South Australia is a state with a bicameral parliament. The lower house is the House of Assembly and the upper house is the Legislative Council.
Continuing our commitment to Medicare-subsidised telehealth. Expanding our successful wage subsidies to support tradies and apprentices in SA. Supporting SA’s defence industry with record funding, and strong border policies to disrupt people smuggling.
Employment
The State Government is committed to supporting a strong economy in South Australia. This includes maintaining economic growth and supporting jobs. The State Government is also responsible for managing the budget and reducing debt. This will help to ensure that South Australian households are better able to afford the cost of living.
The state has a diverse and growing economy, with strong performances in resources, agriculture, technology and services. Employment in the state is relatively stable. However, the state’s proximity to full employment limits future growth possibilities.
South Australia’s economy is dominated by service industries, which make up more than half of the state’s total employment. These sectors include tourism, health care and education. However, they are vulnerable to global and domestic economic changes.
In addition, South Australia’s population growth and density is lower than most other states. This makes it more difficult to attract investment and create new jobs. In order to address this issue, the state government has been focusing on growing the economy by attracting more businesses and creating new jobs.
It has done this by providing tax relief for small businesses and cutting business taxes. More than 257,000 small SA companies have received tax relief since the Coalition was elected. The State Government is also expanding home ownership opportunities by increasing the number of loans that allow SA families to purchase homes with a deposit of less than five percent. The State Government is also investing in new skills and education. It has increased the wage subsidies for apprentices and establishing new programs to help disadvantaged young people into work.
The government is also making major improvements to aged care. It has introduced a $19.1 billion support package in response to the Royal Commission and is funding around 160,000 additional home care packages nationally. It is also investing in SA’s defence industry, with $2.6 billion being invested at Edinburgh Defence Precinct and Keswick Barracks over the next decade.
The Government is also ensuring that all workers, regardless of citizenship or visa status, are protected by laws that prevent exploitation. The State Government is working to reduce forced casualisation, increase job security and promote flexible working arrangements. It is implementing strategies to improve work-life balance and is supporting trade unions in their efforts to protect worker rights.
Taxes
South Australia is a state in the Commonwealth of Australia, and since its establishment in 1856 has had a bicameral parliament. Its lower house, the House of Assembly, has 47 members representing single-member electoral districts and its upper house, the Legislative Council, has 22 members elected at large in the state. Voting is by universal suffrage and compulsory, and legislation requires the assent of both houses.
South Australian governments have tended to emphasize high-technology growth and the attraction of imported capital connected with high value-added industries. They have also promoted the availability of cheap land and wages, a stable workforce, better industrial relations, low taxes, and strong government support for new industry.
During the global financial crisis, SA’s economy suffered a severe blow due to the loss of overseas investment and lower commodity prices. Despite this, there are signs that the state’s recovery is underway and its economic future looks promising. Grain growers are expecting a bumper harvest this year, while labour market conditions continue to remain robust. Combined with recent improvements in supply chain functioning and stronger business investment, this will help ease capacity constraints on the state’s key sectors.
The state’s tax regime is a key factor in its economic competitiveness. In particular, it has one of the most competitive state royalty regimes for petroleum – including natural gas and petroleum gas liquids – in the world, and it also maintains a low marginal income tax rate. In addition, the state has no capital gains tax, and its property taxes are among the lowest in the nation.
In addition to these tax measures, the Coalition has committed to:
Investing in our young people by boosting education spending and increasing university scholarships. Providing a boost to frontline domestic violence services and introducing one-off Escaping Violence Payments. Continuing to provide support for small businesses, by extending the instant asset write-off and extending loss carry back. Keeping SA’s bank taxes the lowest in Australia, and ensuring there are no new taxes on Australian small businesses under a re-elected Coalition Government.
Regulation
South Australia is a state in the Australian country, and is governed by the Westminster system of government. The Governor of the state, appointed by the monarch, acts as the formal head of state. The legislature is a bicameral body consisting of the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly, both of which are elected by proportional representation.
In the 1850s, the state implemented some of the most advanced democratic reforms in the British Empire: triennial parliaments, manhood suffrage and property franchises for both houses, secret ballots and a constitutional court. The colony’s experimentation, however, was checked by the recurring financial crises of the time.
By the 1990s, South Australia was in a doldrums, with higher unemployment and slower economic growth than the rest of the nation. A new economic policy sought growth opportunities, including a new focus on information technology and grain and wine exports. It also became receptive to plans for the exploitation of natural gas fields and the extraordinary ore bodies at Olympic Dam.
The state’s government agencies are responsible for a wide range of functions. These include providing grants to local governments for a variety of purposes, such as parks and open spaces. They are also responsible for the administration of land titles, water and sewerage services and a number of other key infrastructure projects. The agencies are also responsible for delivering public education and training programs.
Councils must undertake a review of their electoral boundaries every eight years. This process is overseen by the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission, a panel made up of a senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court and the Deputy Surveyor-General. Changes to the composition or structure of a council, such as creation, alteration or deletion of wards, are referred to the Minister of Local Government for approval.
The ePlanning platform allows applicants to lodge applications for a development permit online. The system then assesses and processes the application, and provides a tracking service for the progress of each application. It also connects councils that are seeking assessment panel members with accredited professionals. Its website also contains a directory of registered experts and consultants.
Growth
Despite the recent slowdown in global economic activity, South Australia’s economy remains resilient, operating at a high level of capacity utilisation with low unemployment. Strong household consumption and business investment have driven growth over the past two years, supported by strong agricultural production and high commodity prices. These conditions are expected to continue, although the rate of growth is likely to be below the pace set through 2022. Higher interest rates and increasing cost of living pressures will temper discretionary spending.
In response, the State Government will establish a new $100 million Economic Recovery Fund to support businesses to invest in their own growth. The Fund replaces the previous Government’s Jobs and Economic Growth Program and will provide manufacturing innovation grants through several rounds.
The Morrison Government is committed to additional tax and cost-of-living relief, including further tax cuts for more than 760,000 SA workers and childcare reforms that will reduce the average hourly out-of-pocket costs of SA families by 11 per cent. The Government is also investing in essential infrastructure, including the delivery of mobile blackspots and broadband upgrades, and boosting our defence capability with a commitment to continuous naval shipbuilding at Osborne. The Government is also delivering record funding for SA hospitals, Medicare-subsidised telehealth, a new rural health workforce, regional health services, including a brain and spinal unit at the Repatriation Hospital, more access to MRI machines in regional areas and further investment in mental health, continuing the Early Psychosis Youth Services program and expanding endometriosis clinics.
South Australian governments have long sought new sources of growth, often focusing on industries with lower capital intensity and easier to protect from international competition, such as food processing and manufacture of motor vehicles and household appliances. Under Donald Dunstan’s leadership in the 1970s, the state became highly image-conscious, and he pledged to make South Australia the technological, design and social reform centre of Australia. But sustained economic growth faltered as tariff protection eroded and the state’s industry base was exposed to shifts in international trade patterns.
The Malinauskas Government has recently made a bold commitment to increase the amount of State government procurement that is spent with local businesses, rather than interstate and overseas suppliers. This will be achieved through a new rule which requires that public authorities publish data on how many contracts they award to SA businesses versus those from other states or countries.