House of Assembly Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1) 54 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time State Debt State Debt Mr MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Leader of the Opposition State Debt Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:12): My question is to the Premier. How long will it take for the budget debt to be paid off? The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly Dunstan Premier State Debt The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:12): Mr Speaker, as you would be aware, that would be a function of how soon the surpluses are returned to the budget in South Australia. We have a balanced budget at the moment. I wouldn't call it any more than a balanced budget, but we of course hope to be returning to surpluses into the future. We have just had a budget brought down where, I think, everybody realises the very significant challenges that we face with a $2.3 billion writedown in revenue to the state and, despite that, we present a good budget to the people of South Australia, which invests in South Australia, and very significantly infrastructure investment of $11.3 billion. Last year, we presented a budget that delivered on the election promises that we made and set a vision for our state. This year's budget is focused on building our state with $11.9 billion worth of investments in our state. We think it is a good budget, which is going to grow our economy— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —grow jobs and secure the future prosperity of our state. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: I call to order the members for Hammond, the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Reynell. The leader has the call.