Labor Treasurer Kevin Foley could not rule out further blowouts in the costs of the Port River Bridges project in Budget Estimates hearings today, according to Shadow Treasurer Rob Lucas. “Mr Foley could provide no satisfactory answer as to why the cost of the project – including the opening bridges – had actually blown out…
DetailsShadow Treasurer Rob Lucas today described as unbelievable Rann Government decisions to spend $566,000 on consultancies led by a man continually attacked by Kevin Foley as practicing ‘voodoo economics’. “Last year Kevin Foley launched a series of attacks on local consultant and researcher John Spoehr and on the quality of the work and analysis undertaken…
DetailsShadow 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…
DetailsSouth 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…
DetailsQ. 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…
DetailsMembers 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…
DetailsThousands 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…
DetailsPremier 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…
DetailsShadow 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…
DetailsTreasury 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…
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