Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the cognate appropriations bill before the House and to highlight the significant contribution to South Australia being made by the Commonwealth through the budget—in contrast, of course, to the hysterical claims being made by the South Australian state Labor government. As members would be aware, in 2007 Australia had an unemployment rate of four per cent and zero government debt, and we were operating budget surpluses. When the Labor government left office six years later, they left us with over 200,000 more unemployed Australians, gross debt projected to rise above $667 billion, $123 billion in cumulative deficits and, of course, not to forget, the world's biggest carbon tax.

This budget has begun the long, difficult task of fiscal repair that will be the basis for sustained economic growth and prosperity into the future. It is clear that the former Labor government's approach of using borrowed funds for current expenditure was neither sustainable nor desirable. What the coalition has done, as laid out in the budget and in the Intergenerational report tabled on 5 March, is to remove the debt burden from current and future generations. These decisions have been difficult and have been opposed, in most cases, by those opposite, despite the responsibility they bear for having caused the budget crisis we inherited. Despite the fact that some of the saving measures were in fact proposed by those opposite, they are now opposed by those opposite in the Senate. This is the height of political opportunism and the first best demonstration that the Labor Party does not have the political maturity or, indeed, policy honesty to govern this country.

Even more disturbing than federal Labor's economically reckless tactic from opposition are the tactics of the South Australian state Labor government. First, I want to place on record the level of Commonwealth investment in South Australia. Total Commonwealth funding to South Australia continues to increase in each and every year over the forward estimates. Total Commonwealth payments to South Australia will rise from $7.6 billion last financial year to $8.2 billion this year, to $9.3 billion in the last year of the forward estimates, that being the year ending 30 June 2018—a $1.8 billion increase over this time. Going forward, South Australia is projected to receive $35.6 billion in total funding from the Commonwealth across the forward estimates. This figure includes both GST revenue and payments for specific purposes. Comparing the numbers contained in federal Labor's last budget, that of the 2013-14 fiscal year, to the numbers in our latest MYEFO, over the same common four-year period, from 2013-14 to 2016-17, South Australia will receive an extra $1.4 billion from this coalition government.

At the 2014-15 budget the Commonwealth government provided $2 billion in funding for major South Australian road projects, with $1.8 billion to be spent over the next four years including, of course, a billion dollars for the north-south road corridor upgrade to improve freight transport productivity across Adelaide. The Commonwealth government has abolished the carbon tax and the South Australian Labor government has booked a $10 million dividend from that abolition. The abolition of the carbon tax is also helping households, who are benefiting right now through lower electricity prices—a drop of eight per cent in my electorate of Barker alone. Commonwealth funding for South Australian hospitals will increase by $293 million, or 30 per cent, from the level we saw in 2013-14 to the projected level in 2017-18. This funding grows at an average rate of seven per cent per year. Across the forward estimates Commonwealth funding to schools in South Australia will increase by $274 million. Year on year, school funding to South Australia grows by seven per cent, six per cent, six per cent and six per cent. This is a significant investment by the Commonwealth into South Australia, but that is not the story you will hear from Premier Weatherill or Treasurer Koutsantonis.

The South Australian state Labor government has a very clear strategy in place designed to shift blame, distract and avoid scrutiny over the myriad problems it has presided over for more than the past decade. Central to that strategy is to use the responsible but politically unpopular decisions of the Commonwealth as cover for its own mismanagement. Every time it has failed to invest properly in infrastructure, schools, education or regional development, the South Australian state Labor government points to Canberra and says, 'Blame them.' Well, I am sorry, Premier Weatherill, but you need to show some leadership and take ownership of your own decisions.

It is the Weatherill government that refuses to accept $25 million in Murray-Darling Basin diversification funding—money that is available for my electorate today, if Minister Brock were to act. The Commonwealth has put the money forward. It has been waiting for Premier Weatherill and Minister Brock to confirm the projects since August 2013—not August 2014; August 2013. In an all too familiar pattern, the South Australian government is dragging its heels on its responsibilities, when every other state government has agreed to the package, confirmed the projects and indeed, in many cases, has spent the money, which is intended to help create new jobs and new opportunities for people living in river communities.

Despite the fact that they signed up to this agreement when federal Labor was in office, because it is no longer politically advantageous for them they are confecting some sort of claim about GST funding, the figures of which are very rubbery, and punishing people who do not live in metropolitan postcodes because—and here is the rub—it may be possible that they will lose some GST money that they can spend in Adelaide. They would prefer to harm the people of Barker, the Riverland and Murraylands than lose any of the capacity to spend that money in marginal Labor seats in Adelaide.

It is the Weatherill government that refuse to maintain the pensioner concessions on council rates, instead pocketing $98 million. Despite being responsible for $171 of the $190 rebate, they are using the federal government's decision to pull back $19 of that same rebate as cover for their decision to save, as I said, $98 million. It is the Weatherill government that are closing hospitals across the state, like the repatriation hospital. I have seen firsthand the reckless and wilful neglect of the state Labor government in inflicting damage on regional hospitals and health services. Thanks to the state government, there is not a single MRI machine outside of Adelaide, nor a resident clinical psychiatrist between Adelaide and Warrnambool in Victoria—and that is before the government's Transforming Health process starts. Now we have a clear stated intention to cut services to the bone. You cannot even go as far as from North Terrace to Noarlunga before you run out of emergency departments under the government's plan. How are the people in the Riverland and Mount Gambier expected to access metropolitan equivalent emergency services when the people in the southern suburbs of Adelaide cannot?

Sorry, Renmark; sorry, Murray Bridge—you do not even rate a mention in the document, and Berri and Mount Gambier are referred to only once in relation to some much needed and long-overdue mental health beds. But there is nothing on accident and emergency and nothing on increasing surgical bed numbers, even at the new RAH, and yet somehow, despite all these cutbacks and chronic lack of investment, regional services are magically going to achieve better outcomes for patients because we are putting more people through fewer fully equipped hospitals. It is your government, Premier Weatherill, that has imposed massive increases in the emergency services levy and now wants to impose an additional $1,200 land tax on every single South Australian family home.

Despite these actions, the South Australian Labor government continues to run deficits year on year and has a ballooning debt crisis. It is the Weatherill government that has presided over the worst unemployment rate in Australia, at 7.3 per cent—clearly shameful. What is the state government's answer to these problems? Its first tactic is to blame the Commonwealth for everything, as I said earlier. The second tactic is to announce an investigation into controversial subjects without actually taking a firm position or taking any action on them itself. An example is a discussion which has begun around a South Australian nuclear industry. I think it is a great debate and a good one to have, but what is the state Labor government's position on this? It does not have one because this is all an exercise in distraction. No-one knows its position, but the state government will spend millions of dollars on finding out what it already knows. It ought to be mentioned that this is the same proposal that the South Australian state government some years ago spent hundreds of thousands of dollars arguing against in a High Court challenge.

Should we change time zones? That is another distraction. You could hardly believe it, but it is what is occupying the minds of North Terrace at the moment. Talking about time zones is certainly more important than the government providing details about what services it is cutting from regional hospitals or about how it has manifestly failed in child protection or what really went on with the Gillman land deal. I jest, of course, but this seems to be the debate that is wont to be had in South Australia, as I said, as an exercise in distraction. These are just a few of the examples where the duplicity of the state Labor government's claims about federal funding is revealed. It reflects the very clear intention of the Weatherill Labor government to punish people in regional South Australia and intimidate them into changing their votes lest they face some kind of further reprisal. It is not just a preference for economies of scale available in metropolitan Adelaide but a deliberate ploy to punish people for their democratic choices.

The third tactic is to say that anyone who criticises them is not a team player. I cannot begin to tell you the number of times I have heard the state government announce with much fanfare that they are undertaking a massive infrastructure project, complete with hard hats, high-visibility jackets and shovels, only to later find out that the project will only go ahead if there is substantial federal funding and that there was no agreement between the governments before the state government made the announcement. In fact, I understand that in one case in particular, despite heaping blame on the Commonwealth for not funding a certain project, the state minister has not once, on my investigations, raised that issue with his federal counterpart across 18 months. Instead, we get taxpayer funded, party political advertising campaigns, each one costing $1.1 million, attacking the federal government. These actions are not those of a responsible government and do not reflect the fact that there is now more federal investment in South Australia than ever before.

The people of South Australia are being repeatedly taken for mugs by this state Labor government and being fed a campaign of lies and misinformation. There are serious challenges facing our country and my state, and this budget is a serious attempt at addressing those challenges before they become insurmountable. Unlike those opposite and those back home on North Terrace, we will not avoid our duty to leave Australia in better shape than how it was left to us and we will not hide behind cheap political tricks to obscure the hard decisions that need to be made. I commend these bills to the House.

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