THE 2017-18 state budget does little to thank our farmers or acknowledge how much SA regions contribute to the SA economy, according to Australian Conservatives MLC Robert Brokenshire, who described the budget as the “worst he had seen in 20 years for country SA”.
“As a country person and a farmer, I am not just disappointed, I am angry at the lack of support for rural and regional SA, particularly the lack of voice for agriculture in Cabinet,” he said.
“In the summary of the budget, regional funding was the last single page, which highlights where the government places us.
“This government needs to remember that our regions contribute about 25 per cent of the state’s Gross State Product – about $25 billion in 2015-16.
“This has grown strongly by 4.4pc per annum in the past nine years.
“Agriculture has grown significantly in the past year and this significant increase to earnings flows to the rest of the state’s economy.
“But there is nothing in this budget to say thanks to our farmers for their efforts.
“Last year, we saw that the Primary Industries and Regions budget was set to decrease by $93.5 million over the forward estimates. Looking at this year’s budget, we see the loss to this area has grown further, decreasing by $99m (from $264m in 2016-17 to $165m in 2020-21).
“The Country Fire Service is going backwards in real terms with the budget over the forward estimates remaining at $60m – this does not even keep its funding in line with inflation.”
Mr Brokenshire suggested the $350m budgeted to build a gas-fired power station would be better spent on fixing rural roads and upgrading country hospitals.
“The gas-fired power station is no longer necessary now that two private ones are being built, including the one on Torrens Island by AGL,” he said.
“The desperate needs of the majority of regional hospitals have been overlooked.
“The $6.7m for Mount Barker’s new 24-hour health services is the only key regional health initiative on offer.
“I believe the only reason they are even doing this is because the government plans to use the Mount Barker Hospital for patient overflow from the city like it did at Victor Harbor recently to avoid emergency department overcrowding at its metropolitan hospitals.”
He said the RAH was the state’s “largest regional hospital”.
“It is where most of the emergencies will be dealt with and where we will invest most heavily in,” he said.
“It will deal with regional people as much as it will deal with metropolitan people.”
Mr Koutsantonis also highlighted the Job Accelerator Grant scheme, announced as part of the 2016-17 State Budget, as important funding for regions.
“It will give a bigger impact on regional areas than metropolitan areas,” he said.
“Tax cuts also apply equally to regional areas as they do here in Adelaide.”
The government’s Job Accelerator Grant scheme is a “measure designed to boost employment among young people”.
Businesses that register a new employee for a JAG will receive an extra $5000 if the person employed is an apprentice or trainee.
The expanded scheme means businesses with payrolls between $600,000 and $5 million will receive up to $15,000 for each apprentice or trainee above current staffing levels, while small businesses with payrolls up to $600,000 will receive up to $9000.
Mr Koutsantonis said 1400 of the jobs created by the JAG scheme had been in regional areas.
When pressed on further rural funding, Mr Koutsantonis said the budget targeted an “economy-wide approach”.
“We haven’t picked certain regions to do more with less in,” he said.
“Overwhelmingly SA’s backbone is small business, particularly in the regions, and they’re the ones that will most benefit from these tax cuts.”
As to helping SA families to reduce household bills, such as electricity, Mr Koutsantonis highlighted the government’s “considerable” spend of more than $250m a year on concessions.
“We could have thrown more money at concessions, like electricity and gas, but that won’t fix the problem,” he said.
“We are throwing in $550m to fix problems once and for all.
“We want to fix the issue, not just ease the pain of what power companies inflict on South Australians.
“South Australians don’t want band-aids, they want the solution fixed.”
Mr Koutsantonis said the $21.26-billion “putting South Australians first” budget was reflection of the government’s values, which focused heavily on investing in health, education, transport, roads and job creation.
“Creating jobs is the theme of this budget,” he said.
“We have a record infrastructure spend of $2.2b in the next year.
“The budget has returned to surplus and remains in surplus throughout the forward estimates,” he said.
But Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said country SA had been almost totally ignored by the state government.
“Regional road funding remains inadequate, regional health expenditure is a disgrace and there is no relief from the Emergency Services Levy,” he said.
“Labor and the independents who prop it up, act like SA stops at the outskirts of Adelaide.”
Alisha Fogden
Journalist at Australian Community Media newspapers since 2007.
Journalist at Australian Community Media newspapers since 2007.
