Premier announces part of the SA budget at

Olympic Hall

1 July 2022 South Australia’s new Labor government is predicting a recovering national economy and booming property market will help it deliver key election promises in health and education, without driving up debt, taxes or cutting hard into the public sector. Elected in March with a mandate to “fix the state’s ramping crisis,” the government’s first budget is unsurprisingly all about health, with $2.4 billion in new health spending over the next five years. Treasurer Stephen Mulligan declared his first budget delivered on “every single one of the election commitments we made”. “We are returning the budget to surplus, improving our debt metrics, and making sure we stay true to the commitment of no new taxes or increases,” he said. “We are providing an absolutely extraordinary investment in health … and we are maintaining a very large infrastructure program.” The Premier Peter Malinauskas, accompanied by the Treasurer Stephen Mulligan and Adelaide MP Lucy Hood, attended a bingo session at the Greek Community’s Olympic Hall, where he announced a one-off doubling of cost-of-living concessions for almost 185,000 South Australians next financial year. The government has also promised $177.5 million over four years to address housing affordability, with a pledge to build 400 new public houses. It will continue the former government’s pledge to work with lending service HomeStart to provide a 3 per cent low-deposit home loan scheme for first home buyers. The government has promised immediate relief for the state’s health system, with 99 extra paramedics and ambulance workers promised this year. By the end of its first term, the government aims to deliver 350 new paramedics and ambulance officers, 100 doctors and 300 nurses, as well as 326 extra hospital beds.

Greek Tribune Adelaide, South Australia