Emergency Services Levy

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (14:10): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier update the house on how the government is delivering on the commitment to reduce the emergency services levy and what this will mean to South Australian households from 1 July?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:10): It's with great pleasure that I rise to answer this question. It's an important commitment that we made to the people of South Australia in the lead-up to the election. We wanted to put more money back in their pockets so that they could spend that money in their lives in accordance with the way that they want to spend the money—not the way the government wants to spend the money, but in the way that they want to spend their money. We were very happy to make that commitment: $90 million a year, $360 million over the forward estimates, and that will start on 1 July—so only a few days to wait for relief for households and businesses in South Australia who are subject to the emergency services levy.

One of the commitments that we made in the lead-up to the election was that this would be a 50 per cent reduction on the emergency services levy for the median house price here in South Australia. That is exactly and precisely what we have delivered. In fact, we have delivered a higher saving than that. The saving will be $145 per household on the median price.

Obviously, as price varies, so will that reduction. Importantly, the reduction that we are offering the people of South Australia as of 1 July is a very significant difference from that which the previous government took to the election. In fact, South Australian households, on average on the median house price, are $165 better off than they would be under the former Labor government.

We believe in lower taxes. We want to put more money back in the pockets of South Australians. That's why we blocked the car park tax that those opposite introduced when they were last in government. That's why we blocked the introduction of the state bank levy, because we don't believe that taxing people into oblivion is a solution to the economic woes that those opposite created. By contrast, what we want to do is lower taxes in South Australia because we want to create more incentive for people to invest in their businesses, to grow their businesses, to create employment and, of course, to keep young people here in South Australia. That will always be the Liberal way: lower taxes. The Labor way will always be higher taxes. It's in their DNA.