Mechanic 'sent broke' over government's unpaid bills

A Riverton mechanic has told 7News his business has become a casualty from late payments made by the South Australian government.

Last year alone, around $750 million of bills were paid late by the state government.

And now, Ken Murcott fears he may have fixed his last car, after winning a lucrative contract to service Country Fire Service trucks last year.

He serviced all ten trucks, and charged around $2,000 for each one.

The state government is supposed to pay private contractors within one month and now a taskforce has been set up to investigate why so many invoices are being paid later than 30 days.

"They paid some of the bills, but forgot the early bills, and they're the ones that were outstanding for two and a half months," Mr Murcott told 7News.

"It's broken me, I've shut the workshop and that's it."

South Australian Finance Minister, Michael O'Brien apologised to Mr Murcott, saying the delay in payment was unacceptable.

"Ultimately the chief executives are going to have to be held to account for the non-performance of their departments, it's as important as that," He told the ABC.

"People are just treating it as a bit of paper that ultimately has to be processed and flowed but they don't understand the implications for the small business person if the flow of that particular piece of paper is actually delayed for weeks, if not months."

Mr Murcott said he had been trying to meet with the government for weeks, but received a telephone call from a representative Monday afternoon.