Question Time

State Budget

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:05): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier have confidence that his entire cabinet supports all the budget measures outlined in this year's most recent state budget?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:05): As the Leader of the Opposition would know, it was a tough budget. It was a budget that was necessary to deliver a balanced budget, which was so crucial for the people of this state. Importantly, it was a budget that delivered on every single one of the promises we made in the lead-up to the election. It's an important budget.

I won't talk about individual cabinet minister's responses to every single element of it, but overall we are extraordinarily pleased with the budget that we brought down because we know that it's cleaning up the enormous mess that we were left with by those opposite. I remember very distinctly, sir, as you would be more than aware, that the former treasurer was telling the people of South Australia just before Christmas that he was going to post a surplus with last year's budget.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order: this is debate, sir.

The SPEAKER: The question was about whether members of cabinet had confidence in measures of the budget. I think the first part of the Premier's answer was related to the substance of the question and I ask the Premier to please come back to that.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Absolutely, sir. Cabinet members were all delighted with the budget.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier is answering the question, members on my left.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Some elements of the budget, of course, were tough. Some elements were extremely tough, but we had to take some tough decisions. We were elected by the people of South Australia to clean up your mess, and that is exactly and precisely what we did. We are very happy to deal with the $400 million deficit, or thereabouts, that we were left by the former government and return the budget to a balanced position in its very first year whilst delivering a real focus on creating more jobs for South Australia, and that is exactly what we did.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the Leader of the Opposition, I call the following members to order: the member for Lee, the member for Kaurna, the member for Playford and the member for Badcoe, and I warn the Minister for Infrastructure.