South Australian Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis announced that the South Australian Economic Investment Fund will receive an extra $20 million over two years as part of the 2016/17 Budget to attract new businesses to the state, promote job creation and develop key industry sectors.

This initiative is in addition to the announcement that the small business payroll tax rebate will be extended for another four years.

The treasurer has also stated that foreign property investors who have been exposed to extra taxes and surcharges in NSW, Queensland and Victoria will not be punished in SA.

“Combined with the very successful co–funded drilling PACE program; access to pre-competitive geoscience data; streamlined approvals process; Copper Strategy; and the recent Royal Commission Inquiry into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle; South Australia is being very proactive in attracting investment,” Bennison said.

“The proposed abolition from stamp duty for mining tenement transfers, announced in the last Budget, is also a most welcome strategy to attract critical investment, at a time when global competition is increasing.

“We should see South Australia move up the Investment Attractiveness Index in the next annual Fraser Institute Survey of Mining Companies. In 2015, SA was ranked 10th in the world out of 109 jurisdictions.”