Question Time

State Budget

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (14:22): Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier explain how he expects a pensioner in a Housing Trust home receiving just $450 a week to afford a rent increase when his police minister, who earns $6,350 per week, can't seem to afford two packets of chips?

The SPEAKER: Premier, would you like to have a go at that?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:23): Well, it's a diminishing standard from those opposite. Who would have guessed?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left! The Premier will be heard in silence. You have asked your question.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The member for Lee, who has asked a lot more questions and had a lot more media attention than either the leader or the deputy leader, is clearly trying to make a bit of a name for himself at the moment. I suggest to him that he just try to up the standard if he wants to shuffle up the deck a little bit further.

The reality is that this government will be doing everything it possibly can to help every single South Australian with the massive cost-of-living burden that was left them by the previous government. Those opposite—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —should essentially hang their heads in shame when they think about what they inflicted upon our most vulnerable, lowest income citizens in South Australia over the 16 years that they had in power. It would be a very good lesson for the new Leader of the Opposition to go back and take a look at what happened to electricity prices under the previous government.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order: it is clearly debate, sir. The question was about Housing Trust rents.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right! Member for West Torrens, the question that was asked arguably went a bit further than to be interrogatory. It did contain some expression. I will give the Premier some leeway here, and I will be listening to ensure that he returns to the substance of the question. I also call to order the member for West Torrens before for saying, 'Let them eat chips,' and the member for Lee for also interjecting. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you very much, sir. This question is all about what the new government is going to be doing to lower the cost of living for the people of South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I know this is almost impossible to believe, but the Leader of the Opposition asked, 'What has this got to do with Housing Trust tenants?' I don't know. Do they pay for electricity? I think so. Do they pay for water? Yes, I think they do. Do they pay state government fees, fines and charges? Yes, I think they do. It doesn't surprise me that they don't understand this.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: You need to get a briefing, my friend. You need to get a briefing from somebody other than Kevin Naughton. The reality is there are a lot of things which affect cost of living in South Australia—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and we will be doing everything we can over the time that we are on the treasury bench to help every single South Australian. Energy prices under the former government—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —went through the roof. I would like to commend the Minister for Energy and Mining for the work that he is doing to put downward pressure—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —on energy prices in South Australia. Those opposite had 16 years. What happened? They left South Australian citizens—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —with the highest priced, least reliable grid in the entire nation, backed up by nothing other than diesel generators. They are going to save the environment with diesel generators. Talk about back to the future. There's another front page for The Advertiser. Anyway, sir, cost of living is important. It is not only energy prices, but under the former government, because of their incompetence, their bungling of the desal plant decision in South Australia, they left the people of South Australia with—

The SPEAKER: Point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The Premier has now had some time to answer the question. The question was: how can a Housing Trust tenant afford to pay rent increases—

The SPEAKER: Yes, I heard the question, member for West Torrens—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —when his own minister can't afford a packet of chips?

The SPEAKER: —and amongst the cacophony of noise from members on my left, I believe that the Premier is coming to the substance of the question. Premier.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you, sir. I am coming to the substance of the question because we are going to be lowering the cost of living for every South Australian. I have already outlined what we are going to be doing, and there is going to be more said about this in the coming weeks and months on our energy prices. This is a major cost for the people of South Australia. We are going to be lowering them. We are going to be putting downward pressure—that's what we are going to be doing.

The second thing is water pricing. Those opposite cooked the books. There is no doubt in my mind they cooked the books, and the truth—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: No, the member for West Torrens—the blood is draining out of his face—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —because there's an inquiry going on at the moment. Let's just see what it shows regarding the real value of the regulated asset base. Because if it shows that it's lower, then what happened is that the previous government had an additional tax. It was trousering money from the most vulnerable people in South Australia. Under this regime, it will stop.

The SPEAKER: The Premier's time has expired; thank you, Premier. The member for Lee.