There are a few things South Australians will no doubt remember about Labor’s health record, among them closing the Repat. It was a bad move.
They decided to build a new Royal Adelaide Hospital. Well overdue you might say. We had one of the most expensive build costs per square metre in the world… over time and over budget. That’s money that could have gone into providing health care but didn’t. Please, convince us that the story isn’t true that there were purpose-built rooms which, because of their shape and size, could only take certain brands of equipment. If that doesn’t make you suspicious you’re in la-la land. It doesn’t say much for their management ability. My guess is the reason there are only private rooms at the RAH is so that insured people who go there can be invoiced. In other words, they built close to a private hospital to make money rather than a hospital that could help more people.
Double standards came to mind when I saw the photo of the Leader of the Opposition displaying his well-buffed physique at a swimming pool. If a good looking female went to the pool in her bathers there may have been an outcry over a cheap stunt to attract sexist misogynistic coverage. But it’s ok for men? Seriously. Whichever media adviser set that up for Peter Malinauskas should be offered a different job, in my view. Why market your boss with a focus on physique? It made him look dopey and shallow and I don’t think he is either. If the marketing gurus want him to be taken seriously, coverage of Malinauskas-lite should not be encouraged.
The Adelaide Oval was a Labor build. It cost over $600 million – a motza in anyone’s language. It’s been great for football and great for the city. Malinauskas, Steven Marshall and I support the same team, the mighty Port Adelaide Football Club. But there are other sports like netball and basketball. A new stadium will be great for those sports and encourage more young people into sport. It will also be a venue for arts performances. It shouldn’t be news that not every performing arts concert can fill the Adelaide Oval.
We used to be the slowcoach in growth but the South Australian economy in 2020/21 was the fastest-growing of any state
Labor was happy to shell out hundreds of millions for the oval. They didn’t choose to put the money into the health system or education. Another double standard, because they now say we don’t need new sporting venues (as if everyone plays AFL ) and they’d put the money into health. You just can’t do one thing and say another and expect people who work hard for a living to not spot the hypocrisy.
South Australians with young children, young singles, people with a mortgage want a future. They want to be able to get a job or keep theirs. South Australia’s unemployment rate has dropped a full percentage point under the Marshall government. Payroll tax has been wound back with more reductions to come.
Tens of thousands more South Australians are employed than when Labor left office. Under the last Labor government, a AAA economic rating was downgraded to AA. Now at least it’s back up to AA+. That means xjmtzywconfidence which leads to growth. Land tax has been reduced making investment in South Australia more attractive than in Victoria.
We used to be the slowcoach in growth but the South Australian economy in 2020/21 was the fastest-growing of any state. That means jobs and security.
We are now well and truly at the front of new industries, like space and defence.
Under Labor, we suffered net migration out of South Australia. That’s been turned around. More people are coming here than are moving elsewhere. That’s another sign of confidence.
As for COVID, it’s hard to get a few people around a table to agree. It’s been a shocking, demanding task for governments. Disagree at the edges we may: the plain fact is we have come through this with far less impact than other states.
