Grievance Debate

Rate Capping

Mr PISONI (Unley) (15:07): On the front page of the Plains Producer, a very well-read paper in regional South Australia just north of Gepps Cross—an area that the government is not very familiar with at all, of course, anywhere outside the metropolitan area—we see the headline 'Copy caps: door wide open for Labor rate capping policy'. The story states:

Ratepayers across the state can expect some form of council rate capping following the state election in March 2018.

The Liberal Party has already announced its rate capping policy, which it would introduce if it wins government.

That is a policy we took to the last election and a policy we announced nearly five years ago. The newspaper article continues:

The Labor State Government has opposed the policy, which has also been met with strong criticism from the local government sector.

However, the popularity of the Liberals' rate capping policy is looming as a possible factor at the polls.

The Plains Producer understand several local government bodies are expecting the Labor Party to introduce its own rate capping policy and planning their respective Long Term Financial Plans with that in mind.

Treasurer, Tom Koutsantonis, did not respond to the Plains Producer's—

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley will be seated. How many times do I have to tell the member for Unley that he will not use the surnames or other names of members of this house? There are standing orders of long standing, going back to the mother of parliaments, saying that members may only be referred to by their electorate name or by the office they hold—for instance, minister or Premier. The reason for that is to prevent quarrels, yet repeatedly the member for Unley, who has been in this house years, uses it and violates it again and again. The member for Unley.

Mr PISONI: I am actually quoting from a newspaper article.

The SPEAKER: You cannot evade it by quoting.

Mr PISONI: I quote:

The Treasurer…did not respond to the Plains Producer's question asking if he would categorically rule out introducing a rate capping policy ahead of the next election.

So, there you have it. It is not because the government is now concerned about the cost of living in South Australia, or the cost pressures that South Australians have been forced to endure under this government, because if they were we would not have seen a pathetic $3 reduction in the emergency services levy announced just last week. They are doing this because the government has realised that they are wrong with their 15-year opposition to capping rates in South Australia.

The fact is that the government has a very cosy relationship with the Australian Services Union. The Australian Services Union gets whatever it wants when it is dealing with local government because local government simply put their rates up to pay for it. It is extraordinary that we now see that the Labor government will not reaffirm its policy that it has held for the last 15 years. My message to South Australians is: do not trust Jay Weatherill, the Premier. Do not trust the Premier. Do not trust the Treasurer. Do not trust these people when they tell you that they have changed their minds because after the election they will go back to form, if they win, and there will be no rate capping in South Australia.

Rate capping is a South Australian Liberal policy. It has been a Liberal policy for close on five years. It is Liberal policy because we recognise the pressures on South Australians under this government. That is the reason we announced that we will be reducing, on average, $150 per household with our cuts to the emergency services levy. What does Labor offer? Labor offers a mere $3, and they expect South Australians to be grateful for that.

What a pitiful excuse the Hon. Mr Malinauskas in the other place used in the media to suggest that there would be a $90 million cut in emergency services if the Liberals implemented their promise of reinstating the remissions and cutting that tax that Labor put in place back in 2014. The fact is that we did not see a $90 million increase in emergency services levy spending when Labor ripped $90 million out of the pockets of South Australians.

When Labor announce this policy leading up to the election, that they will cap council rates, do not believe them. Judge them on their form. Judge them on the fact that the cost of living has gone up under Labor, whether it be in relation to water, electricity, council rates or the emergency services levy. Labor simply cannot control their costs and they will continue to do what they have been doing over the last 15 years, that is, pushing more services and shifting more costs onto local government and then expecting local government to put up their rates in order to pay for them.