The New South Australia

[AG]

AG, I tend to agree with your sentiments however I feel it is imperative that we address the failings that are only going to get worse if we spin a black sheet over them and hope they go away.

This is where we should be treating the State Bank fiasco as a lesson to be learnt, rather than as a failure. I'm not suggesting we ignore what happened, but learn from it and move on rather than resting on our past and moving nowhere.

That Chicken Little must be really kicking in your head PhilM, because every post made so far has been nothing short of negativity.

[PhilM]

Muzzamo,

Apart from apathy, can you name a greater threat to the future of this great state?

If this was 1990 and I was talking about the State Bank, you would be siding with Tim Marcus-Clarke. Think about it, WorkCover has generated more debt and faster than the State Bank did and as with the State Bank pre 1991, noone is talking about it!

[frank1]

Phil M, let's move on from an onslought of negativeity and adress the topic 'The New South Australia' not step backwards playing the blame game. I don't see any suggestions/solutions/ideas being posted, just you venting some political dribble.

[PhilM]

I completely agree, lets learn from the mistakes of the past, do everything we can to ensure it doesn't happen again and move forward.

We all accept that in the past we had a petulant and narcissistic chairman of a Statutory authority nearly bankrupt SA!

Today we have an equally petulant, exceedingly narcissistic Chairman of a Statutory body who is about to foist a 2 Billion dollar debt on SA.

So do we sit on our hands and say nothing or do we as Abby Mallard in Chicken Little said " ... keep searching for Band-Aid solutions and never deal with the problem?"

[SRW]

SA on verge of boom
ABC News Online

A report on the state's economy shows South Australia is on the verge of a boom.

The ANZ economic update shows strong growth across the state, with the mining industry leading the way.

Employment figures and wages are on the rise, which is driving up the median house price.

But a slow population growth is holding the state back.

Senior economist Mark Rodriges says with mining starting to draw more people to South Australia that trend should start to be reversed.

But he says the pressure is on for South Australia to make the most of the impending mining boom.

"The challenges I guess for the state planners and State Government is to accommodate that investment, to make sure that things proceed as smoothly as possible, particularly in the area of infrastructure and development," he said.

The Opposition leader, Martin Hamilton-Smith, says the State Government needs to make sure it strikes the best possible deal with BHP Billiton over its proposed Olympic Dam mine expansion.

He says if the company decides to process ore from Olympic Dam overseas, it would have devastating effects for South Australia.

"The Government needs to ensure that BHP develops that ore deposit here in South Australia and that we don't have people fly in and fly out of the mine site from other states so that jobs are created in Sydney and Melbourne and not in Adelaide and in the Upper Spencer Gulf," he said.

[UrbanSG]

Can ANZ make up its mind. I thought only a few months ago South Australia was in recession according to one of their reports. We already know about the mining boom thanks ANZ. The question really is what effect will a possible impending world recession and a reduction in financial instiution lending capability bring. It would have to dent our state's growth potential if it becomes as serious as some are suggesting.

[AG]

All time high for SA jobs
January 17, 2008 04:00pm
SOUTH Australia's labour market continues to improve with a record 775,300 people now in work, the state government says.

Premier Mike Rann said full-time employment had also reached a record 535,600 with 2,300 new jobs created in December.

"Over the last year 97 per cent of all jobs created in South Australia were full-time jobs," Mr Rann said.

"This continues the excellent track record of full-time job creation in South Australia under this government with three out of every four jobs created since March 2002 being full-time."

The premier's comments followed the release of latest employment figures today which put the jobless rate in SA in December up marginally from 4.8 to 4.9 per cent.

Mr Rann said this "steady" unemployment rate was a major achievement in light of the significant increase in labour force participation which normally caused the jobless rate to rise.

"Labour market participation, in trend terms, has now risen in this state for seven consecutive months," he said.

"This means that South Australians are showing confidence in their prospects of winning a job in the strong labour market and more are now actively looking for work."

[Brando]

PhilM, i for one do not at all appreciate you calling my home town, the city i love (see below)

For now however I think our number plate may as well call it like it is. SA - State of Despair

State of Despair!!!! Sorry mate, but your kidding me aren't you? Adelaide has come forward leaps and bounds and we still have a long way to go. Some of your comments may have some merit and priorities need to be addressed, but we must also capitalise on the future and what is in store for this state if we are to move forward more.
We can't click our fingers and be where we want to be as a state. Maybe you should learn a bit from a Frederick Douglas quote.
"If there is no struggle, there is no progress"

We have had the struggle, now let the progress begin.

[Brando]

Can ANZ make up its mind. I thought only a few months ago South Australia was in recession according to one of their reports.

That was just the view and opinion of one of their Economist. Not the view of ANZ bank.

[UrbanSG]

Whilst not being the official view of the ANZ at the time, the bank did suggest the ANZ economist's report did have merit. It just seems funny, one minute one report suggests a recession then another from the same bank suggests boom times.

I would say boom times are happening right now. I for one would love to see this continue but we have to realise if the world economy were to slow dramtically we would be impacted. Some economists have suggested Australia is immune from this thanks to developing country demand but this is definately not the case. I do think SA would weather any world economic turmoil far better now than it did in the late 80's/early 90's but it would still have a negative effect. Let's hope the boom times keep rolling and it can finally be our state's turn in the fastlane.

[frank1]

Let's hope the boom times keep rolling and it can finally be our state's turn in the fastlane.

Totally agree. I'm sick of the news about melbourne in the fastlane and want to hear more about adelaide's progress as it is our turn now. Move over victoria, here we come

[Will]

The new South Australia is not only about economic development, but it will also be cultural and lifestyle.

From the Sydney Morning Herald

City of lunches



October 14, 2007


Belinda Jackson worships at the altar of gourmet cooking in Adelaide.

SLICK cafes have sprung up like mushrooms in the warm spring sun, moody new bars where you can crack the cork on the next big thing are de rigueur and late-night restaurants mean sating your gourmet tooth at midnight is easier than grabbing a post-nightclub greasy lamb monster. Where? Adelaide. Yes, Adelaide.

Those in the eastern states (as they refer to anyone past the NSW border) still haven't cottoned on, but Adelaide's central business district, friends, is finally hip.

Gouger Street, which includes Adelaide's answer to Chinatown, is the hottest strip in town. But forget dodgy beef-and-black-bean mess; now, the only place on the strip for Chinese is the sparkling new, up-market Concubine.

Book for a late lunch - say 1.30pm - and snaffle a table in the window so you can watch the comings and goings of the busy strip. Call for the wine list and the whole barramundi, the Barossa organic chook and the buttery bok choy, then kick back as the sun pours through the plate glass.

Upstairs, the Shanghai Room has sweet little silk-covered stools perched around lacquered tables - perfect for late night tete-a-tetes.

What would one do in a bar named after a notorious, gun-toting cocaine drug lord? Um, drink a McLaren Vale shiraz? The surprising number of shiny ledges and tables in Escobar are a curious design addition by Melbourne designers Blackmilk, but the mysterious booths cloaked in sheer curtains and the not-so-private private rooms, separated by glass from the hoi polloi, tickle the snoot bone.

Who doesn't want to feel like a VIP every now and again? Mind you, the bar prices match, as Escobar pitches at the over-30s crowd - but if you've a lazy $180, rack up a bottle of the Bordeaux and beg chef Hugo to knock up some of his sensational truffle roti - sounds like a cultural custard, but trust us, it'll have you sobbing like a five-year-old when it's gone.

In fact, go the whole hog and grab a share plate of the black spice lamb, Argentinean tea-smoked duck and ceviche - raw, diced ocean trout on a tomato jelly.

Further down Gouger Street, Mesa Lunga is all antler chandeliers and Moorish tiling around a dark timber bar that was packed out when we visited on a dark, rainy Thursday evening.

Along the long, low shared table, punters picked at plates of tapas from the specials board or the standard menu, which includes prawns and a fabulously oily chorizo, or slithers of raw Bambi - aka the venison carpaccio - and sturdy mains include a spaghetti scoglio with half an ocean's seafood floating in swirling pasta.

[Shuz]

Rofl, is it just me or did I not understand half of what she said?
"...not-so-private private rooms, separated by glass from the hoi polloi, tickle the snoot bone."

[frank1]

LOL, agreed. It's very interesting writting.

[UrbanSG]

Despite the current global situation and stockmarket crash here is another generally positive economic report from today's adelaidenow website for SA (interesting to see another workcover comment by philM under this article on adelaidenow):

SA's 'window of opportunity' to capitalise on boom times
GREG KELTON, STATE EDITOR
January 22, 2008 01:10pm

SOUTH Australia has only a "short window of opportunity" to take advantage of the housing and mining booms before our ageing population becomes a burden.

A new Access Economics report released today warns the state's ageing population will eventually weigh down heavily on the state's economic prospects.

The report says the housing boom and the state's "spectacularly rich" mineral resources will be the main drivers in SA's economic revival.

Its release coincides with news that mining and housing supplier MAC Services Group will start making houses for Australia's remote mining communities from an Edinburgh Parks plant next month, employing 100 people and pumping $25 million a year into SA's economy.

Access Economics says SA has finally thrown off the lingering effects of its very sharp recession of the early 1990s.

It says Adelaide is "the standout" among state capitals for housing prices.

"As the state's cost and lifestyle advantages are becoming more pronounced as the long-running boom at the national level tightens available capacity elsewhere – housing affordability in SA is better than anywhere else in Australia except Tasmania," Access says.

In its report which says the state "has some good news ahead of it", Access also says:

RURAL recovery will lift output considerably.

THE massive Olympic Dam uranium and copper mine expansion is "the 400kg gorilla for the state" representing a "whopping" $3.6 billion in investment dollars.

EVEN though population growth has steadied, births are the highest seen in a decade and approvals for new homes continue to make good ground.

The Access Economics report comes just days after a separate ANZ report that also lauded our state's economic prospects.

Access Economics are usually very negative about SA's economy so this is a nice turn around.