Housing Industry

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (14:30): My question is to the Premier. Is the Premier aware of views of housing industry representatives that their industry is in serious trouble?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:30): Of course we are in touch with all of the industry associations in South Australia. I spoke at the Master Builders Association lunch earlier this year. We are aware that in the lead-up to the state budget they would like to see a further reduction in taxes, but I remind this house that we have delivered the largest quantum of tax reduction—

The Hon. V.A. Chapman: Relief.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —relief in the state's history in our very first budget, when we slashed emergency services levies—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —stamp duty went down, of course payroll tax went down on 1 January and we've got land tax relief coming through on 1 July next year. So we are acutely aware that our taxes—the taxation rates we inherited under the previous government—were way too high. We are reducing those, but we are doing that in a very sensible way to try to massively increase the economic activity in South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We are not going to do it to damage our economy. I know some of those opposite and some of their friends always want to advocate for increasing taxation. We are not doing that.

Mr Malinauskas: No, you are taking on debt. You are increasing debt.

The SPEAKER: Order, leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I note with great interest that the previous administration, when they were in government last, talked about significantly increasing the tax burden on South Australians. In fact, for a very long time the leader of the Labor Party in South Australia was advocating for a 50 per cent increase in the GST. This was probably the single largest increase in taxation in the history of the state.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: He said this was sensible economic policy. I have not heard from the current leader of the Labor Party as to whether they are moving away from that position that was held by the Labor Party for a long period of time. On this side of the house, though, we are very clear: we don't want to see a massive increase in taxation. In fact, what we would like to do is drive down taxation rates. We would like to provide relief to businesses that were just bashed every day of the week by those opposite with increased costs, increased taxes and of course a government that often referred to people who were putting their hardworking savings on the line to employ people as 'the employer class'.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: Get back to the question.

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I am happy to address the question. The reality is that we are working with every single part of our economy, but the reality is we don't have a massive agenda for further taxation relief over and above what we have already provided in the budget—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —that was handed down in September last year. When the budget provides an opportunity for us to put further taxation relief into place, that is exactly and precisely what we will do.