First five years: Jay Weatherill has great powers of advocacy but still has little to show

FIVE years ago, when Jay Weatherill replaced Mike Rann as Premier, South Australia felt itself on the edge of great and dramatic change. We evaluate how much has really changed under his term.

Jay Weatherill has great powers of advocacy but still has little to show after five years in office.

• ANNIVERSARY: Weatherill marks five years on the job
• LATEST: SA’s jobless rate the worst in Australia
• BLACKOUT REPORT: New storm of blame focuses on wind fail
• JAY WEATHERILL: My plan for SA is taking shape
• STEVEN MARSHALL: Dark years and Jay can’t keep lights on

FIVE years ago, South Australia felt itself on the edge of great and dramatic change.

Major mining and manufacturing projects were within arm’s reach, promising a huge boost to jobs and investment and there were promises of a physical overhaul of the city centre that would represent in steel and stone the confident new outlook of a state that was on a fast rise.

In the first State Budget handed down under Premier Jay Weatherill’s watch, the State Government crowed: “SA will be a very different place in a few years”.

It promised an expanded Olympic Dam mine “will be operating” alongside dozens of others, the future submarine project would be “in full swing” and Australia’s most advanced hospital would be open at the west end of North Tce and “looking after the health needs of our citizens”.

Much remains the same today, including the government. And on the issue that counts most to parents trying to imagine a future for their children, SA on Thursday was confirmed in unemployment figures as Australia’s jobless leader.

The Premier on Thursday said his greatest achievement was expanding what South Australians think is possible for themselves, which appeared to many to be more of a hope than a plan.

Mr Weatherill came to the job with a distinctly political mission, and has remained supreme since.

The Right faction of the Labor Party held its nose and put a leader of the progressive Left in charge, believing only he could lead it to a victory that few truly felt would be realised.

The same incredible powers of persuasion which Mr Weatherill used to win over his colleagues, and form minority government in 2014, are also the source of his biggest achievements in office.

Aside from Labor’s political success of keeping power, two victories of long-term benefit for the state have been won in the Weatherill era. Both are triumphs of campaigning.

Two prime ministers have been forced to wilt in the face of strident demands from SA.

Julia Gillard in 2012 agreed to a River Murray reform plan aimed at ensuring water flows which would prevent the collapse of the Lower Lakes and safeguard Adelaide’s supplies.

This year, Malcolm Turnbull gave in to demands that his Coalition keep its promise and build subs in SA.

Everyone rushed to take credit for these victories. They were, of course, the product of a range of factors including pressure from popular polls, political partisans and media campaigning driven by The Advertiser. Mr Weatherill clearly deserves a substantial share of the plaudits, the size of which is debatable.

The State Government can take credit for the positive change that has occurred in the CBD, a direct result of public money being poured into the Adelaide Oval and an eventual willingness to take on established interests in the hotel lobby and permit small bars.

But you would struggle to find a person who is on balance more optimistic about the state’s future today than they were in 2011 when Mr Weatherill took the stage.

The hammer blow that came with the Olympic Dam expansion being shelved was followed by a string of even worse news. Holden has been in slow atrophy since late 2013, and will be shuttered next year. The mining and gas sectors have shed hundreds of jobs as commodity prices collapsed.

The Port Augusta power station and Leigh Creek coal mine closed, badly wounding communities.

Power and water prices have remained around the nation’s highest, and huge increases in the Emergency Services Levy have further raised cost of living concerns.

The Families SA Royal Commission was a devastating tome of administrative and moral failure in an agency meant to protect the most vulnerable, and rolling controversy over Transforming Health continues to dent confidence in the Government’s handling of other vital public services. The new Royal Adelaide Hospital has the potential to be either a huge success, or disaster.

Recently, there’s been the almost comical ineptitude of a murderer escaping from pre-release while another crim was turned away by police after asking to be locked up. Even in the apparently bad old days of the Rann administration, the Government was always able to bang the law and order drum when things got tough to reclaim a boost in support.

The finding of maladministration in the Gillman land deal also raised profound questions about the conduct of ministers and their competency in managing public assets.

Plus there was the night when SA literally couldn’t keep the lights on.

On Thursday, trend unemployment hit 6.7 per cent as SA regained the humiliating mantle of Australia’s highest jobless rate. The rate in SA hit a peak of 7.8 per cent in August last year, and was a more respectable 5.2 per cent when Mr Weatherill became Premier five years ago.

One of the strongest things in his favour remains the lack of a powerful alternative. With all the ammunition on offer, the Opposition has failed to improve its electoral position on a two-party basis since the last election and the next one is shaping still as an even contest.

Mr Weatherill thrives in campaigns; he has another lengthy one ahead of him, with a soft start next year in the wind-up for a 2018 election.

Labor will again promise change, using its decision to take on nuclear storage as well as pushing renewable energy as evidence. Mr Weatherill will call on his powers of advocacy to convince voters it’s change to believe in.

ANALYSIS OF STATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT

By Daniel Wills

NO spin can obscure the stark reality of these numbers.

As Premier Jay Weatherill yesterday celebrated five years in the top job, South Australia returned to leading the nation in the one category it can least afford to stand out.

The latest unemployment figures have SA falling back to being the place in Australia where it is hardest to find a job, and show that just 2300 more have been created than lost under his tenure.

The big movement in the figures is a large improvement in Tasmania’s position, as SA stagnated.

Aside from one short month, SA has now been bottom of the table for a year and a half.

But you wouldn’t know it from listening to the rhetoric of the Government.

Mr Weatherill yesterday wrote in The Advertiser, just before the unemployment figures were released, that “there are signs our plan is starting to deliver” as he modernised the economy and expanded “the possibilities South Australians see for themselves and their families”.

It would be very interesting to take a poll at train stations across the state this morning and in the pubs this evening to see if a single person can be found who agrees with those statements.

There’d be few takers in Whyalla or Elizabeth. Maybe some on North Tce. This is not the anniversary present Labor wanted, especially with just 18 months to turn things around.