Emergency Services Levy

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (15:37): I rise today, in this budget week, to talk about the emergency services levy or, more particularly, the removal of the remission pertaining to the emergency services levy. This latest increase in the emergency services levy that has been flagged for the upcoming budget will continue to hurt homeowners and businesses across the state. It will add to the cost of living and it really, quite simply, is a land tax.

This upcoming increase has been flagged at 9 per cent or about $23 on the average metropolitan residential property worth $426,000. Or it would increase by $187 or 10 per cent for the average commercial property valued at $1.5 million, and $178 or 7 per cent on an industrial property worth $1.2 million. Of course, these upcoming increases are on top of the extraordinarily large increases of some hundreds of per cent on properties that we saw earlier this year.

Of course, the ESL increases do not just hit property owners, they hit sporting clubs, community organisations, churches, independent schools and many, many small businesses right across this state. It adds to their costs. It is another tax. In South Australia, farmers in particular have been disproportionately hit by the increases to the emergency services levy. When you consider how those levy funds are actually spent region by region, it makes one wonder. The great irony, of course, is that many of those farming business operators (farmers themselves) are CFS volunteers.

I am sure the government, when it is concocting these schemes, thinks to itself, 'They will whinge a bit, but they will pay it. Ultimately, they will pay it.' For the most part, that is exactly what happens. However, it has been widely reported in the media—and, of course, it is very true—that many of those same volunteers and a number of the brigades involved have taken a stand by refusing to respond to incidents on government-owned land.

This is going to be a big problem for this government. If there is a major fire next summer on Eyre Peninsula or anywhere in the state, bearing in mind this government now is responsible for some 20 per cent of the land area of this state, what exactly does the government think will happen? They have completely failed to address that question.

The recent Sampson Flat bushfire is still front of mind, and the government has tried to explain away the most recent increases to the ESL as a one-off to cover the cost of that Sampson Flat fire. It has been estimated at around $10 million, but, of course, that explanation lacks any credibility when you consider the huge increases to the ESL two years in a row, which I have already referred to, and also the government's failure to adequately answer whether the ESL would go down should there not be a similar type of event next year. Let us hope that there is not, but there could be. We live in a fire prone landscape, and for six months of any given year this landscape will burn. The question is: will the levy go down or will it go up should a bigger event occur? These questions have not been answered.

The removal of the remission on the ESL has seen ESL bills soaring, and it has generated much angst and anger. Further, these huge increases cannot be justified, surely, when the government is receiving so much additional unbudgeted GST revenue from the federal government, and we are talking in the order of $850 million in the upcoming budget period. The budget papers, which are due to be handed down this coming Thursday, will certainly make interesting reading when it comes to the ESL and the emergency services budget in particular. I have no doubt that members on this side will explore some of these questions during the budget estimates process.

The government does have a responsibility to properly equip and train our CFS volunteers and emergency services more broadly, but if they stay true to their form in this upcoming budget, South Australians, unfortunately, can expect more waste, higher taxes, continued financial mismanagement and, ultimately, higher debt and deficit. I will close by reminding the house, all constituents and residents of South Australia that a state Liberal government, should we be elected, will reinstate the ESL remission, that remission that the Premier and Treasurer cruelly removed last year, and provide all of South Australia with much needed tax relief.