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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-05-27 Daily Xml
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STATE BUDGET

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (14:44): My question is to the Treasurer. Why is it, Treasurer, that the new conservative government in Britain can deliver a $1.2 trillion budget within 50 days of taking office after 13 years of Labour but this government needs 180 days after an election and eight years of the Rann government to deliver just a $15 billion budget?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Federal/State Relations, Minister for Defence Industries) (14:44): The deputy leader road tested this line last night because if you read Hansard you can see he mentioned this line.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. Rann: Because their global financial crisis was so much worse than what we had here.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Yes, exactly. Anyone who understands financial markets and what is currently occurring—

The Hon. I.F. Evans: And David Cameron doesn't?

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: No, he does.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the deputy leader!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Anyone who understands financial markets and what is currently occurring in the United Kingdom and in Europe—in particular, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal—and whether or not the contagion will spread, the urgency for swift fiscal action is enormous in Britain.

The time line for this budget has been known for the best part of seven or eight months. I did not notice the Liberals during the election campaign saying they would be bringing down a budget after the election. These things do take time, and I think it would have been very arrogant of this government to have prepared its budget prior to the election assuming we would win. As occurred back in 2006, a budget should be the priority of the incoming government of either side of politics. The piece of work that we are having done by the—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: An extraordinary excuse. I think this is budget number nine. I can be accused of a lot of things but I am experienced in bringing down a budget, whether or not you like them. The time line for the Sustainable Budget Commission has been known publicly for eight months, and we cannot and will not confirm and detail our budget until such time as we have that report.

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