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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-11-28 Daily Xml
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JOBS GROWTH FORECAST

The SPEAKER: The supplementary from the Leader of the Opposition.

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (14:52): Can the Premier describe for the house what proportion of the current state government debt has been run up not in infrastructure projects, but indeed in unbudgeted government expenditure and accumulated deficits?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:52): The overwhelming majority of state government borrowings have been for infrastructure investment—the overwhelming majority—and that is as it should be. That is precisely why we borrow: so that we can invest in the future of our economy. What we will not do, Mr Speaker, is we will not chase down our fall in revenue, which is at historically low proportions of our state economy. So, the level of revenue that we are collecting now is lower than when we first came to office as a proportion of the economy. That fact needs to be borne in mind.

When all those opposite start banging on about taxation, they need to understand the amount that we are recovering from the economy is a smaller proportion when we came into office. That has put enormous burdens on us as we have had to live within our means, but we will not chase that revenue down in a way which is going to threaten services and the wellbeing of our citizens—the healthcare needs, the education needs, the community safety needs. We will not put that at jeopardy under some misguided faith in some right-wing ideology about debt and deficit.

There is no place—they cannot point to one place in the world where that affection for debt and deficit policies, that austerity policy, has done anything other than worsen the situation for an economy. We will not take that step. No government of mine will ever go down that path.

Mr MARSHALL: Supplementary, sir.

The SPEAKER: No, I don't think we can have a fourth supplementary.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens is warned for a second and final time.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Sir, you are warning me for saying he's a nice fellow!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: It is a bogus point of order. I call the member for Mitchell.

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