Kouts ‘staring down barrel’ of fifty billion-dollar debt

A state budget warning shot from Mike Smithson who lifts “a lid on the most notorious, economic dark cloud in SA’s history” with three Labor luminaries.

It’s back to the future for Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis on Thursday when he returns to centre stage to deliver his much-anticipated State Budget.

It’s his first time back to the “big show” since 2017 when he strode down North Terrace to the annual media lockup with then-Premier Jay Weatherill.

Back then our state debt seemed to have a whiff of concern when it climbed through $6 billion.

Now he’s staring down the barrel of a future $50 billion debt as the state grapples with massive projects, rising interest rates and an Auditor-General watching every dollar spent like a swooping hawk.

Last week, during a media conference, I asked the Premier about his rock-solid claim that the $15 billion South Road tunnel project was “on time and on budget.”

Rumour exists that it’s already blown out substantially, but he resolutely claims that all is economically on track.

He also confirmed the project has an approved double-digit contingency factor built in.

There’s nothing unusual about that.

It means that at least $1.5 billion is quarantined for cost overruns such as rising diesel and concrete prices or construction variations which are inevitable.

What isn’t known is whether any of those variables have already caused problems and will only get worse.

In the project’s infancy, any money spent is legitimately well within the approved overall amount.

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