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Speaker 1: As we know times a tough cost of living is

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Speaker 1: hitting everyone. We talk about this daily on a different perspective,

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Speaker 1: whether it's a grocery basket or electricity bills. Well, the

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Speaker 1: opposition here in essay are calling on the government just

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Speaker 1: a few weeks before the budget is handed down in

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Speaker 1: early June, to freeze emergency services levy that will come

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Speaker 1: in the post soon enough, adding a little bit more pressure.

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Speaker 1: It's an annual bill and you know sits depending on

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Speaker 1: the value of your property. A couple of hundred bucks maybe,

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Speaker 1: but still every dollar at the moment seems to count.

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Speaker 1: Matt Cowdry, Shadow Treasurer, is on the line, Shadow Treasurer,

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Speaker 1: good morning, thanks for your time. You're wanting the government

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Speaker 1: to act on this, we are.

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Speaker 2: And we think this is a pretty simple call. Given

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Speaker 2: the context of the government increasing season charges last week

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Speaker 2: and in the broader context of record revenue and task collections.

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Speaker 2: It just makes sense after receiving the news a couple

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Speaker 2: of weeks ago in the federal budgets that there'll be

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Speaker 2: in addition or for thirty six million dollars coming to

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Speaker 2: state coffers on the back of increased GST returns to

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Speaker 2: the state. We think it only makes sense that if

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Speaker 2: there is going to be an increase in emergency services

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Speaker 2: spending from the ESL fund this year, that any increase

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Speaker 2: should be covered by an additional government contribution rather than

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Speaker 2: South Australian tax payers paying more.

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Speaker 1: Well, it was a Liberal government that introduced THESL back

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Speaker 1: in the Elson government days. Is it a bit rich

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Speaker 1: for you? Now the Liberal Party'll be calling on an

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Speaker 1: increase which happens every year, to be frozen.

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Speaker 2: Well, an increase doesn't happen every year, Matthew. You only

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Speaker 2: need to turn back to the last Liberal government and

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Speaker 2: the return of remissions that saw effectively three hundred and

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Speaker 2: sixty million dollars contributed by the government at that time

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Speaker 2: to bring the average ESL bill down from two hundred

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Speaker 2: and seventy two dollars which it had escalated to under

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Speaker 2: the sixteen years of labor back down to one hundred

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Speaker 2: and twenty seven dollars. So were happy to stand by

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Speaker 2: our record in terms of EESL bills to South Australians.

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Speaker 2: We are the party that chooses to reduce them where

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Speaker 2: we can. What we've seen, despite as I said, record

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Speaker 2: government revenue collections and tax collection collections over the last

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Speaker 2: couple of years. No desire by this current government to

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Speaker 2: provide reductions to South Australian families who are doing it tough.

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Speaker 2: South Australian families that we know are nearly twenty thousand

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Speaker 2: dollars worse off every year since the Labor government came

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Speaker 2: to power here in South Australia.

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Speaker 1: I think every South Australian would welcome, whether it's the

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Speaker 1: freeze on ESL or some other cost of living relief

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Speaker 1: in the upcoming budget, whatever form it takes. But if

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Speaker 1: you did this, if you froze EESL bills, and if

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Speaker 1: the government acted on your demand to do this, does

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Speaker 1: that not leave the emergency services themselves in a parlor's

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Speaker 1: position Because the money raised by this goes directly to

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Speaker 1: fund as we've heard in the past, is your side

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Speaker 1: of politics has said, as Labor has that this directly

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Speaker 1: funds the fire engines, the equipment that keeps the buildings

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Speaker 1: going and all the rest of it. So it seems

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Speaker 1: something in necessity, their costs of course have gone up

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Speaker 1: as well. Why did it impact them?

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Speaker 2: We are certainly by no means saying that the importance

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Speaker 2: of the emergency services and spending in that area has diminished.

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Speaker 2: In fact, quite the opposite. We've seen obviously floods and

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Speaker 2: fires over the last number of years that have significantly

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Speaker 2: put pressure on emergency services funding. But the government contributes

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Speaker 2: to continues to contribute to the Emergency Services Fund and

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Speaker 2: has done so for quite some time. So we're not

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Speaker 2: saying that the spend on emergency services needs to diminish.

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Speaker 2: We're simply saying that any increase that's expected should be

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Speaker 2: covered by general government revenue that's already been collected by

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Speaker 2: South Australians. We know that effectively, over the last two years,

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Speaker 2: South Australian household and family pain has been Peter Mallanowskis's game,

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Speaker 2: where we've seen nothing but significent increases across every form

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Speaker 2: of tax collection, whether that be the MQDGST, payroll tax

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Speaker 2: or other state taxes. So rather than shifting this burden

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Speaker 2: to South Australians, we think the government, given what's happened

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Speaker 2: in a context of where we are and a cost

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Speaker 2: of living crisis and record revenues, that this is the

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Speaker 2: least that the Labor government can do is to put

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Speaker 2: a freeze on ASL bills for this year.

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Speaker 1: All right, Matt Cowdery, appreciate your time.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, no problems. Welcome.

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Speaker 1: Shadow Treasurer on a call to the government to freeze

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Speaker 1: EESL bills the emergency services levy, they'll come out in

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Speaker 1: the new financial years, I said, you know, around the

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Speaker 1: one hundred two hundred dollar mark, depending on the value

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Speaker 1: of your property or properties, then you'll pay an ESL accordingly.

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Speaker 1: But to the opposition, one of the rate frozen to

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Speaker 1: what it was last year, given the cost of living

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Speaker 1: crisis that is affecting so many people right across not

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Speaker 1: only the state, but across the nation. And we've asked

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Speaker 1: the Treasurer, Stephen Mulligan to comment on that and please

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Speaker 1: to say he's available, and he's on the line, treasure of.

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Speaker 3: Good morning, Good morning, Matthew, how are you all right?

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Speaker 1: Thank you. I don't know if you're going to jump

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Speaker 1: to do this.

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Speaker 3: I've got to say, I'll welcome the Liberals belatedly coming

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Speaker 3: to the party and talking about cost of living relief,

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Speaker 3: but you know, we've got to work out what their

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Speaker 3: policy would mean to freeze an increase in an ESL bill.

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Speaker 3: Over the last five years, the annual increase in ESL

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Speaker 3: bills has been between two dollars forty for a year

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Speaker 3: to six dollars ninety five in a year. And I've

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Speaker 3: got to say, Matthew, when it comes to providing meaningful

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Speaker 3: cost of living relief, our government is a lot more

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Speaker 3: ambitious than providing households just six dollars ninety five worth

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Speaker 3: of cost saving in one year. Last year's budget, we

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Speaker 3: were delivering hundreds of dollars of relief to hundreds of

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Speaker 3: thousands of households, and I think that's the conversation that

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Speaker 3: we need to be having with the community about how

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Speaker 3: we can deliver meaningful cost of living relief that provides

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Speaker 3: a significant amount of additional funding or support to households

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Speaker 3: who need it the most, rather than calling for a

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Speaker 3: rape freeze which might deliver a few dollars over the

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Speaker 3: entire course of a year. So, you know, I guess

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Speaker 3: it's good that the opposition is talking about cost of

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Speaker 3: living relief. And we'll remember back in their time in

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Speaker 3: government in twenty nineteen, the largest increase in state government taxes,

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Speaker 3: fees and charges that we'd seen for many years. They

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Speaker 3: increased a whole raft of taxes, fees and charges to

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Speaker 3: the tune of five hundred million dollars over a four

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Speaker 3: year period. What we're interested in is cost of living relief.

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Speaker 3: We started that work in earnest in last year's budget

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Speaker 3: and as I've said on your program before, we are

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Speaker 3: really focused on making sure that we deliver substantial cost

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Speaker 3: of living relief, particularly to those households South Australia who

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Speaker 3: needed the most.

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Speaker 1: Now, you've made a pre budget announcement yesterday regarding GP

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Speaker 1: clinics and the issues they've got around payroll tax. So

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Speaker 1: talk us through that this is a permanent cut now

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Speaker 1: that will allow them to retain the model of business

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Speaker 1: they've had.

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Speaker 3: Yes, that's right, Matt here. So you might remember that

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Speaker 3: a couple of years ago there was a Supreme Court

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Speaker 3: decision in New South Wales which confirmed that GP practices

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Speaker 3: and other medical practices across the country were liable for

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Speaker 3: payroll tax, and that came as a genuine surprise to

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Speaker 3: the majority of gps here in South Australia. Some practices

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Speaker 3: here in South Australia had been registered for payroll tax

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Speaker 3: and had been paying it, but the vast majority of

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Speaker 3: practices weren't and weren't aware of their obligations. And since

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Speaker 3: then we've been working with their industry advocates, the Royal

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Speaker 3: College of General Practitioners here in South Australia and also

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Speaker 3: talking with the AMA about what them meeting their payroll

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Speaker 3: tax obligations would mean for them. Because you'd remember Matthew

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Speaker 3: and under the previous Federal coalition government the Medicare payment

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Speaker 3: that goes to GPS, which effectively funds GPS and allows

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Speaker 3: them to be paid a wage. That Medicare payment wasn't

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Speaker 3: increased for ten years, so GPS probably amongst the only

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Speaker 3: way journers that we could think of in the country.

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Speaker 3: They didn't have a pay rise for ten years. And

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Speaker 3: while it's welcome that the current federal government has tripled

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Speaker 3: the bulk building incentive to get some more money in

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Speaker 3: the pockets of GPS and make it more feasible for

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Speaker 3: them to provide bulk build services, we were all concerned

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Speaker 3: about how they were going to meet their payroll tax obligation.

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Speaker 3: So what we've agreed to do after these discussions with

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Speaker 3: the Royal College is exempt the GP wages which are

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Speaker 3: earned while they're providing bulk build services from payroll tax

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Speaker 3: and that's really welcome for them. In the last Court

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Speaker 3: seventy four percent of all consultations in GP clinics in

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Speaker 3: South Australia were bolk build. So this means that the

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Speaker 3: vast majority of gps and their consultations won't be subject

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Speaker 3: to payroll tax, and in fact it will mean that

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Speaker 3: for other gps who are only providing a small number

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Speaker 3: of bulk build services and they're charging a gap fee

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Speaker 3: for the rest of them, it's very likely we think

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Speaker 3: that they will fall under the payroll tax tax free

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Speaker 3: threshold and they won't be subject to payroll tax either.

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Speaker 3: So this is a really good outcome for general practitioners

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Speaker 3: and more importantly for their patients retaining access to bulk

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Speaker 3: build services.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely. Now, as you'd be aware too, the AMA was

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Speaker 1: calling for this to be applied across the board to

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Speaker 1: other allied health services similarly caught up unaware that their

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Speaker 1: model was going to be caught in this way. We're

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Speaker 1: talking dentists, physios and others who offer medical support services.

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Speaker 1: You're going to extend the same courtesy to.

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Speaker 3: Them, No, I'm not. And the reason why is because

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Speaker 3: it's really only GPS by and large that provide bulk

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Speaker 3: build services. You know, no out of pocket services and

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Speaker 3: I think the other medical specialists, you know, if we're

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Speaker 3: being frank, I think a lot of the other medical

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Speaker 3: specialists get paid vastly more than what GPS do. You know,

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Speaker 3: I think taxpayers would rightly ask if the government started

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Speaker 3: providing tax free status to you know, not to single

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Speaker 3: them out, but you know the orthopedic surgeons and the

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Speaker 3: anthus of the world who get paid a lot more

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Speaker 3: here in South Australia than what GPS do.

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Speaker 1: Well.

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Speaker 3: Physios also usually charge a gap fee, or they're paid

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Speaker 3: by private health insurance funts and so on, so they're

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Speaker 3: not really in the same boat as GPS. And Matthew,

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Speaker 3: I think we can agree that that gps have got

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Speaker 3: a unique role in our healthcare system. They are the

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Speaker 3: frontline service providers for all of us as patients. When

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Speaker 3: we go and want to get a service from the

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Speaker 3: healthcare system, it's the GP that we go to first,

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Speaker 3: the GPS that are often maintaining our health so we

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Speaker 3: don't get into strife and have to wind up in hospital.

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Speaker 3: And I don't think that that same argument can be

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Speaker 3: made necessarily for physios or other allied health providers to

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Speaker 3: the same extent. So that's why we've reached this arrangement

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Speaker 3: for GPS. I know that some other healthcare providers, allied

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Speaker 3: health professionals, a lot physios might be a bit disgruntled

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Speaker 3: by it, but I don't think we can argue with

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Speaker 3: the critical and unique role the GPS play in our community.

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Speaker 1: All right, And just finally, there's a lot of work

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Speaker 1: on the budget being done at the moment, and as

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Speaker 1: you've been saying, cost of living is going to be

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Speaker 1: your number one priority.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. I think you know, cost of the

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Speaker 3: pressures haven't eased up for South Australians, let alone other

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Speaker 3: Australians around the country. It's really welcome that inflation's coming down,

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Speaker 3: but in reality, Matthew, what that means is that things

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Speaker 3: are still getting a more extent. They're just getting more

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Speaker 3: expensive a little more slowly. But the impact on household budget,

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Speaker 3: the impact on families still remains difficult. And I guess

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Speaker 3: one of the reasons why I've been a bit critical

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Speaker 3: of what the opposition has suggested today by freezing ESL

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Speaker 3: bills is that it's not meaningful relief. I mean, last

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Speaker 3: year ESL bills for the average valued household went up

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Speaker 3: by six dollars ninety five and you've got to be

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Speaker 3: a pretty good shopper to find a loaf of bread

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Speaker 3: and two letters of milk for six ninety five. And

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Speaker 3: if that's the extent of cost of living relief that

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Speaker 3: they're calling for for South Australian families for an entire

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Speaker 3: financial year, I think our government's view is that we

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Speaker 3: can do much better than that.

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Speaker 1: You'd welcome then the default market offer announced today the

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Speaker 1: Australian Energy Regulator here in s I don't know if

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Speaker 1: you've had time to catch up with this, actually it's

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Speaker 1: just come out, but the default market offer is going

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Speaker 1: to be a lower here in South Australia, twenty one

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Speaker 1: percent down and that's reflected and about in real time

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Speaker 1: there's about one hundred and fifty dollars for people on

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Speaker 1: that DMO. So positive news.

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Speaker 3: Well, that is very positive news. No, I hadn't caught

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Speaker 3: up with that. I came straight out of a function

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Speaker 3: to speak with you, Matthew, and that is that is

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Speaker 3: very welcome news for South Australian households. And I think

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Speaker 3: if you haven't already said this to your listeners, it

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Speaker 3: is absolutely essential that they shop around for their energy

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Speaker 3: retailer go on to the days of these companies providing

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Speaker 3: benefits for loyal customers. It really does pay to shop around.

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Speaker 3: And in fact, there's a completely independent government federal government

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Speaker 3: funded website called Energy Made Easy. And for anyone who's

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Speaker 3: got the Internet, either at home or on a device

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Speaker 3: or on their phone, if they google Energy made Easy

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Speaker 3: and go to that government funded website, you can put

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Speaker 3: in a very small amount of your own detail, either

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Speaker 3: from your energy bills or from your meter number, and

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Speaker 3: it will tell you the cheapest price you can get

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Speaker 3: for your energy tailored to your house from a South

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Speaker 3: Australian retailer. And you know, it is really really helpful

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Speaker 3: for households to be doing that really regularly because these

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Speaker 3: prices do move around. And while today's while today's announcement

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Speaker 3: will be really welcome for households, there's still an obligation

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Speaker 3: on all of us to make sure we just put

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Speaker 3: that small amount of time into shopping around and getting

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Speaker 3: the best deal for our household.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, Steven Melligan appreciate your time. Thanks Matthew the State

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Speaker 1: Treasurer there