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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-03-18 Daily Xml
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Economic and Finance Committee: Emergency Service Levy 2020-21

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (11:25): I move:

That the seventh report of the committee, entitled Emergency Services Levy 2020-21, be noted.

Mr Speaker, the Economic and Finance Committee has an annual statutory duty, as you are well aware, to inquire into, consider and report on the Treasurer's determinations in relation to the emergency services levy. The committee has 21 days in which to report on the written determinations after it has been referred to the committee.

This year, the committee received the Treasurer's statement on 29 May. The Emergency Services Funding Act requires the statement to include determinations in respect of the amount that needs to be raised by means of the levy to fund emergency services, the amounts to be expended for various kinds of emergency services and the extent to which various parts of the state will benefit from the application of that amount. So we are clear on the services funded by the ESL, the definition given to 'emergency service' in the act means a service provided by:

the South Australian Country Fire Service;

the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service;

the South Australian State Emergency Service;

Surf Life Saving South Australia;

Volunteer Marine Rescue SA; or

a service provided by South Australia Police that relates to, assists with or is incidental to those organisations that I just listed.

On 10 June, the Economic and Finance Committee held a public hearing and invited representatives from the Department of Treasury and Finance as well as SAFECOM, the MFS, the CFS and the SES. The witnesses provided the committee with details on the proposed levy expenditure for the 2020-21 year, and on 18 June the committee tabled its report to meet the 21-day requirement.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the tremendous work our volunteer and paid emergency services responders do, the community relies upon and for which we are all in this place extremely grateful. I would particularly like to thank our emergency services for their work, their guidance and their leadership over the previous summer, with the significant bushfires in the Adelaide Hills, on Kangaroo Island and other significant fires that occurred across our state.

In light of that, the committee notes that the total expenditure on emergency services for the 2019-20 financial year is estimated to reach $346.2 million, which is higher than the $326 million that was originally projected, principally reflecting the additional expenditure on bushfire response costs. The committee notes that the total expenditure on emergency services is projected to be $340.6 million in the 2021-21 financial year, funded in part by a $157.1 million component through fixed property ESL payments on private land net of government-funded remissions. It is very important again to emphasise that that is net of government-funded remissions.

This target expenditure is $5.6 million lower than the 2019-20 estimated outcome. Expenditure in 2020-21 incorporates funding for new initiatives, including $2.5 million for South Australia's contribution to the upgrade of the national emergency warning infrastructure; $2 million towards the new urban Metropolitan Fire Service appliances; $1.4 million for the implementation of an automatic vehicle location (AVL) system for tracking emergency services vehicles, something we have heard a lot about in this house over the previous months; an additional $1.2 million of funding coming from sources outside of the ESL; $1.3 million for retrofitting CFS vehicles with fire protection safety systems; and $1 million for new Country Fire Service heavy fire tankers. This excludes the cost of election commitments, which further increases emergency services expenditure. These costs will be funded outside the rate-setting process to remove any impact on the ESL levy or bills for South Australians.

The committee notes that the remissions for general property, which were introduced in 2018-19 by this government, returning money to the hip pockets of South Australians, will continue in 2020-21, effectively reducing ESL bills paid by property owners. These remissions will reduce ESL bills by $90 million, consistent with the government's election commitment prior to the 2018 state election.

The committee notes the government will pay $130.2 million into the Community Emergency Services Fund in 2020-21, reflecting amounts equivalent to fixed property revenues forgone through remissions and pensioner concessions in addition to the contributions on its own properties. The committee also notes cash balances in the Community Emergency Services Fund are expected to be $10.3 million by year end 30 June 2020.

The committee has fulfilled its obligations under the Emergency Services Funding Act 1998. I take this opportunity to thank the current members of the Economic and Finance Committee, the departmental representatives from Treasury and Finance, the Chief Executive of SAFECOM and the chief officers of the MFS, the CFS and the SES, who assisted the committee in reporting on the Treasurer's determinations for the 2020-21 emergency services levy. Can I also, on behalf of the committee, extend our thanks to our committee secretariat, Mr Adam Marafioti and Ms Jo Hocking, for their continued good work and preparation of this report, amongst their other duties.

Again, as outlined in the report, this government has delivered and continues to deliver on one of our key election commitments and policies in line with our view to create more jobs, lower costs and better services South Australia. This government has delivered lower emergency services levy bills. It has reduced payroll tax, reduced land tax, provided energy price reductions and water price reductions, fixed the rort of the previous government that overvalued our water assets to drive up the cost of water prices for all South Australians.

There will be a stark contrast come the 2022 election: a government over the last four years that has gone out of its way to reduce cost of living for South Australians versus the record of the previous government over their time in government. It is something that we stand behind, something that we are very proud of. In the absence of the remission returned by this government to the emergency services levy, everyday South Australians would be paying higher bills because of that policy; because of this government they are not.

Motion carried.

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