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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-11-13 Daily Xml
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Motor Vehicle Registration

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson) (15:25): Yesterday in this place, I asked the Premier some questions about the removal of the concession for vehicle registrations on Kangaroo Island, and I did not receive any answers. I want to put on the record the dismay, the disbelief and the disgust of the people of Kangaroo Island about this move, which will see their vehicle registration costs double.

This is a very red-hot issue on the island. Just last Saturday week I was at the Kingscote show and we had more than 400 people sign our petition to have that concession reinstated in the next budget. At this year's budget, the concession was cut in half and the plan is, from 1 July next year, for it to be totally abolished. This is having a really big impact on people already and it will obviously have a further impact if it is allowed to happen.

The island community is calling on the government to reverse this move and to reinstate the concession to 50 per cent next year. People on Kangaroo Island are already faced with much higher cost pressures than other people in South Australia. Fuel is pretty much always more expensive than you pay in most parts of South Australia, and you also have the additional freight costs.

I want to thank all the businesses on the island who have a petition that I have had drawn up, the one that we had at the Kingscote show and we will have at the Parndana show this Saturday. I want to thank the businesses, including Davo's Deli and the general store out at Parndana; Roger's Deli, the Ozone Hotel and the other businesses in Kingscote; the American River post office and general store; and the IGA, the Penneshaw Hotel and the service station in Penneshaw. This is not a Labor versus Liberal thing, this is a Kangaroo Island versus dumb idea thing. All the people on Kangaroo Island pretty much are against the removal of this concession.

I have a letter here from Kangaroo Island Freight Services. Mike Smith is a very hardworking businessman on the island who has done a great job over many years getting freight on and off the island. I spoke to him at the show and again earlier today. Mike told me that a trailer he has might only do 20,000 kilometres per year, but he has to have all the different sorts of trailers and combinations, including refrigerated trailers, tray trailers and everything else. His trailers might only do 20,000 kilometres per year, while someone who has a trailer registered in another part of South Australia could be doing around 280,000 kilometres per year.

Mike Smith of Kangaroo Island Freight Service wrote to the Deputy Premier back in June. Firstly, he pointed out that fuel on Saturday was $1.68.9 on the island, and it was $1.17.9 in Adelaide. There is normally a 30¢ per litre price difference, with the people on the island paying more. He says:

Because we live on an Island and are limited by the number of boats running, we can only get one trip per vehicle off the island per day.

Our capital expenditure costs are far greater per kilometre than our mainland based operators.

We have to have multiple trailers per prime mover to cover our shipping requirements. You can appreciate we are paying Registration on these vehicles whilst they are sitting in our yard or at the wharf and not moving (and not causing any wear and tear on the road networks.)

In our busy time we register 7 prime movers 27 trailers and numerous Utes, forklifts and a car with an estimated $50-$60,000 increase in registration costs when this concession is abolished.

You can see that a $50,000 to 60,000 increase in the cost of registration for just one freight business is going to have to be passed on to the people on Kangaroo Island. They are going to get hit with a double registration. The council has many vehicles as well, so their registration costs are going to go up, which has to be passed on or absorbed somehow, and of course freight costs go up.

I could not get any answers from the Premier yesterday. Mr Smith wrote to the Deputy Premier over four months ago and still has not had a response. Please, government of South Australia, I implore you on behalf of all the great people on Kangaroo Island to address this issue and reinstate the concession.

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