Land Tax Forum

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (15:24): At the beginning of the week, Labor held a forum on land tax in your electorate, sir, which was patronised by what I would call middle Australia, what I would call working middle Australians who have worked hard their entire lives and not invested in shares or other forms of equities or bonds, but they put their money in property, bricks and mortar, things that they could see.

What struck me on that day was one gentleman who made a remark that touched me in a way that I identified with. My father never saw me play sport on the weekend, not once. This man got up and said, 'I gave up parenthood, basically, to build my family's security for their future. I didn't get to see my kids play soccer.' My dad never saw my brother bowl a single ball, never saw my family on weekends because they were working. They were working to pay off mortgages and to build property because a lot of postwar migrants invested in things they could understand, they could see, they could touch, they could feel and they knew—bricks and mortar.

They feel aggrieved because your government is telling them that they are better off under aggregation, that they are wrong, that there is a loophole they have taken advantage of, that they are, in effect, tax cheats. They are not. They are hardworking middle Australians who were trying to get ahead and this government is branding them as frauds and tax cheats who deserve to be hit even harder. Even worse, Mr Speaker, your government is claiming that these people somehow are avoiding tax, that they are somehow in a way cheating their neighbours. They are not.

Unemployment this quarter has reached 7.3 per cent, the highest in the mainland by nearly 1 per cent. The most recent BDO survey on confidence shows that businesses in South Australia have lost faith in the South Australian economy, yet this government has delivered now two economic statements and one Mid-Year Budget Review, three in total. This is now the Premier's economy. This is now the Premier's doing. At what point do we say that the reforms that the government is implementing are not working? At what point do we say that what the government is attempting to do has failed?

In a concession today, the Treasurer informed the people of South Australia what the Premier has refused to do: the most recent bill on land tax is a revenue measure, it will raise more taxes, it does not cut taxes. Indeed, the savings the government is talking about are from last year's budget. The Treasurer said that this measure is because of a GST writedown. Importantly, the Treasurer made those comments while the Premier denies them.

Also importantly, the Premier told the house yesterday that the Liberal Party was unanimously behind these measures: the member for King, the member for Newland, even you, sir. Despite the claims of precedent that you will be using to vote down the measure, the Premier has told this parliament that there is unanimous support for these measures. Given that the Treasurer has conceded that this is a tax increase, I would like now to see the spirit of the Liberal Party come to the fore.

What we keep on being told in the backrooms outside this chamber is that the reason individuals join the Liberal Party is that they can express their own opinions and not be tied down by some sort of union solidarity concept where everybody is forced to vote the same way. We will see that in action because this parliament will have to consider the Premier's massive tax increase. This parliament will have to vote on whether or not these tax increases are justified.

The truth of the matter is that the Premier has no mandate for these tax increases, but the Premier is claiming complete support from his own party. I suspect the reason the Treasurer conceded today that this is a revenue measure is that yesterday in this house, when the Premier was asked if the Treasurer was safe in his position for the remainder of this term, the Premier would not concede to this house that that was the case.

What we have now is a Premier and a Treasurer arguing with each other in public. This is not a good sign for our economy, especially when we are languishing with an unemployment rate of 7.3 per cent. The government needs to act. The government needs to unite and stop fighting amongst themselves.