House of Assembly Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1) 54 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Land Tax Land Tax Mr MALINAUSKAS House of Assembly Croydon Leader of the Opposition Land Tax Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:15): That was a convincing start! My question is to the Premier. How can South Australians trust your numbers on your latest land tax policy, 3.0, given that your last policy, 2.0, was going to raise only $40 million per year? Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly Dunstan Premier The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:15): We made it very clear when we brought down the state budget that we needed to consult— Mr Brown interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Playford is warned. The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —with the people of South Australia and find out what their inputs were. This is a major reform—a major, major reform. Mr Szakacs interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Cheltenham is warned. The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: What we have done since the budget was handed down was listen to people, and can I thank the very large number of people— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —who have had input into the package, the draft bill, that we now put before the people of South Australia. Can I say that 95 per cent of all of the input that we got was very helpful suggestions making comparisons between what might exist in one jurisdiction— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —versus another jurisdiction: how different entity vehicles would be treated, what the likely number— The Hon. A. Piccolo interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Light is called to order. The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —was going to be in South Australia. We took all of that information on board—every single part of that on board. It built the model and we are now absolutely convinced that we have the right numbers that will push through a very, very substantial reduction in land tax. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Let's be very, very clear on what we are talking about: $70 million less collected in land tax over the next three years. This is massive relief to businesses— Mr Malinauskas interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Leader! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —to households in South Australia courtesy of the changes that we are making with the aggregation, with the increase in the threshold, and, of course, the massive, massive reductions in the top marginal rate. Under Labor, they seemed very happy to sit on the highest marginal land tax rate in the country—3.7 per cent—and the consequences of that were very, very significant— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —on the people of South Australia, because it artificially stifled—well, it massively stifled investment capital coming from interstate into our jurisdiction, and in fact it incentivised people to take their capital out of our state and invest it into other lower tax jurisdictions. What a disgrace! That is what they presided over. Well, we thought, 'No. We're going to embark upon reform.' Reform is not always easy, but it has to be taken on— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —if you genuinely care— Ms Stinson interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Badcoe is warned. The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —about the future of this state rather than short-term political expediency. Mr Szakacs interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Cheltenham is warned. The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Those on the opposite side of this chamber didn't have the ticker for this type of reform. They weren't up to it. At the first whiff of any dissenting voice— Mr Malinauskas interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Leader! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —they crumble. They pick up the phone, 'Hello, is that the SDA? What should I be doing today?' Well, the SDA will tell you your land tax policy, the SDA will be telling you your council rate capping policy, and they will be telling you your shop trading hours policy. On this side of the house, we will be listening— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —to the people of our state. We will be making decisions in the best interests of this state, and that is precisely what we have delivered. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens and the deputy leader are also warned. If this level of noise continues, members will be departing the chamber. The leader and then the member for Newland.