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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-11-11 Daily Xml
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Water Infrastructure

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (14:44): My question is to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer please inform the house of the budget impact of alternative approaches to fund water infrastructure?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:44): I thank the member for Elder for her question. Elections matter and so do budgets and they have real and lasting impacts on the people of South Australia in our everyday lives. As I get into the detail here, I think the house will be shocked and horrified. Responsible budget management is a thoughtful decision-making process and governments should be well warned to make sure they have thoughtful budget considerations; however, those members opposite are racking up quite the bill. Commitments to date—

Mr Telfer interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Flinders can leave the chamber until the end of question time.

The honourable member for Flinders having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Commitments to date: $3.7 billion—$3.7 billion. What? The Leader of the Opposition is confused and the look on his face says 'what'. Let's just take one sentence out of a press release by the Leader of the Opposition and the Hon. Heidi Girolamo in May. It states that an incoming Tarzia government would 'immediately reverse the water price bill hike of 3.5 per cent above CPI'. This sentence alone is half a billion dollars across the forward estimates—half a billion dollars across the forward estimates.

How is it going to be funded? I haven't spoken yet of the reckless cuts to stamp duty of either $1.6 billion or $2.3 billion, depending on whom you speak to in the opposition. How are they going to fund this? That is half a billion dollars in one sentence in a press release. They will plunge the government into deficit. That is what South Australians can expect if the Leader of the Opposition becomes Premier. This is not just an accounting figure on a balance sheet; this is a real and lasting impact on South Australians' budget, our capacity to invest in infrastructure and, ultimately, on our services that South Australians rely on. That is funding for schools, hospitals and roads gone in one sentence. That is how reckless they are. This would leave a significant hole in the budget, but to date there has been no alternative revenue-raising policies announced by the opposition to fill this gap.

We have seen this play before. When Dominic Perrottet announced he was cutting stamp duty on all houses, what did he replace it with? A broad-based land tax. When the ACT government announced they were cutting stamp duty on houses, what did they replace it with? A broad-based land tax. When members opposite announced they were abolishing stamp duty, what's next? We know what's next. They have legacy on land tax.

Mr TEAGUE: Point of order: standing order 98(a). The Treasurer has gone from responding, arguably, to the broadest of questions to now speculating about the entirety of the unknown, which is debate and impermissible, contrary to standing order 98(a).

The SPEAKER: I will listen carefully to the remainder of the answer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: By the time I am finished, everyone is going to be talking about the potential broad-based land tax the Liberals might have to impose to replace $1.6 billion or $2.3 billion of annual funding to the budget. Under either measure, it is either 25 per cent or 33 per cent of the budget of revenue we raise. Everywhere else it has been done in Australia, they have replaced it with a broad-based land tax. Members opposite have form on land tax. They have form on land tax. They have done it before and I suspect they will do it again. You can't trust them on land tax. They have gone after family homes, they have gone after family trusts and now they are going after the principal place of residence.

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