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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-10-15 Daily Xml
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STATE BUDGET

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:30): Why has the Treasurer relied upon a culture of unbudgeted revenue windfalls to balance his budget instead of controlling his expenses and exercising prudent budget discipline over seven budgets?

Members interjecting:

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: Just listen. Read the Auditor-General's Report. It is a good report.

The SPEAKER: Order! The leader will get on with his question.

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: The Auditor-General in his most recent report has described the failure to rein in blow-outs as 'a culture of expecting revenues to continue to support increasing expenses'. The Treasurer's surplus of 1.2 per cent of revenue is the second lowest buffer in the nation.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Federal/State Relations) (14:30): I wish the Leader of the Opposition had asked then treasurer Rob Lucas that question when he was in government.

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Well, he has acknowledged that Rob Lucas did preside over deficits, so at least that is something. He is saying let's forget—

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Well, hang on, you raise the State Bank at every opportunity.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Apparently we cannot live in the past when they are in office, but they can live in the past when Labor was in office. This is a hard guy to follow; he is a hard guy to debate with. No, we have not relied on windfall taxation. Do you know why we have not relied on that and why I can prove it? It is because we bring a budget down that forecasts expenditure—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: —and revenue. We have been fortunate, and I have never denied otherwise, in terms of revenue flow being strong. We had a simple choice, as I said earlier, and this is the point that people should remember. In our early years our surpluses far exceeded our budgeted surpluses, so a lot of that extra revenue in our first few budgets we took to the bottom line. Do you know what we did with that? We eliminated budget debt. Once you have eliminated budget debt, what do you then do with those surpluses? Do you then produce financial assets or do you pay off unfunded liabilities or do you reinvest in both tax cuts and increased services? When we have received those increased revenues we have put them to good use.

Mr Williams: You spend them.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Yes. We have 900 extra doctors, 2,000 extra nurses, I think, and hundreds of extra teachers. In this term alone we will be putting an extra 400 police on the beat. I am not denying the factual basis of what the Auditor-General has said: he has made it very clear. The question was whether or not I relied on windfall taxes to rescue the budget, or words to that effect, and I say that that is not the basis on which we budget because when we bring the budget down we show a surplus.

Because revenue growth has been stronger through the course of the year, we have adjusted our spending through the course of the year, as well as paying off all debt. Early this year, or last year, we had actually eliminated budget sector debt. So, you either then spend the money or you give it back in the way of tax cuts, and we have done a variation of that. I am very proud of this government's financial management. We are considered to be a good government when it comes to financial and economic management.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Well, I think your own polling might suggest that, from what I understand. I am happy to take the arrows from members opposite in the theatre that is question time, but the truth of the matter is that we are in a very strong position when it comes to the views of business, the broader community and observers about the quality of our financial management.

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