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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-11-27 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

SA LOTTERIES

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (15:29): Today I want to make some comments about the sale of the Lotteries Commission by the Weatherill government under the stewardship of Treasurer Jack Snelling. The interesting thing is to go to the financial issues related to this particular sale. If you go to the Auditor-General's Report, page 987, it sets out the distribution into the hospital fund and the recreation and sport fund from the Lotteries Commission. The gambling tax collected last year was $212 million and, under the deal, that is protected, so there is not such an issue with that figure. Then there is a dividend figure of $24 million and, when I asked the Treasurer today, would the budget be paying that $24 million into the hospital fund and the sport and recreation fund, the Treasurer would not answer the question.

It is a fair interpretation from this side of the house that the Treasurer had four minutes to get up and say, yes, the budget would be paying it or, no, it would not. It is a fair indication that the government is either going to cut the hospital fund by $24 million a year or, indeed, have to take a hit to the budget of $24 million a year. Then you go down to the distribution from income tax equivalents which is about $9.8 million a year, and that would also have to be topped up by the budget or cut from the hospitals.

We asked the health minister whether there would be a cut to health services and the health minister said no, there would be no extra burden on the health budget, so what that means is that the budget is going to have to find another $34 million a year to keep the funding for the health services at the same level—$34 million a year. Before the Treasurer trots out from Treasury a figure that says, don't forget we are saving the interest, if they use the money to pay down debt, they have yet to say that every red cent of this sale is going to be used to pay down debt.

However, if they do pay down debt, you go to the Treasury annual report and go to the Auditor-General's annual report, and this government borrows money at 4.9 per cent. A 4.9 per cent saving on $427 million is about $21 million. So, at best, we have a $21 million saving on one hand and a $34 million cost on the other hand. They cannot have it both ways. They are either going to cut the hospital fund and the sport and recreation fund by a total of $34 million a year or they are going to have to find out of Treasury another $34 million a year because they want to save $21 million a year.

If it has not dawned on anyone yet why previous governments have not sold the Lotteries Commission, it is because of exactly that point. Under the previous government when the State Bank disaster happened, although there was a lower debt than is currently budgeted by this government, the previous Liberal government decided not to sell the Lotteries Commission. That is right. The Lotteries Commission survived the State Bank debacle, but not even the Lotteries Commission can survive Jay Weatherill and Jack Snelling as Premier and Treasurer. Not even the Lotteries Commission can survive the mismanagement by this government.

Let me make a couple of comments on everyone's favourite topic, the desal plant. The poor old Premier cannot have it both ways. He trots out on 5 October and says, 'I found out on 4 October.' The acting minister said on ABC radio that he found out on 4 October at about 4.30 that the plant was going to be mothballed. It might be a surprise to the Treasurer that he has observers on the SA Water board. He used to have them on the Zoo board at one point. We know that the observers report back to the Treasurer on a regular basis of what is being discussed.

The Treasurer today had the opportunity to tell the parliament when he found out that SA Water was going to mothball the desal plant and the Minister for Water shielded him and would not let him take the question. Why can't the government tell us when the Treasurer found out from the observer that they were going to mothball the desal plant? The Premier cannot come out and say that the opposition is lazy and sloppy because there was some information on a website in May, when he himself turns around and says that he only found out and the acting minister only found out the day before the announcement. He cannot have it both ways.

Time expired.

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