The Malinauskas Government’s 2024/25 State Budget handed down yesterday said another $16 billion would be added to state debt from 2023/24 forecasts.

The budget included billions more for the health system, new cost of living measures and no new taxes.

The government forecast surpluses over the next four years, largely due to higher tax revenue, but debt was projected to leap from the current $28 billion to $44 billion by June 2028.

The Opposition said the Budget ignored the “average South Australian family” in terms of energy bill relief, and it was concerned about the growing government debt too.

The Liberals said said the 2024/25 Budget was “underpinned by historic tax revenue which highlights that South Australia’s pain has been Peter Malinauskas’ gain”.

Shadow Treasurer Matt Cowdrey said the cost of living relief measures were just a “drop in the ocean”.

“After three budgets, South Australians must ask themselves this question – am I better off under Labor? The answer is a resounding no,” he said.

“South Australia has record ramping despite Peter Malinauskas’ promise to ‘fix it’, we’re paying some of the highest energy prices in the world, we have the highest inflation and unemployment rates in the nation, there’s a chronic housing shortage and crime is out of control.

“As the cost of living crisis worsens, instead of providing relief like energy rebates for all South Australians, Peter Malinauskas has cut the initiative all together leaving South Australia the only State Government to not be providing energy bill relief.”

Shadow Finance Minister Heidi Girolamo said South Australians were “on the hook” of growing debt.

“Don’t let the numbers fool you, Peter Malinauskas’ budget is an inflation-driven surplus,” she said.

“That’s why so many families are struggling to pay their mortgages, that’s why so many businesses are shutting their doors – the cost of living and cost of doing business is out of control.

“Now South Australians are on the hook for debt worth more than $44 billion and that doesn’t even include half the cost of the North-South Corridor project or the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital. This will be a bill that every South Australian will be forced to pay.”

The Treasurer returned serve by attacking the Opposition, whose leader David Speirs who is overseas for a family commitment this week.

In a statement, Mullighan called the Liberals “leaderless” and their Budget reaction “hopeless” and “incoherent”.

“It is clear the SA Liberals are in utter disarray with their budget response this week,” Mullighan said.

“First, their leader David Speirs chose to miss the budget to go overseas on holiday. Then, their Shadow Finance Minister demanded the government spend more money, while also reducing debt.

“And finally, their Shadow Treasurer provided a completely incoherent explanation of how the Liberals would pay for infrastructure projects on radio this morning. If the Liberals say they want to reduce debt, then they owe the people of South Australia a coherent explanation as to how they plan to do it.”

Business says more needed

The South Australian Business Chamber said it was disappointed by the State Budget, despite the Premier’s claim that South Australia was “the lowest cost jurisdiction to do business in on the mainland”.

The Chamber has lobbied for broad payroll tax reform for business, which was not forthcoming.

CEO Andrew Kay said the Budget was “benign” for businesses, and a missed opportunity for the government to “take the lead and offer some support for a sector that is really going through a cost of doing business crisis”.

“We were hoping for some genuine payroll tax reform, and we gave the government a suite of six initiatives to consider and they haven’t picked up on those,” he said.

“I don’t think the government is going to walk away from the golden goose that is payroll tax. However, we gave them a suite of initiatives that enabled them to work with payroll tax for the benefit of businesses.

“The payroll tax conversation with the government is a marathon – it’s not a sprint – and it’s one that we’re still going to keep advocating for to see real change for as long as the government is in power. We would hope that a couple more years of surpluses continues to give this government the opportunity to make some real change and we’ll continue to push that argument forward.”

Road maintenance concerns

The RAA welcomed funding to explore extending Adelaide’s rail lines and improve Riverland roads, but remains concerned about road maintenance funding .

Road and transport initiatives included $20 million for Riverland roads, $35 million to improve regional road safety, $150 million to upgrade the Mt Barker and Verdun interchanges, $200 million for the South Eastern Freeway and an ongoing commitment to complete the North-South Corridor.

RAA CEO Nick Reade said South Australian roads needed more investment to get them “back up to an acceptable standard”.

“RAA welcomes new funding to explore expanding our rail network, which would ensure transport infrastructure can support areas of growing population and ease congestion on our roads,” he said.

“The announcement of new funding to safeguard the Riverland road network damaged by the recent floods is also welcome.

“We acknowledge the additional $35 million that was committed to road maintenance, but concerns remain that this will not be sufficient to meet the identified road maintenance backlog.”

The RAA had lobbied for $1 billion to be committed over four years to tackle the backlog, along with new funding to progress the duplication of national highways in South Australia.

“The Government is not spending enough to maintain our roads and make them as safe as they should be compared to how quickly they’re deteriorating,” Reade said.

“We’re particularly concerned about the state’s regional road network with no new funding allocated to progress the duplication of the Augusta Highway, or the Sturt and Dukes Highways.”

Older South Australians “left behind”

The state’s elderly population will continue to struggle to pay for “skyrocketing” energy bills and household expenses according to the peak body for South Australians aged 50-plus.

Older South Australians on low incomes will appreciate the $243.90 cost of living payment and doubled concessions, but more could have been done said COTA SA chief executive Miranda Starke.

The peak body for South Australians over 50 said the budget did not adequately address their concerns. Photo: AAP/Alan Porritt

“While any relief is welcome, older people will be aware that in reality, this relief is at a similar level to what they received last year through State and Federal Budget measures. While the relief level has barely increased, their energy bills and household expenses are continuing to skyrocket,” Starke said.

“We were disappointed that our call for free ambulance for South Australians on the full Age Pension was overlooked, yet again. South Australia is one of the last states to provide free ambulance services to aged pensioners, who are amongst our most vulnerable health consumers.

“With the highest ambulance call-out fees in Australia, cost is a real barrier that prevents older people from calling an ambulance, even when their condition is serious.”

Cost of living relief “a welcome beginning”

The South Australian Council of Social Service welcomed cost of living concessions in the State Budget.

SACOSS CEO Ross Womersley said there was “more work to do in transport and health concessions but this is a really significant package of improvements”.

“We would have liked to have seen a similar investment in other areas that are having a real impact on South Australians, including funding for mental health and digital inclusion, and even more investment in social housing,” he said.

“We were pleased to see generational investments in early childhood services and programs, and workforce skills and trainings – these are strategic, long-term investments that should benefit the entire community.

“And we also welcome other targeted initiatives such as the extra $18.4m available for further support for NGOs, which we believe will supplement indexation payments, and $20m for 8000 not-for-profit and small business NFP organisations to co-invest in energy efficiency equipment or improvements that reduce energy usage and costs.”

Education union welcomes preschool funding, but still “disappointed”

The $715 million early years education funding package was welcomed by the Australian Education Union, which said the wider public school system was neglected in the State Budget.

“Educators are leaving the profession in droves, and securing temporary relief staff is more difficult than ever,” AEU SA Vice President Kendall Proud said.

“When it comes to the teacher shortage crisis, we need to start somewhere. Solutions require a level of ongoing investment that the Malinauskas Government continues to deny public education.”

Proud said the union wanted to see more funding to ease pressures on public schools in order to help students with learning difficulties, get more support staff in classrooms, reduce class sizes and improve workloads.

“We are calling on the State Government to prioritise public education for children of all ages and make the responsible economic decision to fund our future,” she said.

Public infrastructure spend a hit for civil contractors’ peak body

The Civil Contractors Federation SA welcomed the $26.5 billion investment into public infrastructure, but said funding to support water and sewer infrastructure for new house builds was “unclear”.

It said the government “appears to have held over its commitment to new housing water and sewer infrastructure” and that road safety maintenance spending was “simply not enough”.

“The current rate of deterioration of our sealed roads is outpacing the rate of renewal, which means that safety and costs to the end consumer, the people of South Australia, will be compromised,” CEO Rebecca Pickering said.

CCF (SA) Chief Executive Rebecca Pickering said investment to road safety maintenance was “not enough”. Photo: supplied.

“Two years ago, 2,000kms of the 13,000kms sealed roads under Department of Infrastructure and Transport care, received a rating of ‘very poor’,” she said.

“To fix those roads back in 2022 would have cost $1.9 billion. Given that roads are in a perpetual state of needing repair because of usage, common sense dictates that appropriate annual investment is needed to keep ahead of the curve in regards to road maintenance.

“Fast forward to 2024, we have today received some funding for road safety, but the maintenance backlog remains and grows daily, impacting safety and productivity. Our roads are critical to our community and economic success, these assets must be maintained, costs will only increase exponentially when roads are neglected.”

Mental health support concerns

The needs of 19,000 people living with complex mental illnesses who need support remain unmet, according to the Mental Health Coalition.

The Coalition has been agitating for the state government to fill a $125 million mental health gap, as revealed by a report handed down last July.

Health Minister Chris Picton has repeatedly told InDaily that the Federal Government needed to come to the table to fund the services detailed by the Unmet Needs Study like carer programs, rehabilitation and home-based support.

Coalition chair Paul Creedon welcomed funding for youth mental health, “but they are short term solutions that don’t address what we need”.

“We have 19,000 South Australians of all ages who need investment in services that will keep them well. South Australia has led the country in being able to say how much we need to fix our mental health crisis – it’s $125m per year and unfortunately this budget does not deliver,” he said.

“There is $1.6 billion to increase efficiency in health services, and less than 10 per cent of that would address all of the identified mental health needs for the first year, but none of that is not going towards a mental health system to keeps people of all ages out of crisis.

“The Government is proud to say that for the first time, we are ranked the number one performing economy in CommSec’s State of the States report twice. But we still can’t find money to invest in mental health services that will benefit all South Australians.”