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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-05-14 Daily Xml
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Federal Budget

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:25): Given the Treasurer's hostility towards the federal government cuts in health and education, can he outline to the house whether he has in fact lobbied Bill Shorten, his federal leader, to restore those cuts on behalf of the Australian Labor Party?

Mr Pisoni: He's irrelevant.

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley is warned for the second and final time. The Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:26): It's not just the South Australian Treasurer that's raising his voice against these cuts to health and education: it's every other Treasurer of every other state and territory around the nation—Liberal and Labor.

Mr Marshall: That's not the question.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: But your question was predicated on a false premise, that somehow it is only the Treasurer that's complaining about these cuts. That is simply not the case.

Mr Wingard interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mitchell is called to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Naturally enough, that was the topic of the discussion at COAG, which was to insist that the commonwealth government engage with us on these $80 billion of cuts. I must say, sir, we were, I think, very pleased to get a commitment from the Prime Minister, which was repeated again in his letter to me concerning this federal budget, that he's prepared to have those discussions in a constructive fashion when we meet for our retreat. I think that is a substantial concession, the first time we have seen an acknowledgement by the federal Liberal government that the $80 billion—

Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order: unless Mr Shorten has defected to the federal Liberal Party, all of this so far is completely irrelevant to the question.

The SPEAKER: The question again?

Mr MARSHALL: Has the Treasurer lobbied Bill Shorten regarding the health and education cuts that he is fighting against here and the parliament today?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It's germane, sir, because the point of that background is to say that our focus is on the federal Liberal government. We have an election in the order of 18 months away if it goes to its ordinary timetable. There is a basic principle of responsibility here. It's the federal Liberal government that imposed the cut, it's the federal Liberal government that can reverse the cut. We're spending our time and attention in speaking to the person who has the capacity to actually make—

Ms Chapman: 'Hello, Bill. You're irrelevant.'

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is warned a second and final time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: And, Mr Speaker, I will add this: we have offered an olive branch to the federal Liberal government about sitting down with them and having a constructive discussion about commonwealth-state relations. People are sick of politicians fighting with one another. They are sick of the blame game about whose infrastructure project is being funded one way or the other, who is responsible for the healthcare system, who is responsible for the education system. What they want is the leaders of this nation to come together and come up with a sensible division of responsibilities between the commonwealth and state governments.

For our part, we believe that there will still be a shortfall, even if we do explore all of the efficiencies and opportunities that exist in getting a better federation and that that will have to be grappled with through some revenue measure. We have been honest about that. We have actually put serious public policy ideas on the agenda. We have talked about introducing taxation regimes, for instance, on superannuation, where there are very generous concessions paid to high income earners.

We do want to agitate those sorts of questions because we think, even if you do pursue a quality agenda as far as you possibly can, there will still be a shortfall. We've found that with Transforming Health. Even if you explore all of the efficiencies from having a high quality system, there is still going to be a funding gap between what we get from the commonwealth now and what we need to spend to actually maintain a high quality healthcare system, and that has to be filled—

Ms Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That has to be filled, and we've really exhausted the limits of our budget capacity to do that. It makes sense for the commonwealth to step in and assist us with that. They have been a partner in health and education funding, and now they are withdrawing. We do want a conversation with them, and we're prepared to be constructive and reach an agreement with them.

The SPEAKER: The member for Heysen is called to order. The member for Bright.

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