South Australian Mid-Year Budget Review

On Friday 19th December 2008, South Australian Premier Mike Rann and Treasurer Kevin Foley announced a Mid-Year Budget Review.  The Review is a response by the Rann Government to the pressures of the global financial crisis and the Government’s commitment to ensure key major infrastructure projects are delivered.

The key measures of the budget review include:

• Reprioritisation of $3.4 billion of Health and Transport capital works projects – The timetable for the completion of some of these projects will be extended to service the Government’s debt.  This will provide a benefit of $372 million to net debt by June 2012.
• Transferring backroom public service jobs to front line service delivery – The Government is redirecting its public sector investment into key service delivery areas.  Administrative jobs will be reduced to allow for greater investment in front line service delivery positions such as teachers, nurses, doctors, ambulance workers, police and fire-fighters.  Agencies will be asked to reduce full time employees by 1200 by the end of 2009-10.  However, the Government has committed there will be no forced redundancies.
• Prisons and secure facilities – new commissioning dates for the prison and secure facilities have been set, providing a benefit to final estimates of $311 million.
• Forestry SA assets – Over the next 18 months, the Government will explore options for the upfront sale of ForestrySA harvests.
• Selling office buildings – The Government has identified a number of office buildings it owns which it proposes to sell and then, where necessary, lease back from the commercial sector, offsetting the costs of ownership such as depreciation and maintenance.
• Selling selected Government employee housing – In areas where there is an affordable and available rental market, the Government will sell some employee housing assets.  The Government will continue to invest in employee housing where such a market does not exist.
• Government motor vehicle fleet – Management responsibility will be transferred to the South Australian Financing Authority as part of a review of operational and financial arrangements.
• AAMI Stadium Refurbishment – The timeline for the Government’s contribution to the AAMI Stadium refurbishment will be extended, delaying the refurbishment by three years.
• Increasing the Victims of Crime levy – This levy will increase from $20 to $30.  All money from the levy goes directly into a hypothecated fund to assist victims of crime and not into general revenue.
• Deferral of some of the remaining IGA reforms – The abolition of stamp duty on non-quoted marketable securities and non-real property transfers deferred by two years to 2012.
• Tax Compliance measures – Additional resources have been provided to enable Revenue SA to hire a team of additional tax compliance officers to increase compliance activity across a range of taxes.

For more information, see: http://www.ministers.sa.gov.au/index.php