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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-12 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Federal Budget

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (14:17): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier please update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is working with the commonwealth government to deliver for South Australians? With the leave of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Dr HARVEY: Last night, the federal Liberal government announced its budget, which included significant measures for South Australia.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:18): I thank the member for Newland for his excellent question. Last night's budget that was handed down was a very strong budget and a very good budget for the people of South Australia. It was a high-spending budget, but it was designed for one thing, and that is to promote ongoing economic growth and the bounce back from the coronavirus. The good news about that is that it means jobs for Australia and, more specifically, jobs here in our state, which is absolutely fantastic news.

There were, of course, very significant spends in terms of infrastructure and that is an area where South Australia did extraordinarily well. We saw more than $15 billion being committed to new infrastructure projects, of which South Australia got in excess of $3 billion or more than 20 per cent. So we are the 6 per cent state and we received more than 20 per cent of that new infrastructure money.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Whilst those opposite complain about this, the reality is I know—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —this is good for South Australia because I've got every other Premier and every other Treasurer in the entire country complaining about how much South Australia got. This is important because it means that we are going to be able to deliver on that north-south corridor—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for West Torrens!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —a very important project for our state, an extraordinarily important project for our state.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: When we came to office we were committed to the north-south corridor's completion—

Members interjecting:

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

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It was a project that was on the table since 1968, the year that I was born. That project had previously been scuttled by hopeless, incompetent, previous Labor governments, and, of course, it was only recently that we got the north-south corridor back on track.

We had a very strong commitment from the Coalition when they were re-elected in 2013, and since then South Australia has done very well with a flow of infrastructure money to South Australia, and that was continued last night—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —in the budget, and what we see now going forward is approximately $1 billion committed to South Australia every year—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —in terms of this important road infrastructure funding for South Australia. I took the opportunity to look at what the situation was before we came to government—it was about half that.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: So we have doubled the money flowing to South Australia. We've got a pipeline going forward. We are going to complete the north-south corridor, and that is going to be great for commuters in South Australia. It will cut 24 minutes off the commute time for South Australians.

Importantly, we won't be building a trench north-south in South Australia. We will be keeping South Australia connected east-west, which is an important aspect of the dual tunnel plan that the Minister for Trade and Investment of this government has put forward—a very important plan for South Australia. There were other excellent components of this excellent budget to stimulate South Australia and Australia out of the coronavirus. We see that the economic growth is due to be above 4 per cent, making it one of the strongest economies anywhere in the world.

We commend Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, we commend our Prime Minister, the Hon. Scott Morrison, and in particular we acknowledge the work and the money that is being put into aged care, disability care, women's security and women's safety here in South Australia. I particularly want to acknowledge the commitment the federal government has made to the digital economy in Australia, which is a very important one for South Australia, and also the focus that they have had on mental health.

The money that is going into mental health will change lives. The money that is going into suicide prevention will also change lives. These are important areas. The federal government has focused on them. We commend this federal government budget. It is extraordinary for our country. Most importantly, it is a great budget for South Australia.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the member for Reynell, I call to order the member for Schubert, I warn the member for Wright, I call to order the member for Playford, and I warn for a second time the member for Lee.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: You haven't warned me once yet.

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee hasn't been listening. The member for Reynell.

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