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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-03-13 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

REGIONAL BUSINESS

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (15:28): I rise today to speak about the growing impost on rural and regional businesses with increased licence fees and to try to explain to the government exactly what this is doing to many regional businesses.

I understand very well the government's proposition that these fees go up under the guise—the excuse, or whatever the government likes to call it—of cost recovery but, as we all know, cost recovery is a way of trying to explain under a sort of veil of economic rationalism the fact that you have to get your money back from somewhere when the Public Service is ballooning out.

What really happens is that, instead of it being a cost recovery model, it becomes a 'charge whatever you like' model because whatever they decide to do is what they are going to charge you. I have a few examples of where this is really hurting small businesses in country South Australia. These are all examples from my electorate, but there is no doubt that it would be equally true of many other electorates throughout regional South Australia.

Turning for the moment to hotel licences, the government's decision to increase hotel licence fees across the board is causing an enormous problem for the hotel industry in regional South Australia. In a very small section of the electorate of Stuart alone, I am told that very recently the Yongala Hotel closed, as have the Petina Hotel, the Appila Hotel, the Tarcowie Hotel, the Belalie Hotel, and the Georgetown Hotel. I think the Terowie Hotel has also closed, and I am told by the owners of the Caltowie Hotel that soon they may well have to shut their doors as well.

These are seven or eight hotels that have closed very quickly in a very small area, and they are all telling me that it is an increase in costs that has actually caused them to close. These are small businesses; they are not enormously profitable businesses. Their business has not declined; their gross margins have not declined. They are battling away and doing the very best they can, but they are saying that it is actually the government fees and charges that are causing them to have to shut their doors. They are very concerned that these small hotels, and many others, are paying the same sorts of fees as other hotels that have pokies. The hotels I have mentioned do not have pokies, but they have to pay the same fees as those that do and consequently have a higher and more sustainable income.

Another example is in regard to commercial tourism operators operating in national parks and conservation areas. In 2010, the fee for a commercial tourism operator in a national park was $165 a year; in 2011, it was $250 a year; and for 2012, it will be $350 a year. In three years, it has gone from $165 to $350 a year. There is no reason for these fees to go up in excess of CPI, but they can all accept that it might be sensible for their fees to have to go up a little.

We all know that there is inflation and that costs rise as every year goes by, but to have that sort of an increase is absolutely ridiculous for what are essentially very small businesses trying to make a go of it. These types of businesses are not alone: it is equally true for the motor trades. For example, service stations, convenience stores, tyre repair outlets, and mechanical workshops are under exactly the same sort of pressure.

These businesses all contribute to tourism. They all provide local employment, and for me that is one of the most important and most devastating parts of this. When these businesses close, not only do the people who have slaved away to try to make these businesses successful suffer but also, more importantly probably, so do those they employ who now cannot find employment in regional areas. Of course, there are also very important social benefits for local people who use these businesses, whether it is going to your local pub or being able to change your tyres at a local business instead of having to travel to a regional centre further away or to Adelaide.

This is really cutting the guts out of small towns throughout regional and remote South Australia. This cost recovery model is just an excuse. It is not a cost recovery model: it is an 'operate as you choose' and then charge whatever you like by calling it cost recovery model. I would like to highlight the devastating impact it is having on regional South Australia.

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