Shadow 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…
DetailsComments withdrawn by Labor Member of the Legislative Council, John Gazzola, in Parliament late this afternoon is nothing more than a cosmetic attempt to paper over Labor division. In Parliament this afternoon, Mr Gazzola said: “To assist you in maintaining the standards of the council, I withdraw my use of unparliamentary language and reflecting on…
DetailsPremier Jay Weatherill and Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis will be called to give evidence before the Select Committee into the sale of State Government owned land at Gillman. The Committee will invite former head of Renewal SA, Fred Hansen, to give evidence before moving back to the United States of America in the week beginning 2…
DetailsThe Weatherill Labor Government’s deep divisions are again on display with former President of the Legislative Council John Gazzola labelling current President Russell Wortley a parasite and calling on him to resign. “Sir, normally I would congratulate you on becoming the President of the Legislative Council. Given the circumstances and by the mere fact that…
DetailsHealth Minister Jack Snelling’s scare campaign about the impact of possible reductions in Federal health funding only serves to highlight the jobs the Weatherill Government is currently cutting from SA Health, and announced last year. In his release today regarding recommendations of the Commission of Audit Minister Snelling said: while the (State) Government had no…
DetailsShadow Health Minister Rob Lucas has called on Premier Weatherill to recommit to his Labor Government’s redevelopment of the Flinders Medical Centre (FMC) before the release of the State Budget in June. During the recent state election, the Weatherill Labor Government committed $117.5 million to redevelop the Flinders Medical Centre, which included building two new…
DetailsThe closure of the Phillip Kennedy Hospice at Largs Bay will be the first of many cuts in health services by the Weatherill Labor Government. “The CEO of Southern Cross Care Andrew Larpent has made it quite clear the reasons for the closure were solely due to a ‘lack of commitment from the State Government’,”…
DetailsShadow Health Minister Rob Lucas today described as ‘bizarre’ a claim by Premier Weatherill’s Labor Party that documents shouldn’t be released by the Electoral Commission of SA (ECSA) under Freedom of Information because they would reveal their ‘trade secrets’. Equally as concerning is the decision by the ECSA to refuse the release of these documents…
DetailsAn independent review is needed into the Electoral Commission of South Australia’s (ECSA) handling of the Legislative Council vote count, following news that ECSA conducted a full recount of the vote yesterday. Following a complaint lodged by the Liberal Party, the Electoral Commission has admitted it made four errors in the original Legislative Council vote…
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