House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Vanderstock High Court Decision Vanderstock High Court Decision The Hon. A. PICCOLO House of Assembly Light Vanderstock High Court Decision The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (14:55): My question is to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer update the house on the potential impact of the Vanderstock High Court decision to South Australia? The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer Minister for Defence and Space Industries Vanderstock High Court Decision The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer) (14:55): I thank the member for Light for his question. This is an important issue, Mr Speaker. You will remember that during the time of the previous Liberal government they introduced a new tax on electric vehicles—a new tax. It was a great pleasure for us— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer Minister for Defence and Space Industries The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —on the Labor side of politics to point out how poor this policy of the previous Liberal government was. 'Oh, it's not a tax, it's a levy.' 'It's not a privatisation, it's an outsourcing.' Yes, keep digging. Yes, it's really convincing. So not only do we condemn those opposite for introducing the new tax and pointing out how bad an idea it was but now the chickens have come home to roost. While we were able to— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer Minister for Defence and Space Industries The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The member for Chaffey, being a primary producer, is apparently the only one able to talk about livestock. Here we go. Now we have had the High Court determine what a wrongheaded idea it was by the previous government, and also by the Victorian government, to introduce this tax. It has now been thrown out, and not only has it been thrown out but we have had a judicial determination by the High Court on what constitutes an excise. Now states and territories are facing the prospect of potentially having their revenue bases placed under threat. This is the genius of those opposite and the administration of state finances. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer Minister for Defence and Space Industries The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Not only try to hamstring the community's ability to take up electric vehicles by imposing a new tax on them but threaten the state's finances in perpetuity going forward. It wasn't bad enough for them to champion a poor GST redistribution in Western Australia's favour, saying it was 'a massive win for our state', to put that at risk, they were now caught out imposing taxes— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Colton is warned. The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer Minister for Defence and Space Industries The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —which were struck out by the High Court, struck out by the highest legal authority in the land. Now other states and territories, including South Australia, are having to scramble to get legal advice on what the implications are for our own revenue base. Could you think of an approach more damaging to a government's capacity to provide services and infrastructure to its community by fundamentally undermining its revenue base? Absolutely extraordinary. There are a lot of people in this place, including the leader and including the member for Hartley, who championed this measure—championed this measure. They stood in this place singing its praises, thinking that this was not only good for the state's renewable energy transition, but this was a good— The Hon. V.A. Tarzia interjecting: The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer Minister for Defence and Space Industries The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The member for Hartley says, 'Check the advice,' so apparently the Full Bench of the High Court is wrong, according to the member for Hartley. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer Minister for Defence and Space Industries The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The member for Hartley is about to get the robes on— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer Minister for Defence and Space Industries The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: He is about to get the robes on— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Colton, order! The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer Minister for Defence and Space Industries The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —and go into bat for their failed public policy. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer Minister for Defence and Space Industries The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Absolutely remarkable performance, Mr Speaker. The Hon. B.I. Boyer interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education! Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN House of Assembly Lee Treasurer Minister for Defence and Space Industries The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Not only are the South Australian Liberals responsible for taking steps to try to damage the state's take-up of electric vehicles they have now been found out, by the highest legal authority in the country, for damaging the state's revenue base. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Treasurer's time has expired. Order, members on the government and opposition side. The member for Heysen is seeking the call.