Council on Federal Financial Relations

Mr MULLIGHAN (Lee) (14:50): My question is to Premier. How can the Premier be confident that the Treasurer did advise the Council on Federal Financial Relations? In the formal record of the meeting of 5 April of the Council on Federal Financial Relations, there is no mention of these views being expressed by the South Australian Treasurer.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:51): I am very confident that our views are known because I have spoken to—

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —the Treasurer and I have made those same comments to my colleagues in Canberra myself, unlike those opposite, who when they were in government decided the only way these things happened officially was if they did it through the media. We have a different relationship with Canberra. We have a grown-up, adult, sophisticated relationship with Canberra where we can actually pick up the phone and we can speak to them—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —or we can make an appointment to meet with them and they say, 'Yes, we would like to.'

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Mr Speaker, you may be interested to know that I took one of these opportunities only last week. After question time finished on Wednesday last week, I travelled with the Minister for Planning, Transport and Infrastructure to Canberra. We had an opportunity to sit down with the Prime Minister, but not only with the Prime Minister. Because we have a good quality relationship with the federal government on this side of the house, we actually also got the opportunity to meet with the foreign minister and the Treasurer. I also got an opportunity to meet with the Deputy Prime Minister.

Mr Malinauskas: Oh, how exciting for you!

The SPEAKER Order! The leader is on two warnings now.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Those opposite may mock, but their stance, their disposition over the previous 16 years was all about playing the victim. Because they weren't producing results which benefited the people of South Australia, they decided to shift blame onto somebody else. Every single day, they were waging a war with somebody, whether it was with the Liberal Party, whether it was with the federal government, whether it was with the—

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Point of order. The Premier will be seated for one moment.

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: Relevance, sir.

The SPEAKER: Relevance, standing order 98?

The Hon. S.S. Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I haven’t deliberated yet. The question was about the confidence of the Premier in relation to GST, if I am not mistaken.

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: The question was in relation to how can—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER Order! I will hear the point of order.

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: The minutes of the public statements of the CFFR meeting show no record of what the Premier said.

The SPEAKER: This is not an opportunity for a speech. I will listen carefully, but the Premier is being interjected by the deputy leader, who is called to order, and other members, so I will listen carefully. Premier, please return to the substance of the question.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you, sir. I am 100 per cent confident that those in Canberra understand our very, very clear position on this. What they are not clear about is what the Australian Labor Party's position is in South Australia, and I will tell you the reason why. I think this is very pertinent to this question because we do need to act as one to make sure that we get the best outcome for South Australia as part of this negotiation which is going to take place in Canberra.

The problem is that the Australian Labor Party has had varying positions with regard to GST. As you would be aware, sir, during the last term of government, the previous premier of South Australia advocated for a 50 per cent increase in GST in South Australia. He argued that we weren't highly taxed enough. The reality is that those of us on this side of the house believe that the GST rate is right at 10 per cent and we are satisfied with the current arrangements for horizontal fiscal equalisation. We don't propose any changes to that arrangement. We will not be supporting any changes that disadvantage the people of South Australia and I am 100 per cent sure that Canberra understands our very clear position on this issue.