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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-10-14 Daily Xml
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STATE BUDGET

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:42): I have a supplementary question to the Treasurer. Has the reduction in the state's financial assets, explained in his statement and put at a cash loss of $2.1 billion from Funds SA and an increase in unfunded super liabilities to $8.6 billion, further pushed the state's financial liabilities to revenue ratio towards or above the 80 per cent trigger at which Standard and Poor's has indicated the state's AAA rating will be reviewed?

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Federal/State Relations) (14:43): He was not listening to my answer. I just said yes. That is the problem with the Leader of the Opposition. He cannot grasp basic financial information. Like my colleague the Leader of the House well notes, back on the Economic and Finance Committee when he had that attack on the Auditor-General—

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: No, it was one of the water catchment boards.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: That's right, one of the water catchment boards, when he was looking at a balance sheet and read the assets as a liability or the liability as an asset and we told him he had to turn the page around. And he had just finished his MBA, I might add, the MBA he got whilst—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Look, that does not surprise me. I have actually just said yes to that question, that the sudden rapid downturn in stock markets, the dropping of the discount rate, the crashing of revenue has blown those ratios up and into red light territory as far as the rating—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: In excess of 80; well in excess of 80. That is why I have just said what I said half an hour ago and that is why I have said that we will deliver a financial statement in the next few weeks that will bring those ratios back down and maintain and sustain our AAA credit rating.

Ms Chapman: You pray!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I pray. You know, sometimes I wish you would take a leaf out of Malcolm Turnbull's book. Even Malcolm Turnbull has actually realised that we are currently in a set of circumstances no other government probably since the Depression, if ever, has had to face worldwide. In the United States, in Europe, in Russia, not to mention Iceland—

Mr Koutsantonis: Which just got bought by Russia.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Yes, bought by Russia when the old ATM machines stopped throwing out cash. These are extraordinary times. We have seen shareholder wealth evaporate overnight.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The deputy leader will come to order.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: She just screamed out what I am going to do.

Ms Chapman: It will be December before you tell us.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I might tell you sooner than that if I can. It takes a careful, considered and prudent approach to work through which projects should be postponed, which projects should be cancelled and which programs should be cut. That is not an exercise that one should do overnight. It is not one that one has to do overnight; it is what we have to do in a considered, appropriate time frame. I have demonstrated year after year, as has this government, that we will do it right. All I ask from the opposition is that in these extraordinary times—

Ms Chapman: We accept that.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: You accept that. It is a time that an opposition should do what the opposition in Canberra is doing: actually suspend cheap political opportunities and trickery and attempt to assist the public. What we do not want to do is overstate anxieties or do anything to make families or businesses feel any more insecure. It would be a good time for all of us to show cool and calm heads and support what the government is doing in the national and state interest, above party politics—the right thing to do.

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