Legislative Council: Tuesday, June 08, 2021

Contents

Business and Jobs Support Fund

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (14:34): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Treasurer a question.

Leave granted.

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: A leak to the opposition has advised that there are significant funds still unallocated in the business and support fund, and a decision has been made to allocate that funding towards additional capital grants for non-government schools. My questions to the Treasurer are: can the Treasurer confirm that funding from the business and support fund is being reallocated towards additional capital grants for non-government schools? If so, why has the Treasurer decided to reallocate the funding, despite the COVID-19 pandemic still having an impact on South Australian businesses and South Australian jobs?

The PRESIDENT: Before I call the Treasurer, there was a fair bit of opinion in that explanation, but I will go to the Treasurer.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:35): The details of funding application submissions and decisions that the government has taken—I will just point out to the honourable member that there are two COVID-related support funds. One was Business and Jobs Support and one was Community and Jobs Support, and I suspect that there may well be some confusion in the honourable member's mind in relation to those.

The Hon. K.J. Maher: Not denying it.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. Maher: Not denying it at all.

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Leader of the Opposition is out of order.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: The details—

The Hon. K.J. Maher: Confirming by the silence that this is—

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. Maher: Why are people leaking against you so much?

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: The details of any decisions we have taken will be outlined in great detail in just over two weeks.