Leadership change in SA Liberals

By Melanie Sjoberg

ADELAIDE -- John Olsen has become the new SA premier following weeks of rumour and unrest in the state Liberal Party. A significant slide in the ratings appears to have prompted the final coup against Dean Brown.

Brown has implemented most of the Liberal policies of extensive privatisation and severe cutbacks in the public sector. The funding cuts in health and education have resulted in widespread community disillusionment. In addition, these two sectors have not been able to provide pay rises to workers through enterprise bargaining.

Brown's leadership has also been under growing criticism after his mishandling of the sacking of the Adelaide City Council and losing the Grand Prix to Victoria.

The state economy has not produced the growth that voters had been led to believe would result from the pain of overcoming the State Bank disaster. The SA Centre for Economic Studies has demonstrated that SA is lagging behind the rest of Australia.

Employment growth in SA has reached only 2.7% compared to a national average of 7.1% over the past two years. Since April '96, SA employment has declined by 5700 jobs. At 9.7%, unemployment is the highest of the mainland states; the rate for young people was 39% in July.

Unions have responded by calling for Olsen to make commitments to funding education and the public sector. The new deputy premier, Graham Ingerson, is the current minister for industrial relations and has publicly praised the federal

IR bill. There is little possibility of state legislation being tempered.

A state election is due sometime during 1997. The ALP has proclaimed that job creation and no further privatisation will be high on its campaign agenda.

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