Land Tax

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (14:55): My question is to the Premier. What modelling has the government conducted to estimate the impact on residential rents as a result of the $86 million aggregation measure?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:55): As we have already provided, there will be a substantial land tax reduction. How much of that directly flows through to rents is unsure at this stage but, overall, the land tax take is lower, so you would think that this is going to provide relief in terms of rent paid. That is good news for South Australia. I know that those opposite don't always enjoy people in the business community getting lower costs. We do on this side—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —because we know that people who are in business invest their capital to create jobs in this state, and we applaud that. That is why this reform has been so necessary. It is also a necessary reform because we want to bring investment dollars into South Australia. Most importantly—and I emphasise this to those opposite shaking their heads, who presided over a collapse in intrastate investment—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —we want to keep people who are already residing in this state investing in this state. There was too much. High-profile members of the Labor Party in South Australia, some of them with very illustrious financially related portfolios, decided to invest in other jurisdictions precisely because of the land tax situation that they had created in South Australia. This is a consequence of South Australia having the least attractive land tax regime in the country.

We are fixing it. The good news is that we are fixing it. Relief is on the way. We want to bring the legislation back in October. We want to put it through the parliament. We want to have it in place for 1 July so that we can bring land tax relief for businesses, households and investors in this state.