Industry leaders have say on state budget

Mr Kerin said because of the late delivery of the budget, much of the spending to benefit the primary production industry had already been announced, including well-received funding for drought and bushfire recovery.

The PPSA chair viewed rural road infrastructure as the big winner out of Tuesday's announcement, with $908 million budgeted for new rural transport infrastructure projects.

"This spend on roads is important and has been what the sector has been seeking in recent years due to the extensive backlog of maintenance," he said.

"It is imperative to the success of primary production that we have a good road network that allows us to get goods to port competitively.

"While maintenance has not been what it should have in recent years, this money is a step in the right direction to getting us back on track to a much better road network."

Amongst the $908m rural roads package is $269m across three years, including $169m contributed by the federal government, for regional road maintenance.

The Strzelecki Track will receive $135m in the next three years for sealing works to the Qld border, with a further $45m to be provided by the private sector.

The Stuart, Dukes, Spencer and Riddoch Highways will be upgraded, with $52m set aside across three years.

The RAA hailed yesterday's state budget funding boost for tourism and road networks as a major economic stimulus win for RAA members and the state.

The funding packages announced by the government featured both long-term and short-term road and tourism infrastructure investments in response to major items on RAA's budget submission.

RAA's key priorities in its submission included improvements to road safety to reduce death and injures, investment in local tourism and sustainable energy and transport networks.

RAA welcomed the government's $650 million investment in road projects, which aim to reduce road trauma, improve transport efficiency and encourage tourists to regional SA.

RAA Safety and Infrastructure senior manager Charles Mountain praised the government's response to RAA's call for greater investment in the road network, which included a $185m spend on the Fleurieu Peninsula road network.

"This will support road freight and visitor numbers to the iconic tourist Fleurieu Peninsula,'' he said.

"There is also funding for duplication of Main South Road to McLaren Vale and further funding for overtaking lanes and barrier protection along Victor Harbor Road.

"The government's additional $100m investment in infrastructure projects to be matched dollar for dollar by local governments to generate at least $200m in job creation projects during the next two years is also very welcome.

"This investment will fund new roads, investment in energy projects, park infrastructure and walking and cycling trails, museums, galleries and swimming pools. This will not only benefit local communities but also encourage tourism to regional SA."

The South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy has acknowledged the impact of COVID-19 on the state's economy and also welcomed the state government's support for adversely impacted sectors in the 2020/21 state budget.

SACOME welcomed the $135 million commitment towards the sealing of the Strzelecki Track, a vital supply link for South Australia's major oil and gas producers operating in the Cooper Basin. SACOME also welcomed the clarification of the total project cost of $180m provided in the budget, with $45m to be contributed by the private sector.

SACOME was encouraged by the government's additional $220m investment in the Economic and Business Growth Fund and was delighted it adopted its infrastructure corridors concept and provided $5.6m in funding to the Department for Environment and Water to support the practical development of the policy.

Also of note from SACOME's perspective was the $100m allocation to road safety works, including road maintenance on metropolitan roads that will unlock a further $168m of funding from the federal government.

SACOME has reiterated its call for federal funding to be directed towards regional road maintenance to safeguard the resources sector's $5.3 billion of exports and improve productivity and safety outcomes for all industrial sectors that use these economically critical freight routes.

"The South Australian resources sector is critical to the SA government's Growth State goal of achieving a sustained 3 per cent annual economic growth rate for SA," SACOME chief executive Rebecca Knol said.

"SACOME's 2020/21 budget calls focused on strategic investments the SA government could make to progress this outcome.

"SACOME welcomes funding announcements that support the SA resources sector, notably additional funding for sealing of the Strzelecki Track, and for development of SACOME's infrastructure corridors concept as a vehicle to accelerate SA resources projects.

"SACOME reiterates its call for additional road maintenance funding, particularly for those regional and remote roads carrying a range of valuable commodities. Investment in this critically important economic infrastructure occur at greater levels than is presently the case."

The Civil Contractors Federation South Australia believed SA Treasurer Rob Lucas struck an appropriate balance between a government being fiscally responsible and providing the necessary stimulus to resuscitate the economy during and following the fires and the pandemic.

CCF (SA) chief executive officer Phil Sutherland said it was pleasing to see the Budget acknowledge the importance of regions, coastal precincts including jetties, small business, VET and tradies.

"The incentives in respect to the latter three categories will make a welcome and positive difference," he said.

"There is no doubt that the budget recognises the proven job creating capacity and economic stimulus possible from public investment in transport and other forms of infrastructure.

"The budget makes some inroads into a large road maintenance backlog and upgrading a road network that is very much out of date.

"Pleasingly, this includes money for the state's bridges, many of which are more than 100 years old and made of wood."

Mr Sutherland said it was one thing to include money in a budget, but it was another to get the money into the economy.

"In this respect, we encourage the construction agencies of the government to get in the fast lane," he said.

"At last, we now have a decision on the North-South Corridor. It is still a work in progress with final designs and costing yet to emerge, but it is clear now that a combination of tunnels and at-grade sections are the preferred option of this government.

"A different future government may have other ideas. Not everyone will be happy but at least this decision represents progress to a road upgrade that has been going on since 1836."

While much of the feedback surrounding yesterday's state budget has been positive, the Australia Institute had warned that efforts to return to an early surplus could harm SA's economic performance and undermine the state's employment recovery from COVID-19.

With the state government aiming for the budget to return to surplus in 2023-24, the Australia Institute said previous recessions had shown that unemployment took an extended period to return to pre-recession levels, indicating a return to surplus in just a few years' time was premature.

The Australia Institue described growth estimates of between 3pc and 4.75pc for both Gross State Product and State Final Demand every year from 2021-22 onward as heroic, and cast doubts on whether the surplus is achievable.

"Prioritising a surplus as we emerge from an economic crisis, over further investment to create jobs and grow our economy, is poor economic management," The Australia Institute SA director Noah Schultz-Byard said.

"While government stimulus in the short-term is welcome, a surplus just a few years down the road will not help struggling SA families who have lost employment to put food on the table.

"If the government were to take proper advantage of the historically low interest rates that are on offer right now and invest more in employment intensive industries such as education and healthcare, it would grow our state economy and improve employment outcomes over the long-term.

"An ideologically driven rush to a surplus would undermine our economic recovery from COVID-19 and fail to deliver the number of jobs that our state needs."