Shadow Treasurer Rob Lucas said today this week’s budget estimates committee process would be the last major opportunity prior to the election to probe Rann Government waste and election slush funds totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. Detailed analysis of budget papers shows three separate Treasurer’s contingency lines totaling $230m for 2005-06 compared to only…
South Australian taxpayers will not be bought off by a cynical pre-election handout after three years of being ripped off by the highest taxing government in South Australia’s history, according to Shadow Treasurer Rob Lucas. “Mr Foley claims supposedly the biggest ever tax cuts this year,” Mr Lucas said today. “But this has only occurred…
Q. What do you do when your budget surplus is going to turn into a budget deficit? A. Move the fiscal goal posts! Just change the definition of a budget deficit and magically turn it back into a surplus! Shadow Treasurer Rob Lucas said today that Kevin Foley’s claimed future budget surpluses were actually deficits…
Members of the media, in considering today’s budget numbers, should be aware of significant errors by Kevin Foley in each of his three budgets, according to Shadow Treasurer Rob Lucas. “For example, in the 2003-04 budget papers Mr Foley actually made an error of $794 million in the estimate of total revenue in the State…
Thousands of South Australian small businesses are being forced to pay payroll tax while similar businesses in all other states are payroll tax-free, according to Shadow Treasurer Rob Lucas. “The payroll threshold in South Australia below which small businesses pay no payroll tax is the lowest of all states and territories in Australia,” Mr Lucas…
Premier Mike Rann has begun his 2005 magical media world tour with an ‘announcement’ in the UK of something announced two months ago in Adelaide, according to Shadow Treasurer Rob Lucas. “It is a shame the Premier has to justify his travels with re-announcements of old announcements,” Mr Lucas said. Local television, radio and press…
Shadow Treasurer Rob Lucas said today that the latest export figures show that SA’s export performance is the worst of all the states. The most recent export figures released by the ABS show that export growth in some states is almost 5 times stronger than SA’s export growth and Australian figures are almost 3 times…
Treasury strongly opposed the Rann Government’s decision to provide a $7 million subsidy to the developers of the City Central project, according to leaked information from within Treasury provided to Shadow Treasurer Rob Lucas. “Treasury sources have confirmed that Treasury did not believe the Rann Government’s claim that the taxpayer subsidy of $7m was required…
Shadow Treasurer Rob Lucas today issued a warning to the media to be aware of shifty looking Premiers sidling up to them and trying to claim credit for tax cuts which are really part of the GST tax trade off deal!! Just last month Peter Costello issued an ultimatum to Mr Rann and all Labor…
The appointment of Robert Champion de Crespigny and David Cappo to become members of Cabinet’s senior Executive Committee is a concrete admission of the lack of talent within the Rann Government ranks. Liberal Shadow Treasurer Rob Lucas said the appointments were a resounding no-confidence vote in the quality of the Rann Government’s front bench and…