economic statement, Mr Weatherill said it would be "a candid assessment" of the economy and the challenges that South Australia faces.
"It will show the clear choices that the Government is making and the change in mindset and approach we need to make as a community," he told today's Advertiser.
The economic response has been hotly anticipated in industry circles since the Olympic Dam expansion delay. Mr Weatherill is presiding over a budget weighed down by $14 billion debt and deficits that have grown to $1.2 billion this year.
Latest jobs data released yesterday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed SA's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell by 0.3 per cent in February to 5.8 per cent.
The debate has been organised by the Property Council of Australia to mark one year to the State election. The leaders will be questioned in front of about 700 guests by a panel including The Advertiser's state political editor Daniel Wills and the University of Adelaide's head of history and politics, Clem Macintyre.
Both leaders will make an opening statement and have the chance to rebut their opponent's answers.
Meanwhile, an Abbott government could consider changes to how GST is distributed, which the Government says would leave the smaller states of Tasmania and South Australia worse off.
Treasury analysis shows SA would lose $1 billion a year if the Coalition handed out the GST on a per capita basis, a plan Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has said "makes a lot of sense".
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét