The State Budget is based on a range of absurdly optimistic revenue assumptions that will require South Australia to transform overnight from economic basketcase to economic powerhouse to be realised. “At the heart of the Treasurer’s dodgy figures is the assumption that South Australian tax revenue growth will rocket along at 6.2 per cent, the…
DetailsA senior State Government source has provided information that the Weatherill Government employed highly-paid consultants last year to consider privatising some SA Water assets said Shadow Treasurer Rob Lucas. In evidence to the Budget and Finance Committee, Under Treasurer Brett Rowse refused to answer questions on the grounds the issue had gone to Cabinet and…
DetailsTreasurer Koutsantonis has been severely embarrassed by today’s revelation the Weatherill Government will be applying for money under the Federal Government’s 15 per cent asset recycling grant scheme. Evidence to the Budget and Finance Committee by Treasury head Brett Rowse confirmed the Government would be applying for the bonus after its decision to privatise the…
DetailsThe record $1.2 billion deficit that the Weatherill Labor Government has delivered for this financial year is the Labor Government’s single most expensive broken promise. Mr Koutsantonis’ record breaking budget has just delivered the largest deficit in South Australia’s history at $1.2 billion and the biggest debt in SA’s history at $14.3 billion. “If the…
DetailsSouth Australians should be asking themselves what promises the Weatherill Labor Government will break in today’s Budget. “The Weatherill Labor Government has spent 12 years making and breaking promises and has shown that it cannot be trusted,” said Shadow Treasurer Rob Lucas. “There is already serious doubt over one of the Weatherill Labor Government’s key…
DetailsThe Weatherill Labor Government must ensure that safety is the top priority at the new Royal Adelaide Hospital construction site after the latest safety incident. Media outlets have reported that a crane has this morning dropped a load of steel at the new Royal Adelaide Hospital site – the latest incident at the site. “We…
DetailsMr Koutsantonis and Mr Weatherill are hypocrites for arguing they have the right to demand the car park tax be passed in the budget debate, Shadow Treasurer Rob Lucas said today. “Mr Koutsantonis has been trying to bully MPs into supporting the car park tax on the basis that MPs had to pass the State…
DetailsThere is serious doubt over one of the Weatherill Labor Government’s key election promises being delivered in this week’s State Budget. The Weatherill Labor Government has promised to deliver a budget surplus in 2015/16 since the 2013 State Budget. This promise was reiterated in the Mid-Year Budget Review, January Budget Update and Labor’s election costings…
DetailsShadow Treasurer Rob Lucas today challenged Treasurer Koutsantonis to explain how introducing a new business tax such as the car park tax will help resolve South Australia’s dangerous jobs crisis. SA’s unemployment rate yesterday jumped to 6.8 per cent – the highest unemployment rate on the mainland. “Given South Australian businesses already suffer under the…
DetailsSouth Australia’s L-Plate Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis is clearly struggling to cope with the complexity of his new Treasury responsibilities. “At a time when South Australia faces one of its most important budgets ever, a litany of bungles, blunders and misstatements by Tom Koutsantonis gives South Australians no confidence at all in his ability to handle…
DetailsSA Health documents released under Freedom of Information confirm there has been a further $30 million blowout in the EPAS IT project. Documents presented to the December 2013 meeting of the EPAS Program Board state: “…the budget to activate Pt Augusta and Daw House has already been exceeded by $18.9 million. The current forecasts of…
DetailsSerious delays in appointments and a lack of appropriate treatment are putting South Australians at risk of suffering avoidable blindness. The Macular Disease Foundation Australia has warned that people with deteriorating vision are being placed on long waiting lists to get a diagnosis, even though delays beyond a few weeks of disease onset can lead…
DetailsRenewal SA Chief Executive Fred Hansen today contradicted significant parts of Premier Weatherill and Treasurer Koutsantonis’s defence of their controversial Gillman land deal. Mr Hansen, the first witness to give evidence to the Legislative Council Select Committee into the deal, confirmed the Renewal SA Board had either not supported or voted against Board papers recommending…
DetailsSouth Australia’s major hospitals are amongst the worst performing in the nation when it comes to treating patients in their Emergency Departments within the required period of time. “Figures released today by the National Health Performance Authority show South Australia has the worst Emergency Department performance in Australia and is going backwards when compared to…
DetailsThe Weatherill Labor Government has begun the budget blame game by using the recent Federal Budget in an attempt to cover up 12 years of its own financial mismanagement of the South Australian health budget. “South Australians don’t be fooled – the budget blame game has begun and will continue until the State Budget is…
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