The state election was more than two months ago. The cabinet was sworn in on March 31. Between the swearing-in ceremony of ministers and state budget day on August 28, almost five months will have elapsed.

The Examiner initially expressed mild surprise at learning the date of the budget. On April 18, Treasury provided an assessment of risks to the budget, showing falling GST receipts again; a deteriorating debt blowout to $400 million and the deficit blowing out by $270 million over the next three years.

On May 13, the federal budget exposed a hole in funding to the state, forecast by state treasury to be $2.1 billion over a decade. But still no state budget for another 15 weeks.

Parliament will take all of July off from sittings, with only 13 sitting days scheduled between now and August 28.

Unless its budget measures are retrospective, the government can expect only 10 months at best from savings through budget cuts and extra revenue.

Clearly there's no budget emergency in the mind of this government, but there is an emergency in the minds of thousands of public servants and private sector suppliers, worried about their future.

Has the government come to an agreement with Canberra over its pressure on the states to embrace asset sales? Is the redundancy target still 500? What happens to the grants normally given to hundreds of community organisations?

Where is the government's plan for road funding to maximise the Abbott government's new infrastructure rollout? How is the state placed to grab a share of the Abbott government's $20 billion medical research initiative, given the international status of the Menzies Research Centre?

The state is also faced with a growing queue of health and other state service pay claims, potentially costing millions of dollars a year. Any new government, or new owner of a company, wouldn't take this long to produce a balance sheet.

- BARRY PRISMALL, deputy editor.