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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-06-18 Daily Xml
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STATE BUDGET

Mr GRIFFITHS (Goyder) (14:45): My question is to the Treasurer. Treasurer, why has the your budget contingency provision increased by more than $100 million in 2009-10 to a record $467 million? In the December Mid-Year Budget Review, the Treasurer committed to a much smaller contingency sum, which is commonly used for unbudgeted employee costs and policy initiatives. The Mid-Year Budget Review states, 'The contingency for possible future projects has been reduced, saving $150 million by 2011-12.'

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Federal/State Relations) (14:46): I will get a detailed answer for—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: —the minister. I don't know what is hilarious about that. I heard the deputy leader refer to this last night as my 'slush fund'. Can I assure you, sir, that for things to go into a contingency it has to have an application. You do not just say, 'I'll get $400 million and put it in an account with nothing to spend it on,' because, if we had nothing to spend it on, it would go to the bottom line, and it will actually deliver, in this instance, an improved bottom line.

It is contingency money, and, as I have explained to the member before, contingencies involve allocations for wage increases. They involve allocations for projects that we have approved for expenditure but as yet have not given the agency authority to spend the money. We hold it in contingency until such time as we are satisfied that the agency for whom that money will be made available has actually got its processes in.

Mr Griffiths interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Well, as I said, I will come back to the house and explain it to the best of my ability without obviously giving away what I have in contingency for wage outcomes. I would assume that there are various—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Sorry?

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Oh, my God, it's happened! There has been a leadership stoush, and Vickie has lost. Mitch is now deputy leader. It may be—and I will check—that things such as—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: It may be, for example, that some of the teachers' wage is in that contingency, because we have not yet settled with the teachers union. We have a contingency available for the settlement of that, and we have made an offer to the union. It may be that that has been carried into the forward years as an example of something—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Sorry?

Ms Chapman: You should know exactly what it is for.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: You just said that I should know what it is for. It is contingencies. If the member honestly believes that I would come in here and say exactly how much of that contingency is for wages, well, you are bonkers, because we are not going to flag what provisioning we have for wage outcomes in the budget. But, the vast bulk of that money, I would assume, is wages and some programs for which we have not as yet given authority to the agencies to expend. But, within my ability to be releasing public information, I will come back to the house with an answer.

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