Weatherill wastes $5M for pre-election boost

Posted on October 27, 2011

Premier Weatherill has shown he is willing to squander taxpayers’ money for political expedience, paying an additional $5 million to have the Adelaide Oval upgrade completed before the next election.

Mr Weatherill has revealed he will give Baulderstone, the company contracted to build Adelaide Oval, an incentive payment worth $5 million if the oval upgrade is complete before the 2013/14 Ashes Test and Round 1 of the 2014 AFL season.

Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond said Mr Weatherill was unashamedly using taxpayers’ money to get a boost during the 2014 election campaign.

“Mr Weatherill has shown he is more concerned about increasing his own popularity during the 2014 election campaign than using taxpayers’ money responsibly,” Ms Redmond said.

“This is an appalling abuse of the public purse and proves that Labor under Mr Weatherill is still the same old Labor – bad priorities, wasteful government and high spend, high tax policies.

“This week Mr Weatherill told regional communities that after a decade of neglect he would start to listen - he must now explain to the regional communities of Keith, Ardrossan and Moonta why Labor can find $5 million for political expedience but not for their community hospitals.

“Mr Weatherill should be using taxpayers’ money to benefit our communities and ease the pain of soaring cost of living pressures.

“Instead we have a Premier willing to waste millions of dollars in an attempt to secure his own political future.”