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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-10-18 Daily Xml
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STATE TAXES

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (16:18): My question is also for the Treasurer.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister for Transport, behave!

Mrs REDMOND: Given that South Australia has the worst unemployment rate, the worst building approvals figures, the worst housing finance figures and the worst business confidence in the nation, why, after 10 years of Labor, does South Australia have the highest taxes in the nation?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mrs REDMOND: The Commonwealth Grants Commission, the Institute of Public Affairs and Pitcher Partners all independently confirm that this state has the highest taxes in this nation.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Treasurer, Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education, Minister for Workers Rehabilitation) (16:18): I have been wondering where it is all going to. I have been wondering: the crescendo, the question that was going to blow us all away.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: I was thinking there must be a trick in there somewhere.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I rise on a point of order. Interjecting is out of order and I would ask you to draw these people to some order.

Mr PISONI: I rise on a point of order. Responding to interjections is out of order.

The SPEAKER: Order! Thank you very much for your opinion.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! We have 22 minutes left of question time. I will call it to a close if we don't get some order. It is going to be a long week.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: The simple fact is that this government has made enormous steps to reduce the tax burden facing South Australians, and we have provided tax relief in payroll tax and in land tax, amounting to some billions of dollars. I haven't got the exact figure; it doesn't come to mind. We have given substantial tax relief. Of course, there is more work to be done, and of course as the circumstances permit—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: —tax reform is something which is high on my mind, and how we might continue to make South Australia a good place to live and a good place to do business—very high on my mind, indeed. But we should not ignore the fact that this government has already provided many hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars worth of tax relief over its time in office, particularly in the area of land tax and in the area of payroll tax. The fact is that South Australia also has the highest number of nurses per head of population in the country—

An honourable member: What's that got to do with taxes?

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: We have the highest number of police per head of any of the states—on many of the services we provide, a much higher service level—and South Australians expect a much higher level of service than Australians do in other parts of Australia. If the opposition has plans or suggestions to make about taxes that they would like to reduce or abolish, I would be more than happy to have a look at those because I would also like to see how they intend—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: Madam Speaker, I can't scream over. They are quick to jump up and call a point of order on me and yet I am having to speak over a barrage of screaming from members opposite.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Bragg, you are warned for the second time.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: The simple fact is that if the opposition think that there is capacity in the budget to provide further tax relief then I would be more than happy for them to be honest with the South Australian people and say what services they are going to cut, which hospitals they are going to close, which schools they are going to close, how many teachers, doctors, nurses and police they are going to sack in order to pay for tax cuts because believe me, at this stage, for anything other than incremental tax reform, that is exactly what it would involve.

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