14 May 2001

Business Vision 2010 Indicators Demand Community Response

UnitingCare Wesley Adelaide has welcomed the release of the Business Vision 2010 indicators report and commits itself to work with Business, Government and other community organisations to address issues raised in the report.

"The Vision for South Australia given in the report is inspiring and achievable and deserves wide community support" said Mark Henley, Senior Policy Officer.

"The report compliments two other reports that have been released recently, the SACOSS / University of SA report on income distribution and the report on employment released by John Spoehr from the University of Adelaide’s Centre for Labour Studies. This trilogy of reports provide a clear information base that must be used as a base for action" Mr Henley continued.

UnitingCare Wesley Adelaide is concerned by the following statistics from the report:

The life expectancy of Aboriginal people is 20 years less than for the balance of the population.

South Australia’s low level of workers with post-school educational qualifications

Low median income levels for South Australian households

South Australia’s rates of unemployment continuing to be higher than for other states

Positives from the report include:

High levels of housing affordability

High rate of use of Internet by businesses and farms

Improving export performance

"The challenges ahead clearly relate to creating new industries with well paying jobs that will enable South Australian communities to prosper. Improving our educational skills is closely linked with achieving this outcome. The other crucial goal is to improve aboriginal health services to enable all South Australians to have similar life expectancies" said Mr Henley

 

 

For Further Comment
Mark Henley Senior Policy Officer	8202 5135 (w) 0404 067 011 (mob)