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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-07-04 Daily Xml
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Question Time

State Major Bank Levy

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:30): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Employment a question about the state bank tax.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: The Labor government has slugged South Australians with another $370 million tax at a time when we have the highest electricity prices in the country, the highest unemployment in the country for the last 30 months and when people are still grappling with a $360 million increase of the emergency services levy imposed by this government. No-one, not even this government, believes this tax will create one new job—not one. My question to the minister is: does the minister believe the state bank tax will create any jobs for South Australians and, if so, how many?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:31): I thank the honourable member for his question in regard to the bank levy that was part of the budget measures announced in the recent budget. One of the programs that has been operating since a year ago, since the last state budget, is the $109 million Job Accelerator program that I think has ticked just over 10,000 applicants for that program. That's 10,000 jobs that may not have been there without that. That is a $109 million program.

In this budget, there was also a $200 million Future Jobs Fund announced that will provide many, many more jobs. With $109 million from a year ago, 10,000 more jobs and a new $200 million Future Jobs Fund—that's applications, not just inquiries—this is a very significant difference between us and the Liberal Party. We are proposing to put a levy of less than one-third of 1 per cent on the super profits that the big banks make. According to the commonwealth—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: No prompts, by the way, the Hon. Ms Lensink. He hasn't finished his—

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: And I haven't finished—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: No, sit down—

The Hon. P. Malinauskas interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Will the honourable Minister for Police please desist. The Leader of the Government is trying to answer a very important question. It would be respectful of the opposition to allow him to do it without an interjection. Minister.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: According to the commonwealth, the big banks are undertaxed to the tune of $4 billion. This is what we are told by the Liberal federal government. An imposition of a levy of less than one-third of 1 per cent on the $30 billion of profits that the big banks make is a fair and just measure for South Australia to have programs that provide jobs in South Australia. We saw, when this was announced, the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Dunstan, come out immediately and say, 'We're not sure about this, but we certainly won't be blocking the measure in parliament.' He then rolled over a little bit and said, 'Oh, I don't know about it.' He has had about six different positions on this in the space of a couple of weeks.

He doesn't know what he's doing. Apparently, according to reports, he has capitulated entirely to pressure from the conservative side of the Liberal Party in South Australia, and that's why the Hon. David Ridgway is laughing now. He is laughing because he rolled his leader. The conservatives put pressure on and forced the Leader of the Opposition here to do the hypocritical and cowardly thing and support big banks.

We saw the Leader of the Opposition, 'No, no, no, we won't vote against this.' He was hauled in to see the big banks in meetings. He stepped out of meetings with the top end of town, and all of a sudden, it was, 'No, I won't be supporting this, and I've been rolled, and we're going to vote against it.' He was rolled, and he is going to vote against it. I can tell you what: on a public debate between sticking up for the top end of town—sticking up for your mates in the Adelaide Club—or sticking up for small businesses in South Australia, I know which side of the argument I would want to be on, Mr President.

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