RISING unemployment in the Adelaide-North region, including Gawler, is being matched by record numbers of jobs being created, according to one Liberal minister.

Member for Stuart Dan van Holst Pellekaan, who looks after the State Government’s energy and mining portfolio, stopped by the P/A Hotel on Murray Street last Wednesday for a meet and greet with locals.

While unemployment rates in the area reached 7.9 per cent in August according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics – the highest since October 2017, when Holden’s Elizabeth plant ceased  operations – Mr van Holst Pellekaan said they were being counteracted by rising instances of jobs creation.

“We actually have an awkward challenge at the moment in that we’ve created thousands of extra jobs; the statistics show that job creation and jobs being filled is at records levels,” he said.

“What’s happening is people who have never been, or not for many years now, calculated in unemployment because they haven’t been looking for work are now looking for work as well, which, in an ironic sort of way, is a really good sign.

“So, we’re creating more jobs, and even more people are coming out of the woodwork saying ‘I can see things lifting, I can see that the economy’s changing, I can see that there are new  opportunities, so I’d like a job too, please’.

“(This is) instead of previous years, where they’ve not even (been looking).”

The Stuart MP, whose electorate takes in Kapunda, said the other challenges facing Gawler are its well-documented traffic issues and growing population, which has seen the town become a part of Adelaide’s “fringe”.

“Gawler is an absolutely outstanding place, but one of the challenges has been congestion – congestion for parking, congestion for traffic, congestion for people being able to get into businesses and spend their money,” he said.

“So, that’s something we look at in our electorate and say ‘well, what can we learn from Gawler’s experience?’

“But, the reality is Gawler has got an entire life of its own.

“If you look at the spread of population from Gawler through to the CBD of Adelaide, there’s not many gaps.

“(However), Gawler’s big enough, it has enough right here in Gawler, that, actually, you could live in Gawler and not need to go anywhere else.”