Abbott blasts SA pension ads as 'lies'

Tony Abbott has threatened to unleash a taxpayer-funded "truth" campaign to counter "utterly dishonest" South Australian government ads about pensions.

Retirees in the state will have to pay an extra $190 in council rates from July after the federal government cut $30 million from a fund the state used to subsidise rates for pensioners.

Premier Jay Weatherill says his government can't afford to continue subsidising pensioners and plans to ramp-up a $1.1 million television advertising campaign to force the federal government to reverse the cuts.

But the prime minister blasted the ad blitz as "totally dishonest" because every other state had continued to pass on the concessions.

The state Labor government was itself making budget savings.

"Frankly, they should not be wasting taxpayers' money to promote lies," Mr Abbott told reporters in Mount Gambier on Wednesday.

"If they're not careful there will be a taxpayer-funded truth campaign to counter these lies."