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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-08-20 Daily Xml
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Algal Bloom

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:19): My question is to the Premier. What does the Premier say to small business owner Mostyn Brown? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: Mr Brown owns the Gotcha Fishing Tackle store in St Morris and, despite his business being on the brink of collapse due to the algal bloom, he does not qualify for government assistance. In a letter to the Premier and the member for Dunstan he said, and I quote:

I have been borrowing heavily against my home loans and have gone into overdraft on the portfolio account heavily. Can't sustain this for much longer, will be forced to sell my home soon and that will put my family out on the streets, homeless.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:20): I received—when I say 'I', my office received—correspondence, along with the Leader of the Opposition, from the businessman late yesterday afternoon. Within moments of the receipt of that email, my senior policy adviser, who is working for me in respect of engagement with business around the support grants, called the gentleman to which the Leader of the Opposition referred, and got to understand his circumstances. He had not actually made an application.

My advice is he had not yet made an application for the grants. When we tried to understand why that was the case, the gentleman explained, I understand, that in his judgement he might fall just outside of the 30 per cent downturn criteria. Our advice to him is to apply for the grant, because there have been a number of instances where the government has exercised its discretion in conjunction with the Treasurer, and we are erring on the side of being as flexible as possible to provide support to those who need it.

I think it goes without saying—and I would have thought the leader of a Liberal Party would also share the view—that where we are expending taxpayers' money to private enterprise and businesses, we are providing that support to those who can demonstrate the need. We believe that a 30 per cent downturn in trade represents an appropriate level. If you haven't experienced a downturn in trade, then clearly it wouldn't necessitate a government subsidy or payment.

I note that the 30 per cent downturn in trade is a far more generous proposition than some of the business support grants that were applied during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was a 50  per cent downturn. We have gone for the 30 per cent downturn threshold. So we believe that's an appropriate setting. This is a government that is sincere about supporting those businesses that are affected.

But do you know what's interesting? And this is really important, and I invite all members to consider this. I have spoken to a lot of these businesses—a lot of them—and the one thing that has been consistent has been their desire not for government grants, although they need them and appreciate them, but their desire for customers. I don't know a business owner in this state who won't always put an emphasis on their ability to have customers over government support and subsidies, and we want to support them with both.

We want to support them with government support and subsidies to get them through this period, but we also want to make sure that they have customers, which is why on this side of the house we are not engaging in fearmongering, which is why on this side of the house we are out there delivering information, which is why on this side of the house we don't—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Which is why on this side of the house we will cook fish in white T-shirts if we think it's going to support the industry, which is why on this side of the house we are not going to run down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories and ask questions in the other place to try to keep that bubbling along. It's why on this side of the house we will engage with industry and say, 'How can we help you?' and make it happen. It's why we are not talking about people not being able to walk on the beach when they can, it's about making sure that we are not out there sending a signal that you can't go to Eyre Peninsula or the west coast of Yorke Peninsula when it's perfectly safe to do so.

On this side of the house, we are clear-eyed focused on the facts, providing the support where it's necessary, not engaging in politicking or fearmongering—just engaging in helping those people who need it, investing in the environment where we can and making sure that, whatever happens, every South Australian knows that this government stands with them in their genuine time of need.

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