The South Australian Government is pulling back on its spending on whole-of-government digital projects in its efforts to maintain a budget surplus following the pandemic. 

South Australia’s State Budget 2022-23, which is said to deliver upon election commitments while returning the budget to surplus and containing no new taxes, revealed that the state’s digital investment funds have not been topped up with subsequent budgets like NSW and Western Australia. 

Aside from this, the budget also provided little for digital projects at other departments and agencies following the creation of the state’s $120 million Digital Restart Fund in 2020. 

However, the budget will see the SA Fire and Emergency Services Commission receiving $7.2 million for an ICT service migration which will help maintain its ICT software infrastructure while providing continued access to Microsoft licensing for volunteers. 

South Australia’s State Budget 2022-23 has also provided new funding under the following: 

• $6.4 million for the Department of Energy and Mining to develop a new mining and exploration system; 
• $5 million for the Department of Premier and Cabinet to continue work on expanding the number of government services available online; 
• $2.6 million for the Country Fire Service to implement the new Australian Fire Danger Rating System across South Australia over the next two years; 
• Additional funding of $1.6 million for SA Police to transition to a new expiation over the next two years, with ongoing funding of $483,000 from 2024-25; 
• $280,000 for the Department of Premier and Cabinet to develop a business case for a ‘Digital Technologies Academy’ at Lot Fourteen. 

The pullback on funding for digital projects is shown to be caused by a $109 million fall in the Department of Premier and Cabinet’s operating expenses by 2025-26. This projected decrease is said to be primarily put down to a “once-off arts sector expenditure and a reduction in across government digital projects”. 

The planned cut for the SA Government’s digital projects comes after the Department of Premier and Cabinet’s push to improve digital services in the last two pandemic-orientated budgets. 

In last year’s mid-year budget review, the Department of Premier and Cabinet, which holds responsibility for whole-of-government ICT, digital and cyber security, funded $53.2 million to accelerate efforts in digitising and streamlining public sector services for the next four years. 

This investment followed the Budget 2021-22’s $20.6 million funding to help protect the state’s systems from cyber attacks, which included the creation of a cyber security operations centre. 

The Department of Premier and Cabinet also provided $18 million in 2020 and 2021 to build out a new front door for online government services, called the SA government online service portal (SAGOV). 

Following the South Australian Government’s budget plans, its budget surplus is expected to reach $643 million in 2025-26, down from a deficit of $1.73 billion this financial year. 

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.

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