Taxation Reform

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:35): Supplementary, sir: the minister has indicated that the SARTA response to the introduction of the freight network charge is just one quarter of the responses that the government has received. Who are the people who are actually strongly in support of the government's plan to introduce freight network charges in South Australia?

The SPEAKER: Minister.

Mr Marshall: Name them. Name them all. Read them all out. We've got plenty of time.

The SPEAKER: The leader is called to order.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister Assisting the Minister for Planning, Minister Assisting the Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (14:35): I am happy to. In May, all transport ministers attended their six-monthly transport ministers' conference. A program of heavy vehicle charging and investment reform was put to all ministers, which was endorsed, which would commence a large body of work into the future about trying to prove up whether this, along with other heavy vehicle charging and investment options, could be brought to fruition across the country.

The Australian Logistics Council has been pushing this very strongly. This is something that their members are very much in favour of. The idea of using in-vehicle telematics to be able to log the distances that heavy vehicles take across the country, not just on particular roads but across all roads, and also log the amount and weight of freight that is being transported across those roads and make a determination about the costs involved in transporting that freight and contributing those calculations, and that information towards coming up with a better charging regime for the heavy vehicle industry is something that has been around for many years and in some quarters—I did not say 'a quarter'—but in some parts of the industry, this idea is very well supported. This is the direction that the technology available in heavy vehicles—

Mr Marshall: Who are they? Who are these people?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I just said, the Australian Logistics Council.

Mr Marshall: That's one group. You said there were not just—

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: You mean a national representative group—

The SPEAKER: The minister will not respond to interjections and the leader is warned a first time.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: There is support for the investigation of these matters and, as I have made clear, both in discussions with industry and also publicly, including yesterday in the media, the first step, the necessary step, is a detailed investigation of this, whether it is an offline trial or by some other means. This is a worthy thing to be investigated. This has the potential to unlock significant efficiencies within the heavy vehicle industry, quite opposite from the Liberal Party position of imposing an additional extra tax on the heavy vehicle industry. I understand the Liberal Party wants people to pay more for bread, more for milk and more for eggs—

Mr PISONI: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: Point of order!

Mr PISONI: The minister is not responsible for the Liberal Party.

The SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order, and I also welcome to the house a distinguished former member of the other place, Andrew Evans.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

The SPEAKER: Leader.