Emergency Services Levy

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:15): What elements of the remission removal has the government considered reversing in order to pass the car park tax through the Legislative Council?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:15): I don't mind that the opposition leader has no ideas for South Australia’s future, but get out of the way while we introduce ours. It may have passed the notice of those opposite, but there are significant challenges facing South Australia at the moment. That is why we are—

Mr Marshall: Hear, hear! The Labor government—a 12-year-old Labor government.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: You had an opportunity to run those arguments at the last state election. You also had an opportunity to advance your platform for South Australia’s future, and instead what they decided to do was put you in a sack, stick you in the boot and try to smuggle you across the border. You had an opportunity to stand up and actually advance your positive ideas for the future of South Australia, but you squibbed it. We are actually promoting a platform here that we are asking the parliament to respect.

If you do not have something positive to offer in the place of these important public policy issues, then get out of the way. If you don't have an answer for running a modern capital city which is growing in excitement, strength and vibrancy, wanting to move people in an out of that capital city in an effective and safe way and needing the infrastructure necessary to support those processes, if you do not have a solution for that that doesn't involve the expenditure of public money, get out of the way. Get out of the way if you do not have a solution to the challenges confronting South Australia.

If you survey the nation and you look at the capital cities that are actually grappling with this question of moving people in and out of their cities, you will find that they have all struck a levy of this sort at much lower rates, I must say, in most instances, than the one we are proposing here—a modest levy that will assist us in providing the infrastructure that is necessary. When we struck this levy, we also wanted to show South Australians the sorts of things that it could be used for, so we got on with the exercise of actually building park-and-rides, which are springing up around the metropolitan area, which are about driving an important capital city, one that has vibrancy and is able to move people in and out very quickly.

We are seeing the growing pains that exist in Melbourne and Sydney. They are ceasing to actually operate as a functional metropolis. We have the opportunity to get involved first and actually avoid that happening here. I know those opposite get misty-eyed about the days when you used to be able to drive your car in from the suburbs and get a car park out the front of Harris Scarfe. Sadly, it is difficult now to do that and I know that they would want us back in the old days where we had a rabbit warren of a public hospital, where we had a football oval down the other side of the suburbs and we didn't have a capital city stadium, where we did not have a first-class entertainment precinct. I know they get all misty-eyed for the good old days of the 1950s—

The Hon. J.R. Rau: Where a big night out was the pie cart.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —where a big night out was the pie cart, where a pie floater was haute cuisine. Those are the good old days that the Liberal Party of South Australia would love to take us back to, but we are going to take South Australia into the future with a positive program and, please, get out of the way.

The SPEAKER: Standing orders were comprehensively breached by both sides during that question. The leader.