What should you expect if you vote to change the government of South Australia?

The answer is clear: higher taxes, broken promises and a government budget returned to a shambles. Before you smirk, thinking to yourself – “She would say that, wouldn’t she?” – have a look at some facts and draw your own conclusions.

Opposition promises so far are heading towards $4 billion. They also promised to match the government budget surpluses from 2023. In plain English, they are promising to spend truckloads more cash and at the same time promising to keep budget surpluses.

The infamous Whingeing Wendy advertisements might need to be revived. “Where’s the money coming from Mr Malinauskas?” she would whine. Of course, there are a number of ways to pay for spending other than increasing deficits.

One way to pay for new things is to take the razor to existing spending. Translate that into fewer services. Remember the cost of their promises is heading towards $4 billion so we’re not looking at a nip and tuck. Think full-on liposuction. Don’t rule out chainsaws.

The other way to pay for buying your way into office is to increase taxes. Yes, yes, there’s a promise of no new taxes. It means nothing because they can just bump up existing taxes and charges. They could remove payroll tax exemptions introduced by the Marshall government to encourage employment. (Although you’d have to be an intellectual contortionist if as a former union rep you had to argue to make it harder for employers to take people on.) They could increase land tax, inflate the regulated assets base of SA Water, effectively bumping up water prices and increase the emergency services levy.

There would be a long term price to pay for such skulduggery. If you say no new taxes, get in to government and implement previously unannounced increases in existing taxes and charges, your credibility would be zero. But if you’re desperate to win, the temptation to go doggo on planned increases would always be there.

If you’re thinking that Labor’s commitment to not go ahead with the Riverbank Stadium would help, remember Labor’s commitments are heading to $4 billion, of which there’s nearly a billion in health spending. There’s less than $80 million being spent on the stadium in the upcoming budget period. Cancelling that won’t be much help at all. So, as Whingeing Wendy would say, “Where’s the money coming from?”

Remember, when Labor left office the ratings agencies rated us the worst in Australia. No offence to my Tasmanian mates, but we were rated behind Tasmania! Last. Now we’re equal first with NSW. Equal first. Malinauskas needs to tells us what will be different under him. He was a part of the previous government with that lousy last record. How will it be different this time?

In plain English, they are promising to spend truckloads more cash and at the same time promising to keep budget surpluses.

My granny used to say stuff that, at the time, I didn’t think was super smart. I know better now. She, having been born in the late 1800s, didn’t do much formal education. However she passed the university of life with flying colours. She would say, “Before you vote, remember leopards don’t change their spots”, and then add “By the way – once bitten, twice shy.” This state had chunks ripped out of it by Labor. I wouldn’t give that leopard another go.

When Labor left office, our kids and some adults were leaving for opportunities elsewhere. Now we have not net migration, but net immigration. People now want to live and work here.

Labor promises to put $132 million over four years into an investment agency. More office space, more bureaucracy. Frankly it is an insult to the existing bureaucrats working on this. Perhaps they haven’t realised how much investment has committed to South Australia under the Marshall government.

PwC and Accenture have both committed to 2000 jobs, Cognizant to 1600 and Deloitte to 500. Refreshingly, the government has attracted businesses in the new areas of employment to the state. Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure Space and Amazon web services come to mind. Add on to that the tremendous involvement of companies with space interests and it’s no wonder our economy is growing.

My granny, along with Louis the fly, had some great advice: “When you’re on a good thing … stick to it”.

Amanda Vanstone was a senator for South Australia for more than 20 years and a minister in the Howard Liberal Government. The former Ambassador to Italy presents the Counterpoint program on ABC Radio National.

Amanda Vanstone’s election commentary will be published in InDaily every Friday of the campaign, alongside a weekly contribution from former Labor Premier Mike Rann. Read his contribution here.