Taxation Reform

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:25): Supplementary, sir.

The SPEAKER: A further supplementary.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer is warned a first time.

Mr MARSHALL: Does the Premier stand by the comments that he made before the election and I quote:

I'm not prepared…to hand over some tax cuts which I actually don't think are going to make [any] difference…I just don't see the direct connection between that and the creation of jobs[?]

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:25): It looks like we are going to rehearse the election. I remember the fateful day. It was a few moments after I think I called out the Leader of the Opposition for being a fake and then, all of a sudden, what was produced was a massive tax cut for about 6 per cent of the South Australian taxpayers. That's what was produced for 6 per cent of South Australian taxpayers, and the rest of us were going to have to shell into our pockets to actually pay for the privilege.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: This is not a revivalist meeting. The Treasurer is warned a second time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Quite what that had to do with productive infrastructure and getting the state going again, what that had to do with taxes which are punitive in relation to economic activity, quite what it had to do with that I can't presently see. It was just a hand back to a certain section of the community—a rather small section of the community—and then hoping. The last time I heard an economic analysis like this laid out to us was actually in Judith Sloan's speech to the 175^th anniversary—

The Hon. J.R. Rau: What a hit that was!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —of Business SA, and wasn't that a hit! I can remember that the deputy leader was there. You could have heard a pin drop when she was making her point. It basically went like this: get out of the way, cut taxes and hope against hope that something might turn up. Now, nobody in the room found it persuasive.

Mr PISONI: Point of order: the Premier is drifting away from the substance of the question. The question was about comments that the Premier made, not the comments that Judith Sloan made, sir.

The SPEAKER: I will listen to the Premier's remarks carefully, but it did seem to me that it was a fairly tendentious question and the Premier is giving it a tendentious answer.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Just to draw the link back, the leader was asking a question about my criticism of his tax policy, which was to hand back a large slab of tax to a very small section of the community, and that was advanced as something that might get the state's economic activity running. I was simply comparing that with a contribution that was made in almost identical terms by Judith Sloan at an important business event. It received no support from the assembled throng of the business community. Indeed, I think she was just about booed off the stage, but what I say about it is that what we are advancing in terms of tax reform is much more sophisticated than just shovelling out some money to a small group of taxpayers and hoping that something might turn up.

I will end with this little observation. I can remember that, after that speech that Judith Sloan made, I spoke to another conservative leader not to be named, and the person said to me: 'You know what happens in a small economy when government gets out of the way?' She said, 'Nothing; that's what happens.'

The challenges we have in this state are for us to step up and take a lead, not to simply mindlessly cut taxes to a small group of people and hope. Our tax reform agenda fits within the context of 10 priorities for South Australia, which is directed at a vision which is about our prosperity, which is about our livability and which is about offering a future for our children and for their children.