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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-02-20 Daily Xml
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Treasurer's Contingency Fund

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:10): My question is to the Treasurer. What information is available about payments made out of the Treasurer's contingency budget line over the last three years?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:10): I thank the honourable member for his question. The issue of I guess what is being colloquially referred to as sports rorts and grants rorts at the commonwealth and state levels has been raised through the media and through the community and I guess some concern has been expressed about the general issue.

The answer to the honourable member's question in particular is that if one refers to what is known as the Treasurer's slush fund or Treasurer's contingency account, in the last year of the former Labor government, former treasurer Koutsantonis spent $2.678 million out of the Treasurer's slush fund or the Treasurer's contingency. Of that $2.7 million, $1.5 million went in response to requests from members of parliament or candidates, and the surprising summary of that indicates that all $1.5 million of those grants went to either Labor members of parliament, members of the Labor government cabinet or Labor candidates in terms of requests.

The Hon. S.G. Wade: 100 per cent?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: 100 per cent. Not a single dollar went to a request from a Liberal candidate, a Liberal member of parliament or, indeed, a crossbench candidate or member. Just a selection of those requests out of the Treasurer's slush fund:

$263,000 went to Ms Nat Cook for the City of Onkaparinga to build the Southern Tigers Basketball Association replacement roof and repair court damage at Morphett Vale basketball stadium;

$160,000 went to the Hon. Tom Kenyon, member for Newland, for the Banksia Park Primary School council for fencing and CCTV;

$100,000 went to the Hon. Tom Kenyon, member for Newland, for the Fairview Park Primary School for installation of a road crossing on a particular road; and

$200,000 went to the Hon. Tom Kenyon, member for Newland, for the City of Tea Tree Gully as a donation towards the installation of some traffic lights at the Ridgehaven Primary School.

Even Labor candidates joined in the largesse:

Mr Michael Brown, the Labor candidate for Playford—he wasn't even a member—made an application and got $57,860 for the Parafield Gardens Soccer and Sports Club Incorporated as financial support to upgrade lighting to a sufficient standard to support night games;

Mr Michael Brown, Labor candidate for Playford, also got $47,190 for the North Pine Sports and Social Club Incorporated for financial support towards the upgrading of the club's community cricket nets; and

Labor candidate for Colton, Ms Angela Vaughan, got $36,790 for the Fulham Gardens Primary School to install some new carpeting in there.

There were a range of other grants: Mr Bignell, the member for Mawson, got $110,000 for the redevelopment of a skate park in his particular area and there were a range of other grants, as I said, that went to either Labor MPs, members of the Labor cabinet or, indeed, Labor candidates. Just to bring it home to a little bit of home turf, even our very favourite the Hon. Tung Ngo MLC managed to get a grant from the Treasurer's slush fund for $50,000 for the Khmer Buddhist Association. Most of these grants were given in the months just prior to the election in March 2018. As I said, $1.5 million of the $2.7 million went to Labor members and candidates and—

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: Point of order: the Treasurer appears to be reading directly from a document. Can I request that he table that document, please.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I'm very happy to table the document. It is already public so I am happy to table it after I have taken the opportunity to read the home truths to all members.

The PRESIDENT: Minister, don't be diverted.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I thought it was a supplementary question. As a comparison, in 2018-19, in the first year of the Liberal government, the Treasurer's slush fund, instead of $2.7 million spent, I think it was about $350,000. It went to the Voice of Industrial Death and the Asbestos Victims Association. It went, I think, to Business SA for a business export program; the program was in terms of supporting business exports. It went also to a payroll tax awareness campaign which was jointly funded between Treasury and the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, I think it was.

I think there was a fifth grant which went to another organisation as well. But the difference, and the answer to the honourable member's question, is that in the last year of the former Labor government, $2.7 million was directly assisting or attempting to assist the re-election of some Labor MPs and the election of Labor candidates. Not a single dollar went to a Liberal MP or a Liberal candidate, but in the first year of the Liberal government the $2.7 million slush fund was slashed down to an expenditure of between $350,000 and $400,000.

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