The Premier said the financial statement – originally scheduled to be delivered on June 23 – will instead be held over until Thursday July 7, to give the document “clear air” after the frenetic politicking.

He said he believed the move would be of some benefit to his federal Labor colleagues but “it’s more that we wanted clear air for what we think will be a very important budget”.

Weatherill denied the delay would give South Australia leverage in issuing demands to both sides of the federal contest, in a poll likely to be impacted by the SA result, with the rise of the Nick Xenophon Team leaving a glut of lower house seats vulnerable.

“We’ve done that already,” he said of his Government’s claims for investment.

“I think the budget will be locked and loaded before the Federal election result is known [so] I don’t think it will help us one way or another.”

Asked whether the desire for clear air suggested a “good news budget”, Weatherill replied: “Well, basically.”

“We think it’s an intelligent budget,” he said.

“We’d like to get our message out about the transformation of the state economy – we think it’s underway now, and we want some clear air to talk about the positive things going on in SA.”