A recently re-elected state government is tipped to focus on managing growing debt rather than cost of living relief when its budget is handed down.
A state government is walking a budget tightrope as it grapples with the need to deliver cost of living relief while managing a bottom line saddled with growing debt.
South Australian Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis will deliver his fifth budget on Thursday, marking his first since 2017 when state net debt stood at $6.1 billion.
It is now approaching $35 billion.
And the treasurer, who took the reins after Stephen Mullighan suddenly quit politics last year, has conceded that debt will grow further than the $48.7 billion that the December mid-year budget review predicted by…