Barton Deakin Brief: 2021-22 SA State Budget

23 June 2021

Overview

“This Budget is our blueprint for a stronger South Australia, creating jobs, building what matters and delivering better services to further secure our growing global reputation as one of the safest and most attractive places in the world to live, work and raise a family.”

The Hon. Rob Lucas MLC, Treasurer

The following brief provides details of the significant portfolio program announcements contained in the 2021-22 SA State Budget.

Key Economic Indicators

Deficit	Debt	GSP Growth
$1.397 billion	$14.371 billion	3.5 per cent

Portfolio Announcements

Arts

Libraries Funding

• $20.7 million continued funding for SA’s 137 libraries to lend books, host community events, and provide access to IT equipment.

Aboriginal Arts and Cultures Centre

• $200 million for the Aboriginal Arts and Cultures Centre.

Tourism

Riverbank Arena

• $662 million for the Riverbank Arena. $79 million will be committed through 2022-23 to 2024-25 for planning and site preparation works.

Leisure Events Bid Fund

• An additional $1 million will support regional events annually from 2021-22. Total funding for the Leisure Events Bid Fund is $90 million over 4 years.

Great State Vouchers

• $4 million to facilitate further rounds of the Great State Voucher Scheme create jobs in the tourism sector.

Defence and Space

Defence and Innovation Partnership

• $7.9 million to continue the Defence and Innovation Partnership including a new ‘Activator’ fund to support larger scale research and development.

Defence and Space Landing Pad

• $860,000 to extend the Defence and Space Landing Pad program.

Lot 14

• $20.8 million to continue to refurbish Lot 14 and establish a South Australian Industry Capability Centre.

SASAT1 Space Services Mission Demonstrator

• $6.6 million to local manufacturing of a small satellite to deliver space-derived services to the state. The satellite will be launched in mind-2022 and operational until 2025.

Local Government

Liquor licence fee relief

• The 2020-21 annual liquor licence fees halved for eligible businesses impacted by COVID-19 safety measures. This is expected to reduce liquor fee revenue by a further $70,000 on 2020-21 and $30,000 in 2021-22.  This initiative also extends the liquor licence fee waiver for the first six months of 2021-22 for those businesses still experiencing adverse effects as a result of COVID-19.

Energy and Mining

Switch for Solar

• $4.25 million to provide the choice of a free solar system.

Electric Vehicle Fast Charging Network

• $13.4 million investment in a state-wide fast charging network to support the transition of the State fleet to electric vehicles.

Arkani Ngura National Test Mine and Innovation Centre

• $8 million for the establishment of the Arkani Ngura National Test Mine and Innovation Centre at the existing OZ Minerals Prominent Hill Mine.

Energy Efficiency Buildings Program

• An additional $60 million allocated to the energy efficiency buildings program.

Education

Early Learning Strategy

• $35.1 million to the Early Learning Strategy to enhance preschool offerings.

Public School Education

• $84.4 million for a new high school to be built on the site of the old Norwood Morialta High School middle campus, and $42 million prioritised for a range of other capital works identified by the Department for Education as their most urgent priorities.
• $42 million in funding has also been identified for urgent capital works at a range of government schools and preschools to provide students and staff with state-of-the-art teaching and learning facilities, supporting the creation of jobs and economic prosperity for businesses in communities.

Non-Government Schools

• $23.7 million to the non-government school’s capital grants program.

TAFE SA

• $215.5 million to deliver a contemporary, sector-leading public provider of vocational education.

Human Services

Voluntary Out-of-Home Care

• $4.6 million to ensure that young children on the NDIS do not fall through any funding cracks and continue to receive out-of-home supports.

Youth Justice – Child Diversion Program

• $1.3 million to secure accommodation and support services for approximately 40 children so that they do not end up in Kurlana Tapa in police custody.

Resilient Families Program

• $11.3 million to prevent children at risk of abuse and neglect from entering the child protection system.

Innovation and Skills

Small Business Capability Program

• $2.2 million towards the development of digital and cyber security capabilities, as well as other traditional key business capabilities to enter the national trade market.
• $400,000 for improvements to digital resources available to small businesses.

Australian Centre for Business Growth at UniSA

• $2.0 million to support the Centre.

Skilling South Australia

• $189.1 million Skilling South Australia initiative and ongoing investment in skills.

Health

Mental Health

• $48 million to construct a 20-bed older persons acute mental health facility at Modbury Hospital.
• $4.5 million per year to expand the delivery of mental health care to the community.
• $12 million to increase capacity for eight additional Psychiatric Intensive Care beds in the public health system.
• $8.4 million per year to provide help to people who are experiencing acute mental health challenges and reduce the number of people in crisis presenting to hospital.
• $5 million to provide additional housing options for people living with a mental health disability, allowing them to live independently whilst accessing appropriate supports.
• $5 million over two years to support immediate staff training and recruitment in the mental health workforce.
• $7.3 million to continue a series of time-limited programs designed to support the mental health, wellbeing and resilience of the community.

COVID-19

• $86.1 million to help fast track the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine to South Australians.
• $149.2 million to support the continuing public health response to the pandemic.

New Women’s and Children’s Hospital

• Increase treatment spaces at the hospital by 59, a 13 per cent increase to 500.

SA Ambulance Service

• $8.2 million and $11.5 million ongoing to employ an additional 74 full-time-equivalent operational ambulance staff including up to 24 staff in the regions.
• $2 million to purchase additional ambulances and for fit-out works at ambulance stations.

Elective Surgery

• $20 million to reduce elective surgery wait times and ease pressure on public hospitals.

Barossa Hospital

• $5 million to acquire suitable land and begin early works on a new Barossa Hospital, as well as an additional $1 million to complete a business case.

Meningococcal B Immunisation Program

• $3 million and $5.3 million ongoing to continue the Meningococcal B Immunisation Program for South Australian babies and young people.

Other Health Infrastructure Initiatives

• $9.9 million towards delivering the new Strathalbyn Residential Aged Care Facility
• Another $43.7 million for the Repat Health Precinct
• Another $25.9 million for the Modbury Redevelopment
• Another $25.3 million for the Lyell McEwin Hospital ED expansion
• Another $61.7 million for TQEH Stage 3
• Another $4.5 million for the FMC ED expansion

Child Protection

• Additional $42.1 million to meet the costs of children and young people requiring a child protection statutory response to keep them safe from abuse and neglect.
• $2.7 million for the Stability Post Care Program to support people up to the age of 21 leaving care with complex needs and who are at risk of homelessness and housing instability.
• $3.7 million and ongoing funding to secure and expand family group conferences following the success of a two-year pilot.
• $18.2 million to establish the Newpin SA Family Reunification Program.
• $1.2 million for a Significant Incident Reporting Unit within the Department for Child Protection.

Infrastructure and Transport

• Please see from Page 117 for a comprehensive list of infrastructure initiatives.
• $12 million to deliver 20 new buses to cater for the transition of Year 7 into high school.
• $4.2 million from the COVID-19 Support Fund to provide further financial assistance to country bus operators and assist with the impact of COVID-19.
• $99 million for the Station Refresh package. Fourteen stations on the Gawler Line will be upgraded.

Recreation and Sport

• $49 million for the new South Australian Sports Institute (SASI) HQ which will provide high-performance athletes with access to new state-of-the-art training facilities and leading-edge integrated technologies.

Environment and Water

Heritage

• $8.1 million boost to State heritage to better preserve and activate historical sites.
• $6.6 million upgrade to restore and revitalise Ayers House on North Terrace.

Greener Neighbourhoods

• $5.5 million for greening projects.

Recycling Infrastructure Boost

• In partnership with industry and the Commonwealth, the Government is unlocking eight new recycling infrastructure investment projects worth $111 million, including:
  • $12 million for a waste paper and cardboard recycling plant in the northern suburbs of Adelaide;
  • $24 million for a material recovery facility in the southern suburbs; and
  • $19 million for a glass processing plant just outside of Gawler.

Police, Emergency Services, and Correctional Services

SA Police

• $23.6 million to extend the employment of 54 Protective Security Officers (PSO) and to recruit an additional 114 PSOs.
• Extra $77.5 million to support SA Police’s COVID-19 response.
• $21.1 million to complete the implementation of stages 3 and 4 of the Shield project to deliver greater collaboration and data sharing capabilities.
• $1.5 million to purchase new vehicle-mounted Mobile Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras.

Emergency Services

• $4.4 million to implement the New Pathways: Volunteering Recruitment and Retention program.

Correctional Services

• $4 million to expand the offender tracking program with an extra 100 electronic monitoring devices.
• $1.5 million will be allocated to develop a full business case for a new rehabilitation prison.
• $2.4 million per annum to bolster strategies to reduce the rate of Aboriginal reoffending and overrepresentation in the criminal justice system.

Primary Industries and Regional Development

Fruit Fly

• $33.3 million to fund fruit fly eradication activities in metropolitan Adelaide suburbs, the Riverland and Port Augusta.

AgTech Adoption Program

• $5.2 million to provide dedicated AgTech extension officers to work with AgTech innovators and farmers to drive adoption on farms.

Lens Snail

• $1.7 million for the biosecurity response to contain the lens snail incursion, treat plant and equipment held in quarantine at port, eradicating the pest from South Australia.

Plant-based Food Incubator

• $2 million towards a plant-based food ingredient research laboratory based at the Waite Research Precinct as an incubator for investment and development of the growing sector.

Mobilising Seasonal and Regional Workforce

• $8.3 million to encourage school leavers, university students, and unemployed South Australians to take up seasonal work and overseas seasonal work.
• Also includes $3.8 million in Government funding to establish a temporary quarantine facility in Paringa for Pacific Island seasonal workers looking to work in the State’s horticulture and primary industries.

Wine

• $5.38 million for a wine export recovery and expansion program.

Trade and Investment

European Trade and Investment Office

• $1.8 million to open trade offices with a particular focus on France and Germany.

Artificial Intelligence and Health Hub

• $1.6 million investment to provide 1:1 co-funding for companies to develop digital health applications using capabilities such as AIML and MIT bigdata Living Lab.

For more information

• See the Treasurer’s speech here.
• See the Budget Papers here.

For more information, contact John Griffin on +61 419 901 159, or John Fitzgerald on +61 488 111 568.