House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time State Budget State Budget Mr COWDREY House of Assembly Colton State Budget Mr COWDREY (Colton) (14:37): My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer deliver a budget surplus for financial year 2022-23 and, if not, why not? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain. Leave granted. Mr COWDREY House of Assembly Colton Mr COWDREY: The Mid-Year Budget Review forecast a $206 million surplus for FY22-23 and SA's GST receipts have increased by over $300 million since the June state budget, according to Labor's federal budget. The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer) (14:37): I thank the member for Colton for his question. In the member for Colton's question, he outlined the projected surplus that the government released in the December Mid-Year Budget Review. He then went on to explain that, since the June budget, which was five months before the Mid-Year Budget Review, there had been an upwards revision in GST receipts. I guess that, if we were considering a change in our surplus, we would consider what changes happened since the Mid-Year Budget Review, not what change happened before the Mid-Year Budget Review. That would be a basic understanding of the movement of GST receipts during the course of a year. You wouldn't think the GST has increased since the Mid-Year Budget Review by pointing to a change that happened before the Mid-Year Budget Review. I know these are complex matters for those opposite. The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner House of Assembly Morialta Deputy Leader of the Opposition The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner: Do you have the answer or not? The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Yes, I do have an answer— The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —and I'm getting to it. I'm pointing out the fallacy within the question— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —the fundamental misunderstanding— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The Treasurer has the call. The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —of how to read state finances. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is warned. The Treasurer has the call. The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: It is the fundamental misunderstanding of how to read the state's finances. The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting: The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Well, you are going to get plenty more because it's apparent that you need them. The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is warned for a final time. The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: You are going to get plenty more because you clearly need them. What I have already pointed out to the media, including over a week ago, and that the other members of the opposition commented on—clearly not the member for Colton—was that, since the Mid-Year Budget Review, again not prior to the Mid-Year Budget Review but since the Mid-Year Budget Review, there has been another GST revision, but down. Not up, like the member for Colton was trying to posit in his question, but actually in the other direction, down—a reduction of some $95 million. If you start with a surplus of circa $200 million and you lose approximately half of it in GST, and if you then spend another more than $100 million on additional flood recovery expenses, and you also outline that you have tipped more money into health and child protection— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —then it's not rocket science, is it, Mr Speaker— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta! The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —to see how anyone with a basic grasp of arithmetic would understand that that combination of pressures leads to a reduction in the available surplus of more than $200 million. That is why the budget will not be in surplus this financial year, as I announced more than eight days ago. It seemed to escape the attention of the member for Colton until the final part of the final question time of the subsequent week's parliamentary sitting week.