The day of reckoning is looming.

The report by respected economist Saul Eslake into the state of the state's finances, a condition of Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) agreement with the minority Liberal government following the March election, will be made public before the 2024/25 state budget on September 12.

Ever since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, all parties have been in self-denial about our perilous fiscal position, in part because they risked losing office should they admit to the enormity of the challenge without offering solutions.

It's much easier to forget we're standing in quicksand and instead blather on about "Strong Plans for the Future", mindlessly repeating the Labor mantra, "Jobs Jobs Jobs" hoping that people might mistake it for a carefully crafted plan.

The simple reality is the revised estimate report issued just before the election revealed state government outlays over the next four years, excluding debt servicing costs, will flatline.

Adjusted for inflation, in real terms, government intended to spend on services will be less each year.

To portray that as a "Strong Plan" is an overstatement.

Debt servicing costs are rising for three reasons.

We're borrowing more, interest rates are higher and paying the employer's share of unfunded superannuation for members of the now closed defined benefit scheme is increasing.

The latter is considered a debt servicing cost as both political parties over the last 30 years have failed to provide for the inevitable, choosing to use cash needed to provide for future superannuation payments to instead provide services, rather than borrowing to do so.

The Liberal government, despite constantly berating Labor for its failings to not provide for future superannuation payments, has followed the same pattern.

By not even setting aside the Superannuation Guarantee Levy component for defined benefit workers it has diverted $1 billion over the past 10 years to help fund government operations.

Even when topped up annually with increased borrowings, spending on services will fall in real terms.

As the demand for essential services grows faster in real terms, scarcely a day passes without stories of our hard-working front-line workers being unable to deliver what people need and deserve.

The day of reckoning is upon us.

There'll be no point persisting with the blame game.

We need to be honest and jointly solve our problems.

The future of the State depends on it.

The Advocate, Monday 19 August 2024