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) (14:28): My question is to the Premier. Why won't the Premier take his land tax aggregation policy to an election? The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly Dunstan Premier Land Tax The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:28): Well, because we have it before the parliament at the moment. This is an opportunity for people to make a decision— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —upon what is in their best interests. I make the point that the modelling that has been completed shows that 92 per cent of individual investors— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order, leader! The member for Kaurna is warned. The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The question that those opposite need to really concern themselves with is: what are they going to say to those 92 per cent of individual investors who are going to be worse off— Mr Malinauskas interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting. It pains me to remove him. I don't like doing that to the Leader of the Opposition, but if I have to, I must. Premier. The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The question for the opposition is: what is their statement to those people who will be directly affected, adversely affected, by the Leader of the Opposition and the Labor Party's position to block this very significant reform? We have been able to very clearly show that there are many, many tens of thousands of beneficiaries of the reform—— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —that we are putting in place. We have been very clear that it won't advantage every single South Australian. And reform is difficult. That's why at times like this— this is a test, this is an absolute test, of the backbone of reform. Ms Stinson House of Assembly Ms Stinson: Sure is, and you've failed it five times. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Badcoe is warned for a second time. The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: And I make the point that the opposition were not capable of significant reform while they were in government. They held back our state for a long period of time. They whinged, they whined, they complained on the— An honourable member interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —national stage for a long period of time, and South Australia was basically at the bottom of every single league table for 16 years, virtually. That's unacceptable, and that's why the people of South Australia voted to change the government. We are not going to apologise for putting the interests of South Australians first. We are not going to apologise for making tough decisions which we think will advantage our state overall. If those opposite want to continue to play politics and put grubby politics before the interests of South Australians, well, that is their decision, but all of the people on that side of the chamber— 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: —need to reflect on their motivation, their true motivation. They need to really think about this decision because there will be tens of thousands of people who will be disadvantaged from the position, and not one of those opposite yet, not one of them— The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for Lee! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —has been able to advance any cogent argument why two people with the same property value can be paying two completely separate rates of tax. So this is a reform. It's a reform which is going to put fairness back into our land tax system in South Australia and lower— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —land tax receipts for the government. It's a significant reform. It's a significant reform. Mr Picton interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Kaurna is warned. The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL House of Assembly The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It's a significant reform and we on this side of the chamber are up for reform, putting the people of South Australia first.