State Major Bank Levy

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (14:20): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Employment a question about the state bank tax.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Yesterday, I asked the minister a question and a few supplementaries about the state bank tax and whether it would hurt jobs growth, business investment and South Australia's reputation. The minister clearly is at odds with hundreds of industry groups, small and large, and medium size businesses and employees who believe that this tax will be a disaster for South Australia. My question for the minister is: would he like to elaborate on his reasons about why he is correct about those matters and all of those employees and organisations are wrong?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:21): I thank the honourable member for her question very, very much. This is something that we hope they keep raising and keep talking about in the months leading up to March next year. We welcome it very much and I personally welcome this questioning in question time this week.

The facts of the matter are, as we went through yesterday, the big banks made more than $30 billion in profits last year. The federal government estimates that they are undertaxed to the tune of $4 billion. So, it is quite clearly established that this is a levy that they can afford to pay and the money that is being raised by this levy is being put into things that will create jobs in South Australia, like the $200 million Future Jobs Fund. It is that simple.