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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-05-11 Daily Xml
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STATE BUDGET

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (15:39): My question is to the Treasurer. Why did the Treasurer claim in his ministerial statement on 6 May that the state budget is nearly $1.2 billion down on revenue across the forward estimates against what was originally forecast in the 2008-09 budget, when the 2009-10 Mid-Year Budget Review shows that the revenue across the forward estimates is actually $1.7 billion above the 2008-09 budget forecast, not $1.2 billion below, as claimed?

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Federal/State Relations, Minister for Defence Industries) (15:39): The reality is that the shadow treasurer simply cannot read a budget paper. He put this out in a press release on Friday. Mr Speaker, what the leader did—sorry, what are you now? Shadow treasurer. My apologies.

Mr Williams: Madam Speaker. You will see that she is Madam Speaker.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: He is red hot. He is happy. He has a job to do now. Madam Speaker, what the shadow treasurer did in that instance was take total revenue into the budget, which included direct payments from the commonwealth that are part 3 payments and not general revenue. I am referring to the untied GST grants from the commonwealth.

The Hon. I.F. Evans: It doesn't say that in the ministerial statement.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: We shouldn't need to spoonfeed you. You're a big boy.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Come on! If I have to go to that level of specifying exactly when I am referring to GST revenue—GST revenue, shadow treasurer, is our discretionary funding from the commonwealth. That is down $1.2 billion. The 1.7 figure the member talks about includes special purpose payments (SPs—or we call them now NPs) and the Infrastructure Australia funding.

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Absolutely; absolutely, it's up.

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: The leader is making it near impossible for us to give a constructive answer. The shadow treasurer made an error in his press release on—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Treasurer can hardly talk over this noise, and I cannot hear.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: The shadow treasurer made an error of fact on Friday. He has repeated that error now: the revenue that he refers to in the budget as being an increased amount includes the Infrastructure Australia money and the special purpose payments. What I am referring to is the discretionary fund that we receive from the commonwealth—the GST payments—which is down $1.2 billion. That is pretty simple. If you are the shadow treasurer, that is, honestly, about as basic as it gets, and that, quite frankly, is a very embarrassing error.

The SPEAKER: Thank you, Treasurer. I would point out to members, in the words of the immortal Joan Child: in this position there is no sex in the chair. So, if the Treasurer refers to me as Mr Speaker, I am quite happy to accept that. I am sure he will learn in due course that I am Madam Speaker.

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