Government Invoices and Accounts

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (14:10): My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the house on the latest government account payment performance statistics and advise of any areas of government where improvement is needed?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:10): I am happy to update the house on the latest account payments performance data.

Mr Pengilly: The power to my office hasn't been paid for 6½ years.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Okay. Treasurer's Instruction 11 requires chief executives of each public authority to ensure undisputed creditor accounts are processed promptly. The government's expectation in relation to payment of accounts remains unchanged. It is expected that all undisputed invoices will be paid within 30 days, and continuing improvement remains a focus for all of us in the public authorities.

Of course, there are many valid reasons why an invoice may be paid late and not within the standard 30-day time frame. There may be faults with goods, the invoice may not have the correct information on it, the invoice may be noncompliant for GST purposes—

Mr Whetstone: Blame someone else.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Blame someone else? Or the government may be in dispute with the vendor over the quality of the goods or services provided. I note the shadow minister for trade interjecting that it's not good enough to pay your bills late. I can inform the house that in 2015-16, the state paid a total of 2.5 million invoices. The value of these invoices totalled $13.6 billion. In 2016, at a whole-of-government level the total number of invoices—

Mr Duluk interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I note the member for Davenport also interjecting that it's not good enough to pay invoices late. The total number of invoices paid within 30 days improved to 94.7 per cent, compared to 92.2 per cent in 2015. Only 5.3 per cent were paid in more than 30 days. Despite claims from members opposite, there is no advantage to the government delaying the payment of invoices. We don't use cash accounts—it's not a Wokinabox we are running here. We run a government: we use accrual accounting. So, Mr Speaker—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I sought advice.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I sought advice.

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer will not respond to interjections. The Treasurer will be seated. I call to order the members for Schubert, Mount Gambier, Finniss and Chaffey. I warn the members for Morialta and Chaffey, and I warn for the second and the very last time the members for Morialta and Chaffey. Treasurer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I have sought the advice of those agencies who are sitting below the whole-of government account payments performance average of 94.7 per cent. I was appalled to find that the Leader of the Opposition's office pays just 90 per cent of its invoices on time, with nearly 10 per cent—nearly 10 per cent—of his invoices being paid more than 30 days after the due date.

A Greek word comes to mind: hypocrisy. Fancy criticising us without noticing the log in his own eye. How ironic that the Leader of the Opposition is out there criticising us about 94.7 per cent being not good enough, when he is not paying 10 per cent—pay your bills on time! His office, I understand, is one of the prime offenders—

Mr PISONI: Point of order, sir.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —part of the guilty party, Mr Speaker.

The SPEAKER: Point of order, member for Unley.

Mr PISONI: Thank you, sir. The minister is entering debate.

The SPEAKER: I will listen to the minister very carefully. Minister.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Mr Speaker, on 23 September last year I tabled a report in parliament prepared by Shared Services—

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta will leave the chamber for the next hour.

The honourable member for Morialta having withdrawn from the chamber:

Mr Wingard interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mitchell is very close to being named. He is called to order, and he is warned twice. Treasurer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I tabled a report in parliament prepared by Shared Services advising that the automation of late payment interest was not justifiable and should not be progressed. This was backed up by the Small Business Commissioner, with a former Liberal staffer to the former premier John Olsen, who noted that the current system of inviting businesses to apply for interest on any outstanding accounts was the more efficient method, not to mention the additional costs and FTEs from implementing an automated system.

The government is transparent about this issue, with information on account payment performance by agency published by the Department of Treasury and Finance. What we need less of is hypocrisy and more bills being paid on time.