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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-11-15 Daily Xml
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State Budget

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:07): Supplementary to the Treasurer: what alternative revenue raising measures has Treasury proposed to replace the state bank levy revenue?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:07): First and foremost, we are in unprecedented waters with an opposition blocking a budget, the first time it has occurred—

Mr Marshall: We didn't block the budget.

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned.

Mr Marshall: It's just factually incorrect, sir.

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned a second and a final time.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I note that, given the budget has been blocked by the opposition in the other place because the government would not accept the suggested amendments by the opposition—

Mr PISONI: Point of order: the minister is entering debate. By saying 'because the opposition won't' is—

The SPEAKER: I don't really think that is entering debate. It is germane to the question.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: You would think they would be happy that they blocked the budget. That is what they have been celebrating with the Australian Bankers' Association.

Mr PISONI: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: If this point of order isn't valid, if it's an impromptu speech, the member for Unley will be leaving us so swiftly. Would the member for Unley like to think about his point of order because this is not a student union debate?

Mr PISONI: Sir, is not the Treasurer reflecting on a vote of the house?

The SPEAKER: No, it's a matter of common knowledge. A court could take judicial notice of it. The Treasurer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: What has occurred now is that the parliament agrees with every spending measure in the budget. They agree with every part of the budget that spends money, but what the opposition have decided is that, to support their friends in the banking industry, they will be blocking an entire budget. What we have to do is obviously fill that hole created by the opposition, and that hole is in the order of over $400 million to the state budget and that hole has to be filled by either cuts or increased revenue.

One of the revenue measures that the opposition also blocked was a measure to impose a tax on foreign investment on residential properties. There are a lot of South Australians, first-home owners, who are out there trying to buy properties who are being competed against, almost sometimes sight unseen, by foreign investors who are buying properties and pricing our young South Australians out of our homes. We wanted to introduce a brand-new levy to try to help ease that burden on first-home owners, and the opposition blocked that measure as well.

There are revenue measures that we will consider but ultimately, like the Premier said today, the major bank levy is dead. It is dead because if this parliament can't pass a levy on an organisation that makes over $30 billion in profit per year—and one of the members of the Australian Bankers' Association pays his executives in bonuses more than their entire liability for the bank levy—if they can't even support a tax, no future parliament will either. No party in this parliament has ever controlled the upper house, so the only way you can pass budget measures is with the cooperation of the opposition.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Because the South Australian opposition has decided to side with the banks, rather than maintain the conventions and precedents of this parliament, that's fundamentally changed, and that fundamentally means now that we have to reassess, and we will be doing that very, very quickly.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I do feel very sorry for those small businesses that are impacted by the decision by the opposition, those that are being offered substantial cuts to payroll tax of up to $10,000 per year. The opposition obviously decided to side with the banks over that, and that's disappointing. It just shows you again the level of how easily convinced members opposite are by the banks rather than what you thought were their core constituency: small business. It's unfortunate—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —that the opposition have not had the same enthusiastic opposition to the commonwealth government's bank levy, which the Leader of the Opposition said he also opposed yet said nothing during the May budget. Not once did he put out a public statement. When Treasurer Scott Morrison released his major bank levy, not once did the Leader of the Opposition say he opposed it until we introduced exactly the same measure, and then the Leader of the Opposition said he opposed both measures, but he kept quiet—

Ms Sanderson interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —when it was just the Liberal Party doing it. It speaks volumes about who the Leader of the Opposition is.

Mr MARSHALL: Supplementary, sir.

The SPEAKER: The member for Adelaide, I am appalled by the interjections. The leader will be seated. I call to order the members for Morialta, Elder, Schubert, Finniss, Stuart, Hammond, Adelaide, Stuart, Mitchell and the deputy leader, and I warn the members for Morialta, Schubert, Finniss, Adelaide and Stuart. I warn for the second and final time the members for Morialta, Schubert and Adelaide. Leader.

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