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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-12-04 Daily Xml
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Question Time

State Budget

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:55): My question is to the Treasurer. Does the Treasurer accept that, while his budget clearly identifies federal cuts of $101 million, there is also an unidentified increase of $97 million in federal funding coming to South Australia, thus resulting in a net cut for this current financial year of just $4 million?

Mr Knoll interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Small Business) (14:55): I've never once said a thing about your family business. I think my family business should be off limits too.

Anyway, I think it is important to note that the Leader of the Opposition, I believe, is not being honest with the people of South Australia in his assessment. Let me explain it in a coherent manner so everyone knows exactly what the Leader of the Opposition is attempting to sell to the people of this state. He claims that a $30 million grant to non-government schools by the commonwealth is money that we can spend on health. He claims we can spend a $66 million grant from the commonwealth for new infrastructure programs—for example, $55 million to be spent on a north-south corridor, on the Darlington upgrade, and $6 million for the South Eastern Freeway and the Mount Barker interchange.

What he does not mention is that the tied grants to health, education and pensioner concessions that were cut are not money that I can transfer from these dedicated grants. To give a practical example so the Leader of the Opposition can understand, and for the benefit of the house, let's say, for example—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: No, I've got a better one. I have an example for the Leader of the Opposition. Let's say, for example, a third party gives the Leader of the Opposition $1,000 every year to pay his electricity bills but, in lieu of that $1,000, he withdraws $1,000 and gives him a voucher for Wokinabox for a year. He can't use that Wokinabox voucher to pay for his electricity bills because it means he's got a loss of $1,000 in revenue but he can account for that voucher. What he is asking us to do is say the tied grants to non-government schools and infrastructure can actually be used on health and education. What he is really saying to us is that we should have cut our hospitals and our schools and our pensioners by $101 million—and we didn't.

On budget day, we made it very clear, and even in our published graphs in our South Australian response it does show commonwealth funding increasing for health but not what they had committed to at the previous MYEFO and the previous budget and in the COAG agreements that were signed by the Premier and the Prime Minister. That equates to a cut in funding and that is something that the opposition leader refuses to explain.

He is the only Liberal leader in the country who is not standing up to the Prime Minister on these cuts. He is the only Liberal leader in the country who is supporting the cuts that the Prime Minister has made to health and education. He is the only Liberal leader in the country—

The SPEAKER: Treasurer, point of order.

Mr GARDNER: The minister has now left the reservation and is debating the matter.

The SPEAKER: No, in fact, I think the Treasurer is still being relevant to the question of what is the true size of commonwealth cuts to the State of South Australia. However, I just wish to caution the Treasurer that he did take umbrage at the member for Chaffey's interjection about his family business.

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Not Chaffey? Finniss.

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Schubert—and then proceeded to refer to the Leader of the Opposition's business. But do go on.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Thank you, sir. Yes, there is a log in my eye; I accept that, sir. If I am looking at the cuts the commonwealth have made over the four-year period, including the $101 million in cuts that they have made this year, we are talking about $655 million worth of cuts to health over four years. That is something the Leader of the Opposition supports. There has been $123 million worth of cuts to our pensioners. That is $190 to every pensioner in South Australia in council rate concessions that have been taken away by the commonwealth, and the Leader of the Opposition will not raise his voice in anger against the Prime Minister. Forty-seven million dollars in skills funding has been cut and $73 million in Gonski and other education funding cut by the commonwealth, and the Leader of the Opposition will not oppose the cuts.

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