Coronavirus

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (14:50): A supplementary: has the state been in conversation with their federal counterparts with regard to the unconventional monetary policy that the Reserve Bank of Australia is currently undertaking, and will we be getting any of that around, I think, $30 billion?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:50): We have had discussions. The Governor of the Reserve Bank, Mr Philip Lowe, has joined in on teleconferences with CFFR, the Council on Federal Financial Relations, which are the state and territory treasurers and the federal Treasurer, and has provided advice. I think he has also attended once or twice by teleconference—and actually in person, I think, at one stage—at the Board of Treasurers meetings to talk about the approach of the Reserve Bank in relation to managing the finance of the nation.

The member asks about when the state will get access to it, but it does not actually work that way. The Reserve Bank is completely independent. It purchases bonds or semi government bonds in the market and puts funding or finance into the marketplace. All of us in Australia benefit, so yes, South Australia will benefit; South Australians will benefit from the approach, which we endorse, that the Reserve Bank Board and Governor have been adopting in recent times.

It is consistent with the federal government's position and the state and territory governments' position that we need to be spending significant sums of money on bringing forward important public sector infrastructure, which this state and other states and territories have done. To do that we have to increase the level of the state debt, and to do that we have to raise money in the financial markets.