REPORTER:
Welcome to the programme, Treasurer.
TREASURER:
Good morning.
REPORTER:
You had a very blunt message for Jay Weatherill, but I assume, by implication for South Australians last week, and that was, ‘stop whingeing and start working’.
TREASURER:
Well, it wasn’t by implication for South Australians because I find South Australians to be incredibly hard working and certainly determined to try and forge out a better life. But Jay Weatherill and the Labor Party have been in government for 12 years; they have lost the AAA rating, they have got the largest deficit on record, they are now increasing taxes and they are spending a lot of time whingeing about what the Federal Government is doing rather than focusing on the job at hand.
REPORTER:
Well, they are arguing that you are making the job at hand almost impossible with your cuts and they have outlined them, it was part of the Budget paper – their Budget papers, and they are saying, ‘well, you are forcing our hand, we are having to introduce something like a – doubling the Emergency Services Levy, because we have to find the money somewhere’.
TREASURER:
Well, you see, I mean, when you have a good look at it, you can see what a fraudulent argument it is, that Mr Weatherill is putting. We are increasing funding to South Australia by 23 per cent over the next four years. In fact, if Labor had of been re-elected federally, South Australia would have been receiving $1.5 billion less over the same four year period. So, we are actually increasing funding for South Australia. Mr Weatherill is talking about supposed cuts in five years’ time but he seems to be introducing new taxes now – right now, and trying to play a political game in blaming us. I don’t think that serves South Australia well.
REPORTER:
You say that there is a 23 per cent increase over four years, but how much of that is quite specific money for things like the South Road upgrade? And while that is going on, there are cuts to health and to education, and those cuts, while they might ramp up in the out years, they certainly begin in the next two or three years.
TREASURER:
Well, that is not right. Commonwealth funding to South Australia for public hospitals is increasing from just over a $1 billion this year, to $1.3 billion in four years’ time; it is 34 per cent increase. In relation to schools, this year we are providing $1 billion – just over $1 billion – that is up $72 million on last year. We are increasing it by 27 per cent over the next four years. So, we are actually significantly increasing Commonwealth funding to South Australian public hospitals and schools, over the next four years, in addition to the South Road.
REPORTER:
But Treasurer, is that less than what South Australia was promised? South Australia was expecting much bigger increases under Gonski in the out years.
TREASURER:
No, no. In five years’ time – what happened was, the Federal Labor Government said to the States, ‘well, in five years’ time – knowing they would lose the next election – in five years’ time, we’ll increase funding for schools and hospitals but we won’t tell you where we are getting the money from’. Now, it can’t be a cut if it was never funded from a budget or anywhere else. The bottom line is, the bottom line is…
REPORTER:
But you did promise to honour those commitments, didn’t you?
TREASURER:
And we did. We honoured the four years. We said, specifically, we would honour what was in the Budget papers, in funding commitments to schools and hospitals for four years. We said that, we’ve done it. In fact, we have exceeded it, we have exceeded it because what happened was, for example, in relation to schools – to Gonski, Labor, the previous Labor Government didn’t negotiate any deal with Queensland, Western Australia or the Northern Territory. Now, we said we would honour the deal; the bottom line is, we weren’t going to leave any state behind. We had to find an additional $1.5 billion to go to those states because they were left out by Labor. Now, we could have taken the money off South Australia or other states, but we didn’t; we had to find further savings in the Budget.
REPORTER:
Treasurer, the Budget papers have a graph loss in national health reform payments to South Australia, and it shows that in 2014-15, $37 million, in 2015-16, $74 million, in 2016-17, $116 million, and in 2017-18, $217 million.
TREASURER:
Sorry, so which Budget papers are they?
REPORTER:
Those are State Budget papers.
TREASURER:
State; so, that is South Australian State Government Budget papers. And (inaudible)…
REPORTER:
But are those figures right or wrong?
TREASURER:
Well, they are wrong. I mean, I (inaudible) seen the State Budget papers. I can tell you, because I am the one writing the cheques, at a Federal level, if we want to go into the detail, last year, South Australia, for public hospitals got $983 million. This year they are getting $1.053 billion. Next year, $1.143 billion, the year after, $1.237 billion, the year after, $1.316 billion; a 34 per cent, or $333 million increase over the next four years.
REPORTER:
So, has the South Australian Government lost any national health reform payments?
TREASURER:
Well, I don’t know what specifically you are talking about. I am talking about public hospital – I am not sure what their criteria is, but I am telling you emphatically, total funding for South Australia from the Australian Government is increasing from $7.6 billion last year to $9.4 billion in 2017-18. Now, over this year and the next three years, it is a 23 per cent increase in funding for South Australia. Now, what the point of what I was saying last week is that South Australia can be what it has been in the past and that is an incredibly prosperous economic state with jobs and growth. But this idea that you have a Premier who is focused on complaining rather than getting on with the job like other states, the fact that you have a Premier that is focused on whingeing rather than participating in the reform, like every other state, including Labor Territory Government in the ACT. I mean, the Labor Territory Government in the ACT is in a far more difficult state than South Australia and yet they are willingly participating in the reform of the Federation, in tax reform, in the Asset Recycling Program. We are forming a partnership with them to try and rebuild the economy of Canberra.
REPORTER:
Treasurer, do you think South Australians might be more receptive to your message if they hadn’t seen such a callous face presented to this State, over something like the closure of Holden. There are thousands of people who are going to lose their jobs in the next – what –18 months’ time and just yesterday, there was evidence given to a Senate Committee that the northern suburbs of Adelaide are going to do it particularly hard. Unemployment, suicide rates, drug taking, crime; evidence was given that all of these things can be expected to go up, and it is just a perception that Canberra really doesn’t care.
TREASURER:
Well, I don’t accept that at all. I don’t accept that at all. You know, there were job losses in Victoria as well. And in Victoria you have got a State Government that is running a surplus Budget, that is investing in infrastructure, that is getting on with the job of trying to stimulate new start-up businesses. And the point I would make is we want to see South Australia grow. I really do want South Australia to grow. I want it to be prosperous. I want jobs and job security but the only way that is going to happen is if we focus on building prosperity by putting in place initiatives that help to build the next News Corp. I mean, when I gave the speech in Adelaide last week…
REPORTER:
We need another News Corp?
TREASURER:
… I was writing about Alibaba, this business that started in Communist China and it is about facilitating small and medium sized enterprises. It has taken off; its market capitalisation is over $200 billion. I asked myself, why can’t South Australia have an Alibaba and I thought, actually it did. Decades ago, it started News Corp. In fact, the foundation of South Australia was associated with a South Australian company. South Australia was effectively settled when a whole lot of business people came together and said, ‘let’s build a new state’. Now, what we are trying to do as a Federal Government, is we are trying to focus on building the next great business, the next series of great employers in South Australia and we want South Australia to be positive and focused on opportunity.
REPORTER:
And we need to move on, Treasurer. Thank you for your time. We are bumping up against our very valued local news service but thank you Treasurer for joining us.
TREASURER:
Thanks very much (inaudible), thanks.