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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-10-28 Daily Xml
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Small Business Start-Ups

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:52): Supplementary, sir: can the Treasurer outline to the house why, after 14 years of Labor administration and all the programs that he has outlined today in the house, South Australia has the lowest rate of business start-ups on mainland Australia?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Small Business) (14:52): I dispute those figures, and I would be interested to see the ABS stats to that because that is not my understanding. But I know that yesterday the deputy leader moved a privileges motion; the Speaker made some statements about it applying both to the opposition and the government. The Leader of the Opposition just stated in the house that he claims South Australia had the lowest rate of start-ups in the federation.

Mr Marshall: No, that's not what I said.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Oh, it's not what he said now; it's changed. It just changed—like he supports cycling laws but doesn't support cycling laws, and supports cyclists but doesn't support cyclists—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley is on his last warning.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Well, we shall see, Mr Speaker. We will go away and check the Leader of the Opposition's assertions and we will find out. I notice—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —he is the one who has gone white now. He is the one who has gone white. We are working through the budget process, reforming our state, reforming our taxes, lowering taxation. But, Mr Speaker, don't believe me, believe the new federal Treasurer, Scott Morrison. The first statement he made as our commonwealth Treasurer in this state was to congratulate the state government on our tax reform package. That goes to show the level of commitment to bipartisanship that the new Turnbull government has with the Weatherill government, while members opposite are stuck behind in the Abbott doctrine of divisiveness, opposing and just being negative about South Australia.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Those who take points of order against ministers who are debating should come to the point of order with clean hands.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Mr Speaker, I was not debating; the Treasurer was.

The SPEAKER: There was a torrent of interjections from the opposition, interjecting and interrupting the Treasurer and, like an AFL umpire, I decided to let it play.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Mr Speaker, we were only trying to get the Treasurer back to the substance of the question.

The SPEAKER: Yes, thank you very much for your help. Treasurer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I see you're not wearing a fluorescent top anymore, sir. That's very impressive. Gone back to the whites—very good.

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer is warned.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I reject the assertion of the Leader of the Opposition. This state is doing all it can to lower business costs, whether it is through WorkCover or our tax system. We are trying to reduce red tape and we are working collaboratively with councils to do all we can, and of course we are also working with the commonwealth government. I would much rather constructive ideas from the opposition than the Abbott doctrine of just opposing everything. Perhaps they should embrace Prime Minister Turnbull's newfound optimism for this country and this state rather than Mr Abbott's negativism.

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