Land Tax

The Hon. C. BONAROS (15:17): My question is to the Treasurer in relation to land tax. Does the government support the proposal for a joint parliamentary inquiry to forensically examine its land tax reforms, especially given the lack of public confidence in your department following its massively flawed revenue projections?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:17): I have indicated publicly, no, we don't, and I am available every sitting day to answer questions in this chamber as, indeed, the Premier is elsewhere. I must say, the individual commentators have been commenting for 12 weeks and will now comment on the draft bill for the next four weeks. There is nothing that prevents the stakeholder groups making submissions and speaking to the Labor Party and crossbenchers. I am available to answer questions in relation to—on a daily basis—the government's package and response.

Ultimately, what this chamber has to decide is does it want to use the device of a parliamentary committee, for however long that would go, to stop 92 per cent of individuals being able to receive the benefit of a tax cut in July next year and 75 per cent of company groups not getting a tax cut in July of next year because the parliament, either through defeating the bill or through delaying the bill or through instituting a parliamentary inquiry, prevents those benefits for the vast majority of land tax payers in South Australia flowing through?

It is a $70million cut in land tax collections starting on 1 July next year, but at the same time introducing a fairer and more equitable system so that people who have $3 million or $4 million in property can't continue to not pay a single dollar in land tax. From the government's viewpoint, that is a comprehensive reform which should be instituted by 1 July. We have indicated we don't support a joint parliamentary inquiry, and we won't.