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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-05-13 Daily Xml
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Council Rate Concessions

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL (14:42): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, representing the Treasurer, on the subject of pensioner council rate concessions.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL: On 18 January 2012, the then treasurer Jack Snelling met with the president of the Local Government Association. On the agenda was the issue of state funding for council rate concessions for pensioners. In particular, the councils wanted the $190 payment indexed because it had not been increased in 11 years, and I note that it still hasn't changed for 14 years.

As is normal in these situations, a briefing note from the Treasury Department was provided to the Treasurer. Part of the briefing note was to respond to a review of concessions undertaken on behalf of the LGA by the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies. That review recommended an increase in concessions for pensioners on their council rates. In that briefing note, which I point out I obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, there are a number of statements that make it pretty clear that the view of Treasury was that the state government should not be paying anything towards pensioner rate concessions. To quote the briefing note:

The need for State Government to provide a concession on Council rates is questionable.

The briefing goes on to advocate that local councils should be providing the concession payments themselves because they are the ones who set the rates. Today the Local Government Association in its response to the federal government said:

…no reinstatement of Federal funding for concessions to the State now meant the question of Council rates concessions lay totally with the South Australia Parliament.

My questions of the minister are:

1. Was it always the government's intention to abandon council rate concessions for pensioners, even before the commonwealth government made its mean-spirited decision last year to cut funding for concession programs?

2. Will the government now reassure South Australian pensioners that the state government-funded council rate concession will remain past 1 July 2015?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:44): I thank the honourable member for his most important questions and will refer those to the Treasurer in another place and bring back a response. I have to say, it was a very sad and sorry day to see this latest federal Liberal budget come down, a very sad day indeed. We recall that last year's federal budget, without consultation and warning, ripped $898 million from South Australia's hospitals, schools and pensioners over a four year period.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: You've already tabled that—you don't need to read it back to us.

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: Oh, I think you need to be reminded.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Obviously they need to be reminded, because they fail to see the enormity of the damage that has been done; it was a missed opportunity. The federal Liberal government failed to overturn cuts to health—

The Hon. T.J. Stephens interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Stephens, allow the minister to answer the question in silence.

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: If she tells the truth.

The PRESIDENT: She will answer it the way she sees fit.

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: Oh, so the truth is optional?

The PRESIDENT: She is doing what she is required to do; let her do it in peace.

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: Yep, any rubbish, that's fine.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: On a point of order, Mr President: the Hon. Terry Stephens is suggesting that I am not telling the truth, which is an incredibly unprofessional thing to say. I believe I am owed an apology, and I ask him to withdraw those comments.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Stephens, the minister has a point there: it is unparliamentary to refer to someone as a liar.

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: I never suggested that.

The PRESIDENT: Well, what did you say?

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: I said she is not telling the truth.

The PRESIDENT: Well, I think it is important that, when the minister is on their feet answering a question, there are no throwaway lines from anyone about her not telling the truth. It is a very serious offence to mislead parliament. The minister is giving an answer, and I think it is totally uncalled for to indicate that the minister is not telling the truth. So, I think it is important. Minister.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: So I will remind honourable members that last year's federal budget ripped out $898 million—$898 million! I know that this makes the honourable members opposite me squirm. It makes them very uncomfortable, and you can tell by the way they squeal like stuck pigs, but that is the truth—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Minister, let's try to keep the reference—

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: It is the truth, Mr President—

The PRESIDENT: —or analogy with animals to a minimum.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —$898 million from South Australian hospitals, schools and pensioners over four years. They obviously need to be reminded of that truth, that real truth, that $898 million was ripped out of our economy by the federal Liberal government over that four-year period. What a tragic missed opportunity. We see that this budget failed to overturn cuts from health and education, failed to overturn cuts to our pensioners' concessions—$126.8 million over four years, failed to provide additional support for our automotive industry, which we know is facing significant challenges there—no further assistance. They have completely deserted South Australia and failed to guarantee the future of our submarines here.

What do we get from members opposite? Here we have this shocking lack of responsibility towards South Australia. We see the federal Liberal government flinging cash up north and to the Eastern States, but failing to consider the real and pressing needs here in South Australia. What do we hear from the South Australian Liberal Party? Nothing! Nothing at all; there is complete silence!. There is no support whatsoever for struggling South Australians, no support at all for our pensioners and their right to have concessions, none at all. We see that they have completely absolved themselves of any responsibility—

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: Heartless.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Completely heartless, and they have failed to stick up for South Australians.

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