Emergency Services Levy

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:21): My supplementary question is: given that the emergency services levy will bring in an additional $90 million this current financial year, how much will the emergency services budget increase in the same period?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Small Business) (14:21): Again, the Economic and Finance Committee—

Mr Marshall: Zero is the answer to that—zero.

The SPEAKER: The leader is called to order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: So what the—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley is warned a first time.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: When the opposition invented and introduced this tax it offered general remissions for people because they were very concerned about the political impact of introducing a brand new tax. I see the member for Davenport is smiling, because he knows exactly how they were calculated—a very serious backbencher at the time that the tax was introduced.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: You were a minister.

An honourable member: I think it was even his idea.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: No, I think the minister who passed it was the attorney-general. He was the person who had coverage of it and then it was left to poor old Brokie to pick up the pieces afterwards.

What we do is calculate the cost, like a council rate, of the emergency services budget and retrofit the tax. Then we offered a whole series of remissions. The amount we raise for emergency services, the budget for emergency services, never changes. What we add is a discount. We have removed the discount, so the budget was published. In the report to the Economic and Finance Committee on 6 June—

Mr Marshall: What's the answer to the question?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I'm going through it now. On page 2 of 9 that was sent to the member for Unley, and no doubt he would have read it in great detail being the diligent member he is—before the budget was released he got these papers—it showed that the total expenditure on emergency services was projected to be $255.4 million in 2014-15. It is always announced before the budget. We said in this document—and I know the member for Unley is a diligent reader of all these documents because he raised the change in a way—

Mr Marshall: Answer the question.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I am answering the question.

Mr Marshall: No, you're not.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: He's a diligent reader of all the information we give him. If you go through the paperwork that was sent to him he would realise—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is called to order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —that the government tabled and flagged to members on the committee that, rather than announcing the remissions in the submission to the Economic and Finance Committee, we said that we would announce them on budget day. So surely that would flag to a professional politician that there would be some changes to remissions.

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley is warned for a second and final time.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: We've always been upfront and honest about this. In fact, we have been so upfront and honest we published it in the budget papers. In the budget papers, on page 6 of the Budget Measures Statement, we say what the increases are going to be. For a property of $100,000, it is $37.30. Going up to a property of $1 million, the increase would be $373. We showed you the increases in the budget papers.

Mr Marshall: That’s not the question. Answer the question.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Calm down. It is in the report card that often you get angry? Did you put that on the report card? The report card doesn't show the fake anger, and I notice that—

The SPEAKER: The member for Finniss.

Mr PENGILLY: My point of order was going to be: do you consider that the Treasurer is debating the issue?

The SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The budget has remained exactly the same. What we have done is remove the—

Mr Marshall: Shame! Shame!

The SPEAKER: The leader—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned the first time.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned for the second and final time. That’s it.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Under the legislation introduced by the opposition to create the emergency services levy, for us to spend an extra $90 million on emergency services through the fund, we would have to increase the rate. So, the Leader of the Opposition is criticising us for not increasing taxes more. If he thinks through his hypothesis, that is what he is asking us to do. This can all be reversed. All they have to do is call their mates in Canberra and tell them to reinstate the money they have cut from our hospitals and schools and cuts they have made to—

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer’s time has expired.

Ms Chapman: He’s our Treasurer. It’s a worry.

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is warned for the first time. Unfortunately, that puts her interjection on Hansard. The leader.