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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-06-05 Daily Xml
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State Budget

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:43): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Treasurer on the budget outlook.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: The Treasurer informed us today in the Legislative Council that he has no further or better information about revenue projections other than those outlined by David Reynolds, the Under Treasurer, to the Budget and Finance Committee yesterday. In questions today, the Treasurer has agreed that there is in the order of $272 million in a GST windfall over and above the projections from the Mid-Year Budget Review expected in the 2018-19 financial year. He has also agreed that there is likely to be at least a baseline of $120 million extra GST revenue over and above the Mid-Year Budget projections in the out years of the budget cycle. The Treasurer has also agreed that state-based revenue projections are better than were forecast during the Mid-Year Budget Review.

The Under Treasurer also outlined potential budget risks in big agencies, being SA Health, a budget risk of up to $70 million, but the Under Treasurer informed the committee that it's much more likely, in his experience, to be closer to zero as a budget overrun, and that child protection has a budget risk of up to $20 million but in the Under Treasurer's view is much more likely to be closer to zero than the budget risk of $20 million.

Given there is a massive windfall expected in commonwealth GST revenue and increase in state-based revenue and a much lower than anticipated budget risk, does the Treasurer accept any budget deficit is his fault?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:45): No, Mr President. A simple answer. It was a nice endeavour from the Leader of the Opposition to try to absolve himself from all of the sins and atrocities that they committed over the last 16 years. Good try, but we're not going to be allowing the Leader of the Opposition and indeed his cronies from the former Labor government of the last 16 years to wash their hands of the sins and atrocities they committed over 16 years, which have been visited upon the new Marshall Liberal government.

When the details of the budget are outlined in September, the details of those atrocities that this former government committed upon not just the budget but the long-suffering people of South Australia, it will be evident to everybody the extent of the financial disasters and calamities they have left the incoming Liberal administration. The full details, I can assure you, will be detailed in all of their gory detail between now and the first week of September.

Just some examples of the problems that confront the budget: the—they would have thought—very clever strategy where they would fund programs. Let me give you as one example the $50 sports vouchers for parents, a very popular program, and the incoming Liberal government indicated during the election period that it would increase funding to parents in relation to sports vouchers.

What the Leader of the Opposition didn't indicate or the former government didn't indicate was that they actually had budgeted to cut the funding for the program, without telling the people of South Australia, next year. They were going to cut the funding of the program and didn't tell anybody. That's the sort of government we had, where they actually indicated this program was continuing but they had secret plans to cut the program, because they didn't indicate they were going to continue the funding.

There are dozens and dozens of examples right across the spectrum where the former government had budgeted for programs to stop. In the investment attraction area my colleague minister Ridgway would be able to indicate any number of examples where programs were budgeted to stop at either the end of this particular financial year or the end of the next financial year, and there was no ongoing funding in relation to those particular programs. They will be the sorts of details which will be outlined, as I said, in all of their gory detail between now and the September budget.

The evidence that the Under Treasurer gave to the Budget and Finance Committee in relation to the ongoing challenges that the Minister for Health confronts as a result of having inherited 16 years of financial mismanagement in the health portfolio cannot be so easily dismissed as the Leader of the Opposition seeks to do.

The Hon. K.J. Maher: You agreed with the Under Treasurer.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I have. The evidence that was given yesterday and the questions were actually in relation to the budget year of 2017-18. He should have asked some questions; perhaps he may well refine his questioning technique when he has a bit more experience in terms of chairing the Budget and Finance Committee.

The Hon. K.J. Maher: You've read the evidence, have you, Rob? You read it, did you?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Of course, I read the evidence. I didn't say that. I said I didn't have a copy of the transcript in front of me. The Leader of the Opposition can recreate the history of the answers that I give but go to the Hansard and see the accurate statements. What I said earlier was that I didn't have a copy of the transcript in front of me. I didn't say I hadn't read the transcript. Any competent treasurer or minister would read the transcript as soon as it was available. We obviously had an audio tape of the proceedings of the committee yesterday morning available soon afterwards.

The evidence was given yesterday and the questions were essentially in relation to 2017-18. What the Leader of the Opposition should have been asking, if he had been a little more refined or adept in terms of his questioning technique, would have been what the outlook is in relation to the challenges that confront not only the health portfolio but a number of the other portfolios such as child protection, TAFE and other—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: You didn't ask about TAFE. The Leader of the Opposition forgot to ask to about it. The reason he didn't ask about TAFE was because of the financial calamities that his government left the budget in in relation to TAFE. But right across the board there are financial challenges that have been left to the incoming government which have to be confronted and will be confronted by the incoming government.

In relation to the gravamen of the Leader of the Opposition's question, no, the budget position of 2017-18 will be wholly and solely the responsibility of the outgoing Labor government. Let the cards fall where they may in relation to what the final position is in relation to 2017-18. Yes, we will accept responsibility for 2018-19 onwards because that will be the budget that we bring down in September. But the budget result, which, as I have indicated publicly, is likely to be in a deficit position in 2017-18, will be wholly and solely the responsibility of the incompetence and the financial mismanagement and the negligence of the outgoing Labor government.

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