Budget Measures Bill 2014
16/09/2014
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: I do not intend to delay the chamber with a lengthy second reading to this bill today but I will speak in support of the second reading of the Budget Measures Bill 2014. I would like to start by thanking the Treasurer’s acting chief of staff, Ben Tuffnell, for arranging the comprehensive briefing that my office received on this bill.
One of the controversial measures in the bill relates to the car park tax. My office has received a lot of lobbying in both directions on this particular issue and we have considered that diversity of opinion very carefully. Having done so we have reached the decision to support the car park tax.
Car parking in the central business district of any major city must be valued at a premium. We need to encourage more people to be public transport users as they come into our CBD, and support more people coming on foot as pedestrians, or indeed as cyclists, into our city centre. To do this we need to make our city car parks a premium. At present we have the most car parks, in simple volume terms, of any city in Australia, and they are not at a premium.
I realise that this measure, a car park levy, only encourages people out of cars, and that much work needs to be done to make our public transport more reliable and more accessible to all South Australians so that it can be used as an alternative. We also need to make the city precinct more user-friendly for those with mobility aids, bikes and prams or those travelling on foot. We need them to feel safe navigating our city streets, laneways and paths outside of cars.
We appreciate that the government has excluded accessible car parks from this tax; indeed, that was one of the ideas that Dignity for Disability took to the government. An extra impost on people with disabilities trying to park in our CBD is not what our community needs at the moment. Our buses are still only 60 per cent accessible to mobility aid users on some bus routes, so some people with disabilities have no choice but to drive to the city.
Still on the car park tax, I intend to support the amendment that the Hon. Mark Parnell is proposing regarding car parking spaces for electric cars. I believe they should also be exempt from tax to support their further adoption.
A second controversial measure in this bill relates to retrospectively removing leave entitlements for contract teachers. I am afraid that Dignity for Disability cannot and will not support the government’s proposal here. In an increasingly casualised workforce it is very disappointing to see the government further removing workers’ leave entitlement rights. I will be supporting the amendment of the Hon. Tammy Franks on this issue to ensure that workers’ rights are protected.
On behalf of Dignity for Disability, that is all I will say on this Budget Measures Bill at the moment. I look forward to the committee stage of the debate, to further working out the ramifications of the measures in this bill, and to some of the questions already raised being answered.
Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. G.A. Kandelaars.
