Question Time

Rate Capping

Mr MURRAY (Davenport) (14:31): My question is to the Minister for Local Government. Will the minister update the house on the government's progress towards capping council rate rises?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:31): I am very happy to take the question from the member for Davenport and note his keen interest and, in fact, the way that he and councils in his area have worked constructively with the government around helping to bring about this important piece of reform for South Australians. We will quite soon deliver this rate capping bill to the parliament of South Australia for consideration.

A lot of work has happened in these first 90 days or so to help deliver this very important reform for South Australians. What I would like to do from the beginning is thank the local government sector for the way that they have engaged with this piece of legislation. We do accept on this side of the house that there are some councils out there that don't want to see this come into action. Can I say that hasn't stopped any council I have spoken to so far—we would have to be talking about 20 or 30 of them in the last couple of months—from actually being able to engage with this and make this the best piece of legislation that we can.

What is interesting about the discussions that we have had, and this goes to the central crux of why we need this legislation, is that the nature of the conversation is changing. This cap will be put in place once the legislation passes this parliament. It will, over time, curb the increases that local governments will punish their ratepayers with. It will accumulate, but in the first year it will save tens of millions of dollars, but year on year it will deliver savings year after year to the ratepayers of South Australia.

For the first time in any discussions that we have had, the local government sector is talking about ways to do more with what they've got. For the first time, instead of just going back to ratepayers and asking for more money—and for evidence of that you need only look at the fact that we have had 6 per cent average increases over the past decade across South Australian councils—all of a sudden they are saying, 'Okay, how do we actually deliver what we deliver more efficiently?'

There are ways that councils can of themselves, and the Local Government Association can of itself, save money, save ratepayers' money. There are also ways that we as a new state government can work with them to help deliver that. My message to the local government sector has been clear: on each of their points, the answer is yes. Any opportunity that we have to work with the local government sector to deliver better, more efficiently delivered services, we are open to having those conversations. Everything is on the table.

In the discussions we have had, these reforms are about delivering better services. These reforms are about delivering more efficient services. What I think the South Australian public will get excited by is that this rate capping legislation provides the right balance. It gets the balance between protecting household and business interests with making sure that councils can get on and do the important work that they do. But also, in the middle, in the sweet spot, it actually finds the process by which councils are incentivised to improve the way they do business.

This is a marked change in the rhetoric that council has undertaken. I applaud them for it. I look forward over the next couple of months as this debate is had, both in the parliament but also in the local government sphere, to fleshing out those ideas and giving commitments around how we are going to work together. There are those out there, other political parties, that do not support or at least are not openly supportive of this legislation.

The question I think they need to answer to South Australians is why they think it is okay for rates to go up at three times the rate of inflation. Why is it okay that, at a time when households are being punished by low wage growth and by not being able to make ends meet and when this important reform, which will over time deliver quite likely the biggest step change in their household budgets over the next decade, there are political parties that are not on the record supporting this very important reform?