David & WillSA Treasurer Stephen Mullighan + Shadow Treasurer Sam Telfer reaction to the federal budget
David Pemberthy and Will Goodings six to nine fine, double a breakfast.
It's now time to talk to the Treasurer of South Australia, not the Federal on the State one, Stephen Mulligan for our regular catch up. Treasurer, good morning and thanks for joining us today. Has South Australia been dunded with its share of the GST.
No, I don't think so. I mean, I think we've seen a boost in our GST revenues in last night federal budget and we've also given a proportion fell Oh, that's part of the review that the Commerce Grants Commission does from time to time. Some years it increases, some years it decreases. The important thing is that we share the GST revenue on an equitable basis. That happens at the moment with the exception of Western Australia. But the good news is that the national pool, the total GST collections, is growing a bit quicker than what the federal government expected, and that means that states like South austral Idea are doing a bit better with the GST revenues than we expected in last night's federal budget.
Can we get into the infrastructure spending because we had a valiant defense of it just ten minutes ago from the Member for High Martian Federal Health Minister Mark but I was saying South Australia has not missed out compared to the other states. What was your take on it, as the treasure obviously South Australia. Do you look at some of the new, much grander spending in Queensland and New South Wales and think a bit more of that might have been nice?
Well, I think you know, I've said on your program before Daves that we've got to be circumspect about this because when the federal government matched on fifty to fifty the costs of the South Road upgrade, you know, the biggest project we've ever undertaken in South Australia, it meant that we were getting a huge influx of federal funds. And last night's budget showed that South Australia is getting eleven point two percent of federal road funding, which is punching well above our weight. I mean, it's way more than our population shared, it's more than our GSC shared. So you know, we're doing well as a result of previous budgets from this government, stepping up funding. Of course, you know, there would be an endless list of demands for people right across the state, Adelaide and in the regions for more road funding because there are so many different projects and priorities that people have got their eye on. But in terms of the overall amount that we're getting, we're doing pretty well compared to where we've been in the past.
I mean intrigued. There was a bit of an insight when the Health Minister spoke to us before about the way in which this concept of fairness when it comes to infrastructure spending is analyzed in Canberra. The metric he said was essentially population is a proportion of the country and then you know infrastructure spending should some way correlate to that. And his argument well se how the Stralia does well because we get more infrastructuring spend than we should be apportioned based on what of the total population we make up. But as some listeners have pointed out, surely it makes more sense to talk about the size of the state when we're talking about things like roads and how much investment is required to keep them as opposed to just the sum total of people that use them. Do you think there's any merit to that argument.
Well, when I was Transporting Infrastructure Minister, I used to use the line that South Australia's got ten percent of the nation's roads, We've got seven percent of the nation's population and we get five percent of the road funding across the country. And I think that shows how much that's changed in recent years, where we're not getting five percent anymore, we're getting over ten percent, we're getting over eleven percent in fact, So yes, I think I think that is a way of looking at it. There's also a broader issue which is being pursued by state treasurers and state transport ministers to the federal government, and that is that we need to maintain this rule that when we see regional projects funded, particularly ones that are carrying freight, you know they should be funded by the Commonwealth on an eighty twenty basis. They pick up eighty percent of the cost the states pick up twenty percent of the costs. And while we all looked in surprise at the more than seven billion dollars that got allocated to Queensland for the Bruce Highway upgrades, one good thing was that it was done on an eighty twenty basis, trying to maintain that funding share, recognizing that the Commonwealth has got such a greater capacity than any one of the states to fund infrastructure. But that's particularly true when it comes to a smaller state like South Australia. So that's been a focus of our discussions with the Commonwealth, particularly when it comes to regional roads and you know, when people stay, when are we going to finish duplicating the Augusta Highway? You know, when are there are other freight projects which are important for South Australia. You know, we're keen to partner with a Commonwealth, but we want to do it on a fair basis where they're chipping in the bulk of the month.
We spoke with the head of the Primary Producers Association here in South Australia after seven o'clock, who scored the budget of four out of ten, but did give some credit to the federal government, saying, listen, the reality is South Australia is in drought, some of Western Victoria's in drought, the rest of the country's dealing with floods and so forth. But they felt as though they'd been largely forgotten. Has the Federal the hole in the budget federally with regard to helping out South Australian farmers, meant that you guys now are going to have to carry the can and pick up the cost of trying to alleviate some of that drought related burden.
Yeah. Look, I can understand while a primary producers, particularly those affected by drought, would have been watching what was announced last night with a keen eye, but it's important to remember that all of the Commonwealth drought support programs are already open and available and are already fully funded. So those comwealths government drought supports are there, and what we've tried to do is tried to fill the gaps as a state government in providing targeted drought support, whether it's for subsidies for feed transport, particularly coming from other places around the country, trying to subsidize that, providing some grants to farmers so that they can upgrade their water supplies and infrastructure on their farms, and provide a range of other supports. The premiers already advised Parliament that we're not going to wait until the state budget necessarily we're thinking about how we can go into phase two with our drought support package in the same way that we did that for the floods. When the Murray flooded, we announced an initial package and then we came back with a subsequent package, so we're working through that. We really do feel for the farmers at the moment because that has just felt like a ludicrously dry period that we've had and it's mainly just hitting South Australia and to some extent western Victoria. So when Queensland's getting deluged by tropical cyclones and record rainfalls, we're in another country at the moment. But the good news is that those federal programs remain open and we're trying to support primary producers access to them and get the best bang for buck out of it.
Just finally, Treasurer in Breaking at eight this morning we said that we're expecting an announcement today that some sixty or just over sixty full time positions are going to be created at the Wyala Steel Work So I guess these jobs are going to be essential to keep the plant operational, to get it back into better condition after the neglect that endured at the hands of Loopt's one steal, and get it ready for a sale. How's the search for a new operator going.
Yeah, really good, and look, we really welcome this news today. We've got the Acting Premier, Susan Clost, who'll be up there with the Minister for Energy and Mining Tom Kits and Tinus to be making announcements around this extra workforce boost for the plant there. But look, you know, part of the administrator's job was to stabilize the operations and then start investing back in the plant to make sure that it's productive, and that relates to today's announcement about the workforce. But that also means that the facility is more attractive for a still operator to come in and take it over and run it for the future. So those discussions are progressing well. My understanding is that we've had quite a number of interested parties respond to the Administrator indicating their interest to potentially take on the plant. There's obviously quite a bit of work that's got to go go on now, some due diligence and them getting on site and kicking the tires and understanding what's required for them if they take it over. But the encouraging thing is we've had a strong response so far and that means that to date, the administration's going as we'd hope, and we hope in as the Premier. I think on your program the next twelve to eighteen months that we're in a position where we've we've got a new operator of the still work.
Steve Mulligan, Treasure of South Australia. Thanks for joining us this morning. We'll catch up again soon.
Thanks very much.
The Shadow Treasurer Sam Telfer has called into the program. Shadow treasure Good morning to you.
Yeah, good morning, Jens.
So what was your reaction to the federal budget last night with regard to South Australia.
Oh, like everyone, I think was sort of trying to dissect exactly what it means and for our stayed in particular. But as has been highlighted in the media and in some of the commentary, I was surprised and disappointed with the little amount of actual new infrastructure funding which has been put in this budget. The treasure I sort of talked about a few of the projects which could have been included, and the great Adelaide freight bypass, that the truro bypass, the Porta Gusta Highway duplication, this sort of stuff. I hoped there would be steps along the way in this infrastruy to spend, but seemingly not. It seems like this is just an election budget, and reflective of that, it probably seems that Labor aren't electorally interested in South Australia. They're putting all their money into the Eastern States where they're trying to shore up votes. And you know, if I was a voter in booth b or Stirred or Kingston, i'd rightly be disappointed that there isn't that additional infrastructure spend which we've been crying out for.
Have you worked out what you're going to spend your five dollars a week tax cut on yet, Sam, And this.
Is the cynical nature of people looking at federal budgets, unfortunately, when you know it's not exactly significant tax reform. When they're trying to just sweeten up a lead up to a vote with a five dollars tax incentive, it takes more than that to buy my vote, boys. And honestly, when you're looking at the cost of living challenges which we're facing at the moment, especially the soaring energy prices, that's barely going to touch the sides.
Sam Jovy, Shadow for recalling in there. Thanks for that.
