Heavy Vehicle Fees

Mr TELFER (Flinders) (14:39): My question is to the Treasurer. What impact will the government's fee increases have on the transport industry and thus to food prices? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr TELFER: Last week, the government introduced increases of 7.5 per cent in registration for medium and combination trucks, more than triple the national inflation rate.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer, Minister for Defence and Space Industries, Minister for Police) (14:39): As the government publicly announced some days ago, we have promulgated the regular increase to state-government controlled fees and charges of 3.1 per cent. The Premier went through some detail yesterday in question time, accurately describing the longstanding process that has been in place since the 1990s and has only been changed with one exception, which the Premier drew people's attention to. Fees charged under the Heavy Vehicle National Law are determined nationally, and they are adopted uniformly by the states and territories. Those are the ones to which the member for Flinders makes reference.

I appreciate the point he is trying to make. He is trying to assert that somehow the state government has taken a discretionary decision to choose to do this. But we have made sure that not only in our first three budgets have we provided very substantial cost-of-living relief to South Australians, in particular those most in need and South Australian families, but we have made sure that when it comes to the fees and charges that we levy, we do it according to that very longstanding practice, which up until the 2019-20 budget has been adopted in a bipartisan way.

Coming into government, we promised to re-establish that process. We have done that. As for fees that are set by national bodies, national agencies, and then required to be promulgated by states and territories that have signed up to the national law—my recollection is it is only Western Australia that is holding out on that, but amongst all of the other states and territories, that is the regime that we have.