Parliamentary Committees

Economic and Finance Committee: Emergency Services Levy 2018-19

Debate resumed.

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (11:54): I am very pleased to rise this morning and speak about the noting of the first report of the Economic and Finance Committee, specifically on the emergency services levy. Firstly, while on the topic of emergency services, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who work as part of our emergency services across the state in organisations like the Metropolitan Fire Service, South Australia Police, paramedics as part of the SA Ambulance Service, and also a lot of our volunteer organisations like the Country Fire Service, State Emergency Service and many others.

All these services are very important to my electorate. Of course, in Newland we have a metropolitan portion, but we also head up into the Adelaide Hills and include areas like Sampson Flat and Kersbrook, which have been affected by fire in recent years. There are a number of very good CFS brigades in that part of the seat, including of course the Tea Tree Gully brigade and also the Hermitage, Paracombe, Forreston and Kersbrook brigades, which all do a fantastic job and have been tested in recent years.

The Tea Tree Gully SES is also an outstanding local group that performs very well, even at the national level, and often participates in state and national competitions. They have been highly successful at the state level and have almost won a number of times at the national level. In fact, there was a recent national championship in Tasmania, I believe, where on the night they were scored as having won and went away celebrating and being very happy with the result.

At some point—I believe during the flight between Tasmania and Victoria—there had been a re-evaluation of the scores to find that they had actually come second. Their phones went berserk, as they turned them all on after they got off the plane, as they found out they had actually come second. I think they may still have the trophy, though. In any case, even second on the national stage is a fantastic result.

I would like to pay tribute to this outstanding local unit and thank all the volunteers who do so much work to keep our community safe. When so many of us would be doing everything we could to get away from harm, these are the people who go into harm's way. Of course they take all the right precautions but nevertheless take risks to protect our community.

The Economic and Finance Committee does very important work for this parliament, and I would particularly like to commend the Chair, who does a fantastic job, and of course the other members, who all make an important contribution.

Initially, the emergency services levy was introduced specifically to replace an insurance premium levy. This was a broader emergency services levy that was put in place to cover the costs of looking after our emergency services, but built into this original levy was a general remission that was going to shield the vast majority of households and businesses from the full impact of the levy.

However, as many others have made the point, shortly after the 2014 state election the former state Labor government removed this general remission, jacking up the rate by enormous amounts for households and astronomical amounts for our farmers. I believe it was between 450 per cent and over 1,000 per cent for some farmers, which really is an outrageous breach of trust.

There was absolutely no indication before the 2014 election that this was going to happen, but of course, once back in government, the state Labor government was faced with the reality of the books they had managed and decided that the way to counter their own incompetence was to reach into the pockets of households and businesses, effectively ripping $384 million out of the state economy, with only a paltry $8 million reinvested into emergency services.

This ran counter to the claims that this was all about emergency services, when really it was just about patching up a hole in the revenue, which is quite outrageous and has a devastating impact not only on the cost of living, given that so many families are struggling with cost-of-living issues, but also given the unemployment situation in South Australia over recent years. This only served to make that situation much worse by putting a lot of pressure on local businesses. It is worth noting that in recent times, given the change of government, there has been an enormous surge in confidence by households and businesses. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.