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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-10-15 Daily Xml
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Cost of Living

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (15:00): My question is to the Treasurer. How is the Malinauskas government helping South Australians with their cost-of-living pressures and is he aware of any alternate approaches?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer, Minister for Defence and Space Industries) (15:00): I am grateful to the member for Elizabeth for that question because I know that he, like the rest of the government, is acutely aware of the cost-of-living pressures that South Australian households and businesses are under after 13 successive interest rate increases.

I am pleased to remind the house that each of our three budgets has included significant cost-of-living relief, more than $800 million of measures over three budgets to deliver significant cost-of-living relief to those people in our community who need it the most. We have increased the Cost of Living Concession, we have doubled it for tenants, and we have paid additional bonus Cost of Living Concession payments. We have provided energy rebates, school fee reductions, we have doubled the Sports Voucher scheme, and are providing free public transport for seniors. We are trying to find ways, every way we can, to provide meaningful cost-of-living relief to South Australians who need it the most. We have also, of course, maintained our commitment not to introduce new taxes or tax increases.

What doesn't help a government that is trying to ease cost-of-living pressures is when councils are jacking up council rate increases well above inflation. Would you believe, Mr Speaker, this year, City of Holdfast Bay ratepayers are being slugged a 7.1 per cent increase in their rates, a charge led by Glenelg's mayor, Amanda Wilson. Amanda Wilson is championing this increase, claiming, bogusly, that it's only a $40 increase to ratepayers when, of course, the true increase this year to ratepayers in the City of Holdfast Bay is an average $126—a huge increase in council rates.

Even worse, this is not the only time that is going to happen. Amanda Wilson, Glenelg's mayor, has made it clear that this is going to be the first big increase of three increases—three increases: year after year after year of huge increases. And the reason why? Because the City of Holdfast Bay wants ratepayers to pay for a massive upgrade of Jetty Road.

Fortunately, the local member, the member for Morphett, was quick to call out this outrageous behaviour by the City of Holdfast Bay—the outrageous behaviour by the City of Holdfast Bay. In fact, those opposite told Amanda Wilson to pull her head in. But after asking her to pull her head in, they've now got her to put her hand up—unbelievable. The former Green, as of Friday now Liberal, charging ratepayers an outrageous increase in council rates for yet another unaffordable project in the City of Holdfast Bay.

But the member for Morphett doesn't get off scot-free because we remember that, when he was mayor, he wanted to spend $40 million upgrading the jetty. He had some sort of Nucky Thompson Boardwalk Empire-type fantasy for the jetty at Glenelg. The truth is: you can't trust the Liberals on cost of living even when they were just Greens.

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