Council Rate Concessions

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:15): My question is to the Treasurer. Does the fact that the member for Croydon has reassured one of his constituents that he believed the concession would continue mean that the government is merely playing politics with this issue?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Small Business) (14:15): Playing politics with pensioners is not something the government has ever done. It is not us that made a virtue in a commonwealth budget by cutting pensioner concessions. It is not us that made a virtue of attempting to change the way pensions were indexed.

The people politicising pensions are the people who stand up the night before a federal election and say, 'Vote for me, there will be no changes to pensions. Vote for me, there will be no changes to health or education.' They are the people who politicise pensions. They say one thing before an election and do another after. It is this government and it is this Premier that stood up for our pensioners. We have stood up and filled the gap. Not one pensioner in this state has felt the harsh, cruel blade of those commonwealth cuts.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I notice members opposite yelling out 'ESL'. I point out to them that pensioners had no increase in their ESL. Again, this government is standing up for the most vulnerable in our community. The only people playing politics with pensioners are members opposite.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Why they won't stand with us and fight the commonwealth government when they want to cut their pensions, when they want to cut their concessions, is beyond me.

The SPEAKER: I warn for the first time the members for Chaffey, Hartley, Heysen and Mitchell. I made a mistake earlier: the member for Kavel should have been warned the first time, not merely cautioned, because he was called to order by my deputy before lunch. The member for Unley is warned for the second and final time. The leader.