Grievance Debate

Malinauskas Labor Government

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (15:44): Sir, congratulations on your retirement. For nearly four years Labor has been heavy on headlines but light on delivery, big on events but small on cost-of-living relief. Labor promised to fix ramping but did you notice how the health minister did not mention that today? Did you notice that the Premier did not mention that today? We know what Labor promised, and we will tell the people of South Australia what Labor promised. They promised to fix ramping, but we know that ramping is now worse than at any point in South Australia's history, not for one month, not for two months, but for 41 months. Labor promised to also cut wholesale electricity bills, but average households are paying almost $775 more on their annual bills, a 43 per cent increase.

Labor promised no new taxes, but we know that families and businesses are being gouged right across the state with things like tax grabs and price hikes. Labor promised more homes, but we heard today that barely a single slab has been laid. That is why South Australians are working harder than ever, but, unfortunately, they are getting less and less in return. That is why a Liberal alternative offers something Labor cannot: a real plan to offer a better future for South Australians.

Under Labor, despite their ironclad promise to fix ramping, sick patients have spent over 164,000 hours stuck on the ramp. This is more than double the entirety of the former Liberal government. More ramping, families are waiting, and paramedics are exhausted. If you cannot fix the basics, you cannot run a government. We are not offering empty criticism, we are offering solutions. Just this week, we announced some of these. Let's go through some of the announcements.

We said that we would abolish Labor's GP payroll tax break, making it easier to see your GP. We will fund an after-hours GP access trial. We will deliver $72 million in retention and re-entry bonuses for nurses and midwives, the people who keep our hospitals going. We will roll out a $90 million nurse and midwife scholarship program, attracting that next generation in the pipeline for our healthcare system. What does Labor do, sir? They throw money at headlines. We will return respect to taxpayers' money, and we will actually invest in the people who matter. That is how you build not only a bigger healthcare system—and the member for Florey laughs—but a better healthcare system.

Let's be honest, life is getting harder in South Australia under Labor. The stats show we now have the poorest households in the nation. Our economy has gone backwards per person for two years. Despite a housing crisis, Labor continues to rake in record stamp duty revenue while frontline services blew their budgets by the exact amount. A new Liberal government will restore accountability. We will restore hard work and the South Australian dream.

We have got a plan to abolish stamp duty entirely by 2041, with reductions starting in the first term. We will cut government waste, including halving Labor's ad spend. We will lift the payroll tax threshold from $1.5 million to $2.1 million. We will exempt apprentices and trainees from payroll tax, boosting local skills and local jobs because without apprentices and training you cannot build homes, you cannot build tunnels and everything else. Governments should be an enabler for business—we understand that—not a roadblock.

Under Labor, business confidence in SA has consistently ranked among the weakest in the nation. Under the Liberals, we will bring investment back to South Australia. When it comes to energy, what has Labor promised? They promised a hydrogen plant. How did that go? Five hundred million dollars down the drain and not one single watt produced. What an unbelievable lie they have told the people of South Australia. A new Liberal government will keep the lights on. We will put downward pressure on power bills. We have already said how we are going to do it.

We will reinstate the home battery scheme. We have said that we will keep Torrens Island B open until replacement generation is ready. We will not rush to just renewables, like Labor are, while the people of South Australia pay. We will back new gas-fired generation, whether it is public or whether it is private, and we will investigate carbon capture in the Upper Spencer Gulf too. We will reduce the cost of living, and we will build more homes.

The stats show that Adelaide is now the sixth least affordable city in the world. How can the government pat its back over that? It is the least affordable capital to rent in the nation—what an embarrassment—and the second least affordable to buy. We know stamp duty on the median home has jumped by more than $12,000 under this government. We will cut red tape, we will open land, we will back modern methods of construction, we will expand apprenticeships, and we will deliver the homes that our state desperately needs.

The people of South Australia cannot afford four more years of Labor government that is heavy on headlines and low on delivery. But we can choose a government focused on the basics, getting the basics right: health, housing, safety, affordability and economic strength. We need a government that backs hardworking South Australians. We need a government that builds, not just broadcasts. We need a government that delivers, and that is exactly what a new Liberal government will do.