House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2) 52 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Credit Rating CREDIT RATING The Hon. I.F. EVANS House of Assembly Davenport CREDIT RATING The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (14:46): My question is to the Treasurer. As the loss of the AAA credit rating cost the Queensland government $200 million a year, and is estimated to cost the New South Wales government $375 million a year, why should the public believe the loss of the South Australian AAA credit rating will cost South Australia only $2 million to $4 million a year, as the Treasurer has previously stated? Is that the estimated extra cost of the loss of the AAA credit rating on the budgeted debt of $13 billion? The Hon. J.J. SNELLING House of Assembly Playford Minister for Workers Rehabilitation Minister for Defence Industries Minister for Veterans' Affairs CREDIT RATING The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Treasurer, Minister for Workers Rehabilitation, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (14:46): The yield on our bonds, when they are traded on the market, is about the same as Tasmania, which is a AA+ rated state and has been for quite an amount of time, so there is every reason to believe that there would be a negligible impact on the interest we need to pay on our debt, given that we are also rated AA+. The fact is that the markets had already in fact factored in— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. J.J. SNELLING House of Assembly The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: —a likely downgrade— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Mr Marshall interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Norwood, leave the chamber for the rest of question time. The honourable member for Norwood having withdrawn from the chamber: The Hon. J.J. SNELLING House of Assembly The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: The markets had already factored in a likely downgrade to AA+ in our credit rating and had priced our bonds accordingly. Mr Gardner interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta will also leave the chamber for the rest of question time. The honourable member for Morialta having withdrawn from the chamber: The Hon. J.J. SNELLING House of Assembly The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: We have recently gone to market and reissued debt; we were oversubscribed for that issue. Earlier in the year, I did a road trip with SAFA to meet with the various institutions which buy our paper throughout Asia and spoke to them about our budget situation; if necessary, I will do so again. I am confident that any impact from the downgrade by Standard & Poor's to AA+ will be negligible. We have to remember that the United States of America, the largest economy in the world, is rated by Standard & Poor's at AA+ and it has, I think, among the lowest bond yields in the world as well. The credit ratings are not the be-all and end-all to how much you pay in interest.