Payroll Tax

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:09): My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer now admit that he always had the money to provide tax relief without his massive state bank tax?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:09): That's not true.

The SPEAKER: When a question is phrased in the terms, 'Will the Treasurer now admit,' I think I will give the Treasurer a lot of scope on that.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: That statement is not true, but it is no surprise given the source that it is coming from. We have had to now wind down those surpluses so the banks can avoid paying their fair share of tax. The opposition are quite happy to see the banks get this tax cut at the expense of South Australian taxpayers. So, if you think about it, what they are actually doing is socialising the cost of their tax bill to the taxpayer. The opposition have said, 'We like all the spending in the budget. We don't want you to stop any of the spending in the budget. We just don't like how you are paying for it. We don't like the revenue.' What they say then is, 'Pass on these tax cuts, but don't tax the banks.' So they want the taxpayer to subsidise the Australian banks again.

My dad always told me that you are judged by those whose company you keep—now, $6 billion worth of profit, sacking 6,000 people. On this side of the house, we are on the side of the angels. We are not the ones who are there defending organisations that are facing charges of anti-money laundering accusations, assisting in terrorism financing, and rate rigging—that's who the opposition stands with. We stand with the people of South Australia.

We wanted to pay for tax cuts for South Australian small businesses out of taxes that the Australian banks are not paying and that they should be paying, and the opposition have blocked that along with the tax cuts for South Australian small businesses. So we have to find means with which to offer those tax cuts by running down public surpluses, that is, using taxpayers dollars that could be spent on health, on education, on other services that the opposition want to give back to the banks. That's their legacy.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: You can tell by the interjections the frustration of the members opposite about the way this entire tactic by the Leader of the Opposition has been conducted. By the entire way that they have conducted themselves, they have not come out of this at all. This isn't a win for the Liberal Party. This isn't a win for the opposition.

Mr PISONI: Point of order: the Treasurer's commentary on the opposition is clearly debate.

The SPEAKER: Well, it would be debate if the question weren't phrased as, 'Will the Treasurer now admit.' It's not exactly a question seeking information, is it? Perhaps you're expecting a confession. I say, because the question—

Mr Knoll: How many Hail Marys are you going to give him?

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer doesn't say the rosary.

Ms Chapman: How do you know?

The SPEAKER: He's orthodox. The question gave the Treasurer a whole lot of scope—

Ms Sanderson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Precisely—and that reminds me: the member for Adelaide is warned a first and a second time, but not for that very useful interjection. Treasurer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The opposition's frustration at the way they have conducted themselves is understandable given the litany of errors by the Leader of the Opposition—whether it's telling everyone to vote Labor not once but twice, whether it is by the way he ran the Wokinabox, but, importantly, by siding with people like the Australian banks. The Australian banks, according to the commonwealth Treasury, forgo about $4 billion of GST that should be in the pool available to the states to spend on hospitals, schools and roads. We attempted to rectify that through a major bank levy.

Mr Knoll interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is on two warnings.

The Hon. P. Caica interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Colton should have been warned on the previous occasion and now is.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: We tried to rectify that. Unfortunately for us, despite having said on multiple occasions that the Leader of the Opposition would support the major bank levy and the budget bill, he folded. Even though we have since heard a confession that he never liked even the commonwealth government's major bank levy but kept that secret and didn't tell anyone that he opposed the commonwealth government's major bank levy because, I suspect, he was afraid of any retribution from the commonwealth government.

It just goes to show the pattern of behaviour. The moment the ANZ were to go visit the Leader of the Opposition, he backed off immediately and said he would be opposing the budget bill, despite having said on numerous occasions previously he would be supporting it. It speaks volumes about who he is.