Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I rise to speak on a matter of extraordinary concern to many of my fellow citizens in South Australia, and that is the extraordinary increase in the emergency services levy that came out in the South Australian state budget. By way of background, in 1999 the South Australian Liberal government introduced a levy specifically to replace an insurance premium levy with a broader emergency services levy to cover the cost of looking after the issues of our emergency services. When they introduced the levy, they made a decision that they would exempt a large number of organisations from the full impact of that levy, recognising the contribution that they made.

In the 2014-15 budget, the government sought to remove the remission of this levy from a number of properties, except for the principal place of residence for pensioners and concession card holders. At the time they introduced this particular piece of legislation they forgot to realise that people who lived in retirement villages were not actually property owners and would be exposed to the removal of the remission of the emergency services levy. I am pleased to say that they have seen the error of their ways subsequently. It probably just goes to show how ill-informed this particular levy was. They subsequently tried to find blame for the change in the levy structure that was specifically for assisting emergency services personnel and operations in South Australia.

I thought it would be interesting to put on the record that, in 2010, the Henry tax review came out and said that a land tax on the family home as part of state taxation reform was a good idea. At the time, the then Treasurer, Kevin Foley, made this comment:

A broad-based land tax would be a punitive tax on families and households and won’t be supported by this government … we have no intention of adopting any of the land tax recommendations in the report.

A broad-based land tax, be it on commercial or industrial, will be levying taxes on people who have not previously paid them and we don’t think that’s the right way to go forward.

That is really quite interesting, given that the government that he is part of and is now in government has chosen to do exactly the opposite. You would be excused for being a little confused because the now Treasurer in South Australia, Tom Koutsantonis, on ABC morning radio the other day, when questioned about whether a tax on a $400,000 property would increase by 163 three per cent, said no, it would not increase by 163 per cent, but his very own Treasury figures, as are witnessed by his Treasury document, show that if you have a property with a capital value of $400,000 you will indeed have an increase in your emergency services levy by 163 per cent.

Probably the most concerning of the impacts that this proposed increase in the emergency services levy has had in South Australia was shown very recently when there were two grassfires on the west coast, at a place near Ceduna. The CFS volunteers for the first time in history that I can remember refused to attend those fires. They had a reason for refusing to attend those fires. Since they have to pay this extraordinary increase in their emergency services levy—and some of them are paying 400, 500, 800 or 1,500 times as much as they paid last year for their emergency services levy—they said, 'Why would we go and fight a bushfire if they are collecting that much money to assist us in our emergency services activities? Why wouldn't the government be able to afford to pay full tote odds for every person who turns up to a fire? They don't need to worry about volunteers anymore because the government is taking this much money.' Farmers and business people cannot afford to let their employees go to fight these fires on a voluntary basis and accept the responsibility of continuing to pay these employees if they have to pay the exorbitant emergency service levy costs. It is an absolute disgrace and the South Australian government should be condemned for what they have done.