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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-05-18 Daily Xml
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Federal Election

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:26): I rise today to talk about the upcoming federal election, as I do not believe I will get another opportunity to do so in this place before then. This election is an important one for the medium-term direction of the country and South Australia in particular. It would be no surprise that I am advocating for the re-election of the Coalition government, and so I ask South Australians to support their local Liberal candidate.

It is only the incumbent Coalition government that has a proven record and a sustainable plan for the future. The recent budget demonstrated that the current state of the deficit is such that there cannot be any new spending and in fact that current spending must be reprioritised to best serve the Australian Commonwealth in terms of economic growth and the wellness and prosperity of its citizenry.

I would argue that this budget is more than fair in that it could have gone much further to rein in government spending in order to facilitate deeper and more immediate cuts to both company and personal tax. These two taxes and their related cousin, capital gains tax, are a collective handbrake on economic growth and investment. Both philosophically and economically, they are bad taxes. The honourable the Treasurer of the commonwealth has laid out a clear path to the lowering of certain taxes and it is gradual, which is wise. This allows individuals and companies time to adjust to the new regime without drastic change from year to year. Also, more importantly, there is not a drastic reduction in the current offering of services.

To conclude commentary on the budget, I have to say that it is a reasonable one, particularly for an election year. Sadly, the commonwealth did inherit the massive debt and deficit from the Rudd-Gillard Labor years, and seemingly the only way to curb that without massive disruptions to government services and administration is for taxes to largely remain steady.

Shifting to the election battle here in South Australia, there is a clear choice. The Liberal Party has delivered on the submarine build as well as future frigates and other associated projects, and there has been significant investment in infrastructure in this state, including the Torrens Road to River Torrens project and the Darlington interchange. Both are part of the wider north-south corridor upgrade. It must be stressed that these projects have had majority commonwealth funding and would not have happened if it were not for the Coalition government.

There has been the additional spending commitment on the extension to the Tonsley line to Flinders University. Of course, this state lacks basic public transport infrastructure after years of neglect by Labor. It is something which if done decades ago could actually have fed into the Weatherill Labor government's carbon neutral city agenda, but of course they are far too short-sighted to recognise that.

In addition to the good work that the commonwealth Coalition government is doing, we also have very capable and worthy candidates running in all seats. There are proven incumbents whose records speak for themselves, and I encourage all electors in the seats of Barker, Grey, Hindmarsh, Sturt and Mayo to support the MPs who have done outstanding jobs in representing their constituencies. I do want to encourage the support of candidates in the divisions of Kingston and Port Adelaide.

I will lend my final words to a personal endorsement of the candidates for Boothby, Wakefield and the federal seat of Adelaide. I commend Dr Andrew Southcott for his 20 years of service to the commonwealth parliament and to the electors of Boothby. It is imperative for the future of that region of Adelaide that the seat remains as part of the government. In supporting Ms Nicolle Flint not only will the good people of Boothby ensure that vital infrastructure projects are completed in their area but they also gain a visible, hardworking member who will do her utmost to ensure the concerns of her constituents are heard in Canberra.

Ms Kathleen Bourne is a passionate and committed small businesswoman and a Wakefield local. Wakefield is an eclectic mix of suburban, rural, industrial and commercial zoning. Ms Bourne has a perfect array of attributes and expertise to serve that electorate well. Mr David Colovic is an extremely personable, competent and capable candidate and will make an excellent member of parliament in the federal seat of Adelaide.

In closing, I would just like to say there has never been a more exciting time to be an Australian voter.

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