House of Assembly Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1) 54 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Answers to Questions Answers to Questions Ministerial Staff Ministerial Staff The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Ministerial Staff 305 The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (25 July 2018). 1.	As at 16 March 2018 what is the ministerial office budget for each minister? 2.	As at 30 June 2018 what is the ministerial office budget for each minister? The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly Dunstan Premier Ministerial Staff The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier): This government is being transparent about the real cost of ministerial offices. Unlike the former government's ministerial office budgets, our budgets reflect the full cost of each office, including ministerial contract staff, ministerial liaison officers as well as all Public Sector Act staff working in a minister's office. 1.	The estimated full year cost of the former government's ministerial offices in 2017-18, based on a point in time snapshot of staffing levels within each ministerial office, and presented on a basis consistent with this government's transparent disclosure of the costs of running ministerial offices, was: Minister $000 The Hon. J Weatherill 8,873 The Hon. JR Rau 2,880 The Hon. KJ Maher 2,351 The Hon. P Malinauskas 2,746 The Hon. IK Hunter 2,627 The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell 2,250 The Hon. M.L.J. Hamilton-Smith 2,358 The Hon. GG Brock 1,472 The Hon. Z.L. Bettison 2,642 The Hon. SE Close 2,880 The Hon. SC Mullighan 2,558 The Hon. KA Hildyard 1,896 The Hon. CJ Picton 2,544 Total Estimated Cost 40,945 *Note: Following the resignation of the Hon. M.L.J. Hamilton-Smith in January 2018, the office staff were reporting to the Hon. J Weatherill. These figures have been estimated by the Department of Treasury and Finance based on available information, and include costs associated with staff that were funded by agencies but not disclosed against ministerial office budgets in the budget papers, such as ministerial liaison officers and some other administrative staff. On an equivalent basis, the total estimated cost for 2018-19 would have been $41.7 million. 2.	The ministerial office budgets for 2018-19 as published in the budget papers (2018-19 Agency Statements) are: Minister $000 The Hon. S Marshall 7,319 The Hon. VA Chapman 2,550 The Hon. RI Lucas 2,440 The Hon. JAW Gardner 2,232 The Hon. D.W. Ridgway 2,264 The Hon. JMA Lensink 2,269 The Hon. DG Pisoni 2,214 The Hon. SG Wade 2,501 The Hon. DC Van Holst Pellekaan 2,046 The Hon. R Sanderson 2,215 The Hon. TJ Whetstone 2,215 The Hon. CL Wingard 2,281 The Hon. DJ Speirs 2,165 The Hon. SK Knoll 2,283 Total Estimated Cost 36,994 Of the $4.7 million decrease in ministerial office costs, the reduction in general government expenses in 2018-19 is $4.5 million. Part of the decrease is reflected as higher dividends from SA Water and Renewal SA and savings from SAFECOM were only possible from 2019-20 given the 2018-19 budgets for emergency services agencies were set as part of the emergency services levy process.