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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-06-02 Daily Xml
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Bills

Appropriation Bill 2022

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer) (15:07): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act for the appropriation of money from the Consolidated Account for the year ending 30 June 2023 and for other purposes. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer) (15:08): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

It gives me great pleasure to present to the house the 2022-23 state budget, the first budget delivered by the Malinauskas Labor government. I present this budget at a crucial time for our state. Our state continues to transition to life beyond COVID after more than two years of dealing with the pandemic.

Since the state election, the government has taken more direct management of COVID, restrictions have continued to be lifted, the community and businesses are returning to normality and confidence has improved. Sectors hardest hit by restrictions, especially hospitality and tourism, are experiencing strong trading conditions, retail sales are high and the housing construction industry has experienced unprecedented demand.

The last two years have seen more than half a trillion dollars of both fiscal and monetary stimulus deployed to sustain economic activity and jobs across our nation—the greatest economic stimulus in our nation's history. As a result, the economic recovery has been far stronger than could have been hoped for only two years ago. South Australia has also benefited from this national stimulus. Our economy has recorded strong economic and employment growth in recent months.

Yet this unprecedented stimulus and the resulting economic performance have also camouflaged concerning trends in the state's economic performance over the past four years. Each year since 2017-18, our economic growth rates have slowed under the former Liberal government, culminating in the worst economic performance in the nation in 2019-20, with an economic growth rate of minus 1 per cent.

It was disingenuous of the former Liberal government to boast about leading the nation on economic growth the following year, without acknowledging the poor performance in the years prior. Our state has recorded the equal slowest wage growth of all states, well behind recent rates of inflation, meaning a decline in real wage growth for workers. Our unemployment rate, though pleasingly lower in the past 12 months, remains either the worst or second worst in the country as each monthly result has been announced.

Our share of national exports has fallen, and even our bumper crops over the last two seasons have not reversed this trend. Our share of higher-productivity industries like manufacturing continues to fall as a proportion of our economy, and major industrial opportunities like defence shipbuilding and submarines have been delayed. Even before COVID-19, our state was beset by challenges.

So now, at this pivotal moment in our state's history, we should not seek to return to life as we knew it before the pandemic. Indeed, to do so would be a grave mistake and a wasted opportunity for South Australia. The recent state election saw a clear choice presented to the community: a choice between taking our state back to where we were before the pandemic, or a choice that recognised the challenges confronting our state and a comprehensive plan to tackle them—a plan for the future.

The Malinauskas Labor government was elected on the basis of a comprehensive reform agenda across all areas of government endeavour. Election commitments were made to fix the ramping crisis engulfing our health system, re-invest in education at every level, address our chronic skills shortages, take advantage of our energy future, support the community with cost-of-living relief, maintain Labor's record as the party of infrastructure delivery, and in many other areas.

I am pleased to say today that our budget upholds every one of our election commitments. The challenge of doing so, however, has been made more complicated by further pressures arising since the state election. The combination of conflict in Ukraine, record fiscal stimulus and sustained low interest rates have contributed to price inflation not seen for decades across Australia.

While households and businesses face huge additional pressures on their finances, the government confronts not just higher costs for goods and services but wage pressures and rapid escalation in infrastructure delivery costs as well, and the government does so with a balance sheet burdened with record debt levels, operating deficits and the largest infrastructure program in the state's history still to deliver.

The previous Liberal government inherited a government balance sheet with total net debt levels of $12.95 billion, or 63.5 per cent of total government revenues. In its last budget, the former Liberal government projected debt to reach $33.6 billion, or 129.6 per cent of total government revenues, by 2024-25. In other words, we saw debt forecast to increase by $20 billion, and a doubling of our net debt to revenue ratio.

Concerningly, this was not simply an effect of COVID. According to the former Liberal government's own projections, debt was forecast to nearly double even before the pandemic and then increase further as the former Liberal government responded to the pandemic. The $20 billion increase in debt under the previous government is not explained by the $4 billion economic stimulus package it claimed to deliver and it certainly was not racked up on infrastructure development, particularly the north-south corridor. Instead, it was the result of poor budget management.

On coming to government, I was briefed by Treasury that if the budget continued to record operating and infrastructure spending growth at levels incurred by the previous Liberal government, operating deficits would continue to be recorded post the budget years, and debt would reach nearly $65 billion by 2035. The cost of servicing that debt, even at forecast interest rates, would be so high as to prevent additional spending in health, education, policing and other priority areas.

The challenge for the government in delivering this budget and all our election commitments was to do so while minimising further impacts on the state's finances. While the previous state government boasted about a credit rating upgrade from AA to AA+ early in its term, it was curiously silent on the downgrade to 'negative watch' as a result of its more recent budget. Put simply, the state budget must be put back on track, and this budget commences this important work.

The 2022-23 budget not only delivers on all the government's election commitments, it also returns the budget to surplus. The budget delivers a net operating surplus of $233 million in 2022-23, with operating surpluses forecast across each year of the forward estimates growing to $643-million by 2025-26.

A net operating deficit of $1.7 billion is forecast for the current year 2021-22, an increase from the deficit of $1.59 billion forecast by the previous government, as additional costs for COVID-19 management as well as support for businesses and community organisations have been approved. This budget forecasts total infrastructure spending of $18.6 billion over the next four years.

As a result of this level of investment, total government sector debt is projected to increase across the forward estimates to $33.8 billion as at 30 June 2026, a slight increase from the last Liberal Government's forecast of $33.6 billion a year earlier, at 30 June 2025, in its last budget. Stronger economic conditions nationally have increased the nation's GST collections, boosting our state's revenues. The budget has benefited by approximately $900 million of additional GST revenues over the forward estimates, as previously reported. However, the Commonwealth Grants Commission has revised our state's share of the pool significantly down in its latest assessment.

This amplifies the risk to the state's finances by the changes to the GST distribution arrangements made by the previous Coalition government, described as, quote, 'a massive win' for South Australia by the former Liberal government. Next year, these revised arrangements will mean our state will be $289 million worse off than under the original GST deal made in the year 2000. This loss is masked by a temporary 'no worse off' commitment that ends in 2027. South Australia, like other states and territories, faces a severe revenue shortfall in the future unless this is remedied.

Since the 2021-22 Mid-Year Budget Review state taxation revenues have been revised up by $340 million in 2021-22, mainly due to higher conveyance duty collections, and by $640 million over the period 2022-23 to 2024-25, reflecting underlying strength in payroll tax, gambling taxes and other stamp duty revenue collections.

Importantly, this budget keeps Labor's commitment at the last election to impose no new taxes or tax increases. In total, the budget provides an additional $2.1 billion over the next four years for new operating initiatives in the general government sector. A further $792 million is allocated in 2021-22, mainly for additional COVID-related expenses in Health and SA Police. New investing initiatives in the general government sector total $3.4 billion over the next four years, in addition to $44 million this year.

I am pleased to report to the parliament that the net cost of the government's election commitments is $3.1 billion, almost exactly as outlined during the election campaign. The budget also provides support for some of the initiatives approved by the former government since the Mid-Year Budget Review, including funding for business support payments, the $65 million for the plant protein manufacturing facilities, and $19 million for a new space industry hub at Adelaide Airport. Unfortunately, a further $127 million cost blowout on the Gawler rail electrification project has been recorded on the former government's botched management of this key infrastructure project, with costs now $842 million or nearly 40 per cent over the original budget.

The government has also chosen to fund $1.2 billion of unfunded cost pressures in agencies over the period from the current financial year to 2025-26 ignored by the previous government which, if left unattended, would have impacted service delivery. This includes COVID-19 pressures in health and police, and additional costs for caring for children and young people in care.

Front and centre amongst election commitments we made in health were those designed to put an end to the ramping crisis that ran out of control under the former Liberal government. Not only are we funding the $1.1 billion of election commitments in health, as we outlined at the election, we have provided SA Health with a further $648 million to respond to COVID both in 2021 and also next year in 2022-23 to manage the public health response, including ongoing PCR testing capacity, vaccinations, additional hospital beds and the rapid antigen testing program.

The previous Liberal government had $800 million of savings allocated to SA Health through to 2024-25. While the government remains committed to improving the efficiency of our health system, we have provided SA Health with an additional $400 million of funding over five years in this budget to reduce the savings task left to it by the former Liberal government.

The Malinauskas government is also proud to provide $124 million of funding to deliver our commitment to recruit an additional 350 ambulance staff, including 278 paramedics and 72 ambulance officers. The budget also allocates $65.4 million for 101 additional doctors, including specialists, as well as 10 additional child psychologists, to ease pressure on doctors and medical specialists across our system. Importantly, this includes recruiting more of the doctors that graduate from our state's universities.

We are also funding 304 additional nurses across the health system to support both the new hospital beds that have been funded and also to better staff existing areas of need. Importantly, we have also committed to legislating minimum staffing ratios for nurses, ensuring they have the safe staffing levels and support they need protected by law.

Over the next four years, the budget provides $2.95 billion for infrastructure spending in health, with $1.44 billion allocated towards the cost of the new Women's and Children's Hospital over the next four years. We remain committed to delivering this project, including adding 50 additional beds to the project to ensure the hospital has adequate capacity to cater for future growth in demand. The final cost of this project is still being reviewed by the new government.

We are also adding 326 beds to our health system in both metropolitan and regional South Australia at a cost of $540.9 million. This includes 98 new beds for mental health, 50 additional beds at the new Women's and Children's Hospital, 48 beds at the Lyell McEwin Hospital, 48 additional beds at the Modbury Hospital, 24 additional beds at the Flinders Medical Centre, 16 additional beds at Gawler Hospital, 22 new beds for drug and alcohol rehabilitation and detox, as well as 20 homelessness discharge beds.

In addition, the budget also provides $161 million to commence construction for a southern Adelaide hospital expansion, which will deliver an extra 136 beds at the Flinders Medical Centre and a further 24 beds at the Repat. The total cost of this is $400 million, jointly funded on a 50:50 basis with the commonwealth government. The budget also allocates $127 million over the forward estimates period to commence construction of a new Mount Barker hospital, with a total construction cost of $220 million. Once completed, this will increase hospital beds in Mount Barker by a further 68 beds. These two commitments take the total additional beds in our health system funded by this budget to 554.

The budget allocates $120 million to construct a new CBD ambulance headquarters, including a new city ambulance station, in addition to $67.2 million for four new ambulance stations, with a further four to be rebuilt and 10 to be renovated; $46 million is provided for regional hospital infrastructure upgrades at Port Pirie, Port Augusta, Mount Gambier, Naracoorte and Kangaroo Island; and $28 million is to establish and commence a new north-east cancer centre at Modbury Hospital.

In total, the budget provides an additional $2.4 billion to SA Health over the 2021-22 to 2025-26 period. This is an extraordinary commitment to health facilities, services and staffing levels in our state—the single largest allocation of health funding of any budget in the state's history. We are in a position to fund these measures, not only because we believe this is the highest priority for the South Australian community but because we also choose not to proceed with a $662 million basketball stadium. We have allocated all of these funds set aside for the stadium—and much more—for these health initiatives, as we committed to do at the recent state election, because it is the right priority for our community.

The Malinauskas Labor government understands the need to invest in our education system to improve educational standards to lift the long-term productivity of our workforce. This budget provides $208.8 million for five new technical colleges. Forming part of the secondary government school system, these colleges will give school students a real choice to learn a trade and start doing it while they are at school in dedicated facilities.

The budget also funds the expansion of Adelaide Botanic High School and Roma Mitchell Secondary College by 1,000 students, with $118.8 million over the forward estimates, as well as $26.6 million to upgrade school infrastructure at 19 sites across regional and metropolitan South Australia.

An amount of $72.4 million over three years has been allocated to deliver the government's election commitment to reintroduce a midyear intake for students in government preschools and schools, with preschool students commencing in July 2023 and reception students in July 2024.

The Malinauskas government understands the imperative to better support students and staff with mental health needs in our government schools. This budget allocates $50 million across the next four years to provide 100 additional mental health and learning support specialists for this purpose. A further $28.8 million has been allocated to appoint an autism lead teacher in every government primary school to better support children's learning.

The budget also provides $2 million to establish a royal commission into early childhood education and care to examine how universal quality preschool programs for three and four year olds can be delivered in South Australia, and how the school day can better meet the needs of working families. In addition to the five new technical colleges, the budget provides $52.9 million over the next four years for improving skills in our workforce. Initiatives include:

$12.7 million to enable TAFE SA to return to delivering training in aged care, disability and early childhood;

$11.9 million to continue the state's share of funding under the Skilling Australians Fund National Partnership Agreement, while a new agreement with the commonwealth is finalised;

$8.8 million to fund courses where industry has identified skills shortages, such as bricklaying, saw-doctoring, concreting and chefs in the hospitality industry;

$5 million to upgrade the Mount Gambier TAFE; and

$4 million to restore funding cut by the previous Liberal government in adult and community education.

The budget also allocates $1 million to establish a university merger commission to advise the government on a potential merger of the state's universities. It will engage the leadership of the three universities and be led by an eminent commissioner appointed with experience in higher education to also engage across the sector, with business leaders and the community.

As we emerge from the pandemic, it is essential that we maintain our support of infrastructure and initiatives that can support long-term sustainable economic growth. As the nation experiences surging wholesale electricity prices, driven largely by soaring coal prices and the failure of national energy policy over the last decade, South Australia remains at the forefront of energy transition. Once again a Labor government prepares to take the next nation-leading step in securing our energy future—one provided by cheap, green, dispatchable electricity with our Hydrogen Jobs Plan.

The budget provides $593 million to construct a 250-megawatt hydrogen electrolyser facility, a 200-megawatt hydrogen power station and a 3,600-tonne hydrogen storage facility in the Whyalla region.

The budget provides a further $8.3 million over four years to support the implementation of the hydrogen plan in the Department for Energy and Mining and $30 million towards a clean hydrogen industrial hub at Port Bonython, as part of a $140 million partnership with the commonwealth government and private industry.

The budget also provides $100 million to establish a new economic recovery fund to support initiatives that promote long-term sustainable economic growth and development. The fund will include our election commitment for a $10 million manufacturing grants fund.

The budget allocates $45 million over four years to promote South Australia as a tourism destination to interstate and overseas markets and $40 million for a new Major Events Fund so our state can continue expanding its event offerings to both residents and visitors.

Front and centre will be the reinstatement of the Adelaide 500. The budget allocates $18 million next financial year in 2022-23 for the event to be held in December and $70.2 million over the next four years. The government will also be supporting the Adelaide Motorsport Festival with $5.7 million of funding over the next four years.

Brand SA will be relaunched to promote South Australian businesses, after it was cut by the former Liberal government, including an I Choose SA campaign in partnership with local retailers, with $6.2 million of funding over four years, as well as $4.2 million of funding to re-establish the state's investment attraction efforts, again cut by the former Liberal government.

The budget also provides $4 million to establish programs to back women in small business in South Australia, to improve skills and support for female business owners. The government is the largest purchaser of goods and services in the state. Next year, we are estimated to spend over $8 billion. One of the easiest ways we can boost our state's economy is simply to spend more of taxpayers' money supporting South Australian businesses providing these goods and services. Time and again, we saw the former Liberal government send money interstate, needlessly denying local businesses and workers the opportunity to supply government.

If the government can change its purchasing habits away from interstate and overseas businesses to local suppliers by only 5 per cent, it will boost our state's economy by $400 million a year. We will work hard to impose better purchasing requirements across government agencies. The budget provides $2.8 million over the next four years for a range of new programs including better promoting opportunities to supply government, reporting on government procurement spending on South Australian and non-South Australian goods and services, and increasing staffing for the Office of the Industry Advocate to help companies win government work.

Labor is the party of infrastructure delivery in our state. Whether it is hospitals, schools, roads, water, energy, it has been Labor governments that have transformed our state in recent years. This budget continues that legacy. The budget contains an $18.6 billion investing program over the next four years, with $3.2 billion of this towards the completion of the remaining sections of the north-south corridor. The current cost remains at $9.9 billion, while the Department for Infrastructure and Transport continues its review of the project.

Major construction is now estimated to commence in 2024, and this inexcusable delay in the progress of this critical project by the previous Liberal government has meant that construction work has been re-timed, and with it, the forecast expenditure from the state budget. It would be wrong to think that this relieves budget pressure; commonwealth revenues for the project have also had to be delayed as a result.

Other major transport infrastructure projects funded in this budget include:

$400 million in partnership with the commonwealth for upgrades on Marion Road between Anzac Highway and Cross Road;

$125 million to reinstate the commitment to the full duplication of Main South Road between Seaford and Sellicks Beach;

$120 million in partnership with the commonwealth for an on/off ramp from the Southern Expressway at Majors Road;

$75 million in partnership with the commonwealth government for the next stage of the managed motorway program on the South Eastern Freeway;

$51 million to reinstate the construction of a port rail spur on the Outer Harbor Line; and

$19 million to improve public transport to Mount Barker and the Hills.

The budget also provides $1 million next financial year, in 2022-23, for a commission of inquiry to advise the government on the return of train and tram operations back into public ownership.

The Malinauskas Labor government also recognises the extraordinary pressure the current housing market is placing on vulnerable South Australians trying to get a roof over their heads. The state budget invests $177.5 million for a public housing improvement program to deliver:

400 new houses to increase capacity in our public housing system, with 250 of these to be constructed in metropolitan areas and 150 in regional areas.

Of these, 50 new units will be built in a new 'common-ground' style homelessness transition accommodation facility in Adelaide's CBD to help more homeless South Australians off the street and into secure, long-term accommodation, and $4.4 million over the next four years will be provided for intensive support services to help ensure the transition from homelessness is successful.

A further 350 public houses that are currently untenanted will be substantially refurbished to bring them back to tenantable standard, around 100 of which will be located in regional areas. A further 3,000 existing houses will be updated in a maintenance blitz.

$6 million over four years is provided in grants for homelessness support services, including to Catherine House, St Vincent de Paul and the Hutt St Centre, all of which lost contracts from the previous Liberal government to provide homelessness support services. The public housing improvement program provides additional funds to existing housing construction and maintenance initiatives already funded in the South Australian Housing Authority's budget.

In total, over the next four years $557 million will be spent building 1,750 new homes and refurbishing 6,250 others. To better support first-home buyers, HomeStart Finance will develop further low deposit home loan options for them to access. This will enable first-home buyers who are purchasing a newly constructed home or building a new home to borrow with just a 3 per cent deposit.

The budget also provides $128.9 million to meet additional costs for caring for children and young people in state care and a further $5.6 million in grants to non-government agencies to assist in providing care for vulnerable children and their carers and young people who have left care. A further $1.9 million is provided for a Child and Young Person's Visitor Scheme in residential care.

Soaring inflation is causing financial stress on many South Australians, and I am pleased to outline the budget that today includes a range of measures to ease cost-of-living pressures, including:

$39.3 million in 2022-23 to double the Cost of Living Concession amount per eligible household, increasing from $112.30 to $224.60 for tenants and Commonwealth Seniors Health Care Card holders, and from $224.50 to $449.00 for eligible home owners;

$24 million over two years to provide a $100 subsidy to government school parents, caregivers and independent students for the school materials and services charge for each of the 2022 and 2023 school years, which will include a refund of $100 for amounts already paid for the 2022 school year;

$5.2 million over four years to provide free public transport for eligible seniors on Adelaide Metro services 24 hours a day seven days a week, expanding them from existing arrangements, where free travel is only available to seniors outside of peak periods;

$1.8 million over four years to continue the government's mandatory fuel price transparency scheme, requiring all fuel retailers to publish their prices to enable motorists to find the closest cheapest fuel to them; and

$2.9 million per year to re-establish the registration concession for owners of vehicles in remote regions such as Kangaroo Island, the District Council of Coober Pedy and Roxby Downs.

Not only does the budget contain no new government fees or taxes, the indexation rate for government fees and charges has been limited to 2 per cent in 2022-23 and the emergency services bill for a median-valued metropolitan residential property will increase by around 2 per cent in 2022-23.

The budget provides significant funds for a number of local sporting clubs, community groups and councils to improve sport and recreation facilities across our state. This starts with providing:

$82.4 million over four years to take ownership, rebuild and operate the Adelaide Aquatic Centre following community consultation into the site for the new centre;

$84.5 million in local sporting club upgrades;

$68.1 million in community infrastructure grants;

$13.2 million in female facility grants for local sporting clubs; and

$16 million in multicultural grants to support events and initiatives, including language schools.

The 2022-23 state budget is also funding key measures and election commitments aimed at keeping the community and those who work to protect South Australians safe. The budget provides:

$13.3 million this year to continue additional policing efforts required due to COVID-19;

$6.5 million over four years for additional multipurpose load-bearing vests to better protect all sworn police officers against ballistic and edged weapons;

$8.8 million in additional funding over four years for the justice system to manage prosecutions arising from Operation Ironside;

$3.1 million over three years for measures to crack down on child sex offenders, including tougher penalties for those who exploit and sexually abuse children;

$924,000 over four years to establish and maintain a public sex offender register;

$4.2 million over four years to build two new police posts at Indulkana and Pipalyatjara, as well as additional funding for the Fregon police post; and

$1.2 million over four years for the Port Augusta City Safe program.

We are also restoring $800,000 over four years in funding cut from the Women's Domestic Violence Court Assistance Service by the previous government, and also $2 million over four years for victim support services.

The 2022-23 state budget is delivering key election commitments for South Australia's environment and biodiversity. These measures total $25.4 million and include initiatives to recruit 15 Aboriginal park rangers, provide native vegetation grants to private landowners, support the Conservation Council and Friends of Parks, and establish a new biodiversity unit within the Department for Environment and Water. It also includes $2.1 million over four years to employ a commissioner for the River Murray in South Australia because there will be no capitulations under our watch.

I am pleased to say this budget also invests heavily in our regions, with $1.5 billion in new measures over the forward estimates including:

$593 million for the new Hydrogen Jobs Plan in the Whyalla region;

$305.7 million for improvements to regional health services, including the projects across regional South Australia I mentioned earlier;

$27.4 million for additional health services in Mount Gambier; and

$58.6 million for more regional paramedics and ambulance officers, and new and improved regional ambulance stations.

The government is also supporting the South-East by investing $2 million to create a cross-border commissioner as well as $6 million to develop a long-term forestry research and development capability at Mount Gambier, and $2 million over three years to develop a forest products domestic manufacturing and infrastructure master plan, with $2 million to improve fire towers. Also provided is $13 million for the continuation of fruit fly eradication efforts in 2022-23, following ongoing reported outbreaks in the Riverland.

In addition, the Malinauskas government has already appointed a Minister for Regional Roads who will oversee $467.4 million for regional transport and infrastructure improvements. We have also committed to recommencing the country cabinet initiative, axed by the former Liberal government, the first meeting of which will be held next week.

The budget delivers on the government's election commitment to require savings of $165 million in 2022-23 increasing to $192 million in 2025-26, or $714 million over the forward estimates. On coming to government, I was alarmed to be advised by Treasury that the former Liberal government's Jobs and Economic Growth Fund, a time-limited grants fund meant for businesses and industry, was in fact being used in part to fund operating programs of some government agencies. This is unsustainable and this practice must be stopped.

A number of programs have been cut, and this has reduced the savings task on agencies subject to an efficiency dividend. Further, some other existing programs that are not the priorities of this government have also been cut, and this has further reduced the remaining savings task across agencies. Importantly, agencies including health, education, police, child protection, courts, TAFE and emergency services, which deliver frontline services to South Australians, are not subject to these savings.

The budget also requires the reduction of at least 50 full-time equivalent executive positions. Agency chief executives will have flexibility to deliver savings and will not be required to pursue FTE reductions aside from the executive staff reductions. While the Budget Measures Statement outlines the impact on full-time equivalent staffing if half of the overall savings task were achieved by separating staff, this is not a requirement.

It is this government's view that there is significant opportunity to instead reduce costs on temporary and labour hire staff, consultant and contractor expenses, travel and office accommodation costs and so on. Let me be clear: the Malinauskas Labor government values our public sector workers. Over the last two years in particular, they have done an outstanding job protecting our state and maintaining vital public services. We will not simply be cutting public service numbers in pursuing our savings.

Overall, the measures outlined in the budget will support an additional 1,434 full-time equivalent staff over the forward estimates by 2025-26. Additional FTEs for health services, including commitments to 350 more paramedics and ambulance officers, 304 extra nurses and 101 more doctors and specialists, are supplemented by additional staff in the child protection and education portfolios.

The government chose to deliver this budget at the traditional time of June so it could immediately start the work of delivering on our election commitments to the community. There is also no time to lose in beginning the work of meeting the challenges that are before us and seizing the opportunities that lie ahead.

Before I conclude, I would like to thank those who have contributed so much to deliver this budget. First, to the Premier and my cabinet colleagues, I thank them for their support over the last nine weeks. To Under Treasurer, Rick Persse; Deputy Under Treasurer, Tammie Pribanic; head of budget branch, Tricia Blight; and the multitude of Treasury staff who have worked tirelessly since the election, thank you. The professionalism and dedication of Treasury has always been remarkable and that continues today.

To my Chief of Staff, John Atkinson; executive assistant, Rachael Colegate; and the rest of the team in the Treasurer's office, thank you for the extraordinary work since the election. I would also like to thank poor old Adam Todd for his assistance in recent weeks and especially today. He is media adviser not only to the Premier but to the Treasurer on budget day.

And last, to my wife, Antonia, and our children, Ben, Isaac and Olivia: you allow me to spend endless hours poring over budget papers and submissions, attending functions and press conferences, and I know that means I am less present at home than we would all like. I thank you for your endless love and patience.

I am pleased to finish by saying this budget delivers on all the government's election commitments, returns the budget to surplus and introduces no new taxes. It begins the hard work of restoring the state's finances, ensuring that, while we provide extra funding for priority areas and frontline services, we reduce our spending elsewhere. We took an ambitious agenda to the community at the last election. We did it identifying the right priorities for our state. We did it for the future. This budget provides the resources to deliver on this agenda. I commend the budget to the house.

I seek leave to have the explanation of clauses inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

EXPLANATION OF CLAUSES

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

This clause is formal.

2—Commencement

This clause provides for the Bill to operate retrospectively to 1 July 2022. Until the Bill is passed, expenditure is financed from appropriation authority provided by the Supply Act.

3—Interpretation

This clause provides relevant definitions.

4—Issue and application of money

This clause provides for the issue and application of the sums shown in Schedule 1 to the Bill. Subclause (2) makes it clear that the appropriation authority provided by the Supply Act is superseded by this Bill.

5—Application of money if functions or duties of agency are transferred

This clause is designed to ensure that where Parliament has appropriated funds to an agency to enable it to carry out particular functions or duties and those functions or duties become the responsibility of another agency, the funds may be used by the responsible agency in accordance with Parliament's original intentions without further appropriation.

6—Expenditure from Hospitals Fund

This clause provides authority for the Treasurer to issue and apply money from the Hospitals Fund for the provision of facilities in public hospitals.

7—Additional appropriation under other Acts

This clause makes it clear that appropriation authority provided by this Bill is additional to authority provided in other Acts of Parliament, except, of course, in the Supply Act.

8—Overdraft limit

This sets a limit of $150 million on the amount which the Government may borrow by way of overdraft.

Schedule 1—Amounts proposed to be expended from the Consolidated Account during the financial year ending 30 June 2023

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.A.W. Gardner.

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