Ben Hood was elected to the South Australian Legislative Council in March 2023. He lives in Mount Gambier with his family and is a passionate advocate for regional South Australia, for smaller, less interventionist government and conservative values.

Ben Hood MLC

1 day ago

The Auditor-General’s latest report is a warning the Treasurer can’t spin away.

📈 State debt heading to $53.7 billion by 2030, up $19 billion
💸 Interest doubling to $3.5 billion a year: nearly $10 million every day
🏥 Health over budget five years running, yet forecast to grow just 2%
🚧 New Women’s and Children’s Hospital budget set in 2022, still with no final design and no builder

Take out Canberra’s cheques for the T2D tunnel and Labor’s “surplus” becomes a deficit of up to $1.7 billion a year.

And the Government still won’t say how much debt is too much. I took the Treasurer on over it on ABC Radio this morning. Have a listen.👇 ... See MoreSee Less

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Ben Hood MLC

1 week ago

The Premier says he found out about a Comanchero bikie’s alleged involvement in the Torrens to Darlington project from the Sunday Mail. His Transport Minister says the government “largely” did too.

Here’s the timeline:
🔹 11 September: The Transport Minister’s chief of staff is allegedly briefed on the bikie’s involvement at a meeting in a Labor MP’s office.
🔹 Next: The matter goes to the department and the T2D Alliance, which report no issues. The Minister is advised of the outcome.
🔹 18 October: The Sunday Mail runs the story. Only then is the contractor suspended, 37 days after that meeting.
🔹 19 October: The Premier and the Minister say they learned about it from the paper. Neither mentions the meeting.

We’ve seen where this ends. In Victoria, a report estimated union corruption and organised crime on the Big Build cost taxpayers $15 billion, and said the government looked the other way.

South Australia can’t afford to have its major projects hijacked.

Who knew, what were they told, and why was that meeting left out? ... See MoreSee Less

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