House of Assembly Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1) 53 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Emergency Services Levy Emergency Services Levy Mr MARSHALL House of Assembly Dunstan Leader of the Opposition Emergency Services Levy Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:38): Supplementary, sir: the Treasurer has indicated to the house that no decision was made prior to the federal budget, but was there active consideration of removing the remission from the ESL prior to the federal budget being handed down? The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly West Torrens Minister for Finance Minister for State Development Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy Minister for Small Business Emergency Services Levy The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Small Business) (14:38): We were given five weeks to respond to the commonwealth budget. The processes that we had in place to deal with the response were very difficult indeed. We were faced with some very significant cuts from the commonwealth. Ms Redmond House of Assembly Ms Redmond: We're talking about before. The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, I understand that but, like I said earlier, we had not contemplated an increase in the emergency services levy prior to the commonwealth budget. But of course, in all budgets, all options, whether they be tax increases or decreases, are canvassed. No, there is no snap. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for MacKillop is warned for false laughter. The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, sir. We were not in any way looking to increase the ESL. However, given that they have raised this, we can talk about what the government was faced with. Within five weeks we had to plug into our budget cuts totalling $898 million—that is a $444 million reduction in health for special purpose payments— Ms CHAPMAN House of Assembly Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order: the question was specifically whether there had been any consideration prior to the federal budget. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: So he is not answering the substance of the question. I uphold the point of order.