Coronavirus: ‘Rolling projects’ key to underpinning jobs, says Steven Marshall

States must approach stimulus spending in the same way that the RBA has used monetary policy and move away from ‘big-bang’ projects, SA Premier Steven Marshall says.

South Australian Premier Steven Marshall. Picture: Tom Huntley

States must approach stimulus spending in the same way that the Reserve Bank has historically used monetary policy to stimulate the economy and move away from “big-bang” projects towards a rolling campaign of targeted spending measures aimed at underpinning jobs, South Australian Premier Steven Marshall says.

With the states under pressure from the commonwealth to do more heavy lifting on the stimulus front, Mr Marshall said SA, like all the states, was grappling with economic conditions that varied “wildly” across different industries.

He said while SA still had several major projects were under consideration, his government was trying to meet immediate job and investment challenges through rolling infrastructure announcements rather than the traditional annual “splurge” of projects in state budgets.

“Our focus has got to be on supporting those businesses who are struggling and it’s a far more nuanced approach than announcing a billion-dollar program and then sitting back,” he told The Australian.

“The picture is quite varied because some businesses have done extremely well out of this, others have sustained things as they were and others still have been decimated. It’s not a one-size-fits-all ­approach.”

Mr Marshall has been buoyed this week by the release of wages figures showing SA had the lowest percentage reduction in the value of wages of any state since March, down just 1 per cent compared with 5.4 per cent in Victoria and 4.9 per cent in NSW.

The positive result has been attributed to the greater freedoms in SA, which has escaped a hard lockdown and the closure of schools and childcare centres.

The state has the highest unemployment in Australia, with 7000 fewer jobs now than before the pandemic, even though jobs growth and the participation rate have both been strong.

These figures have prompted demands from industry groups, including the Master Builders Federation and the Civil Contractors Federation, for more dramatic big-picture projects.

These groups seized on figures revealed last month in The ­Australian showing stimulus spending by the states had reached only 2 per cent of gross state product, compared with ­almost 16 per cent of GDP provided by the federal government, and that SA had spent the lowest of any state.

“Going forward, fiscal stimulus needs to be adjusted on an ongoing basis and that’s what we are trying to do in SA,” Mr Marshall said.

“Virtually every week we are filling in the gaps but to get us back to where we need to be, the approach has to be much more nuanced.”