Paul Starick: SA Liberal leader Steven Marshall draws election battle lines by blocking bank tax

ANALYSIS: The Liberal move to block the $370 million bank tax is a critical turning point in the unofficial election campaign.

Steven Marshall talking to the media about the bank tax in Adelaide, Monday, July 3, 2017. (AAP Image/MATT LOXTON)

• Insults fly as Libs block SA bank levy

THE Liberals’ move to block the $370 million bank tax is a critical turning point in the unofficial election campaign.

It signals a bid by the Liberals to break out of the shackles of indecision and weakness that have cowed them since 2002. Ironically, it has taken 11 days to reach this decision, since the tax was unveiled in the State Budget on June 22.

Despite opinion polls showing voters spurning the $370 million impost on the Big Four banks plus Macquarie, this is a high-risk move with the potential to backfire.

Battle lines for the March 17 election are now clearly drawn. The Liberals have chosen the side of the big banks and a vocal business sector.

Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis, having taunted Mr Marshall as weak for being unable to make up his mind, now accuses him of changing his mind as soon as the banks come knocking.

Mr Marshall is prepared to risk accusations of flip-flopping, given his initial decision after the Budget late last month was that the Liberals would pass it in full, despite opposing the tax.

Now, he wants to use this extraordinary decision to paint himself as a strong leader, taking decisive action to protect everyday people from a “toxic” tax that would wreck the struggling South Australian economy by killing off jobs and investment. Seemingly emboldened by an outbreak of decisiveness, Mr Marshall is attempting to build a narrative of Labor mismanagement, spanning high unemployment, crushing electricity bills and huge emergency service levy imposts.

He might be basking in his new role as action man but Mr Marshall needs to be wary. Banks are deeply unpopular and he is now their friend.

Labor will relish this fight. They can pound Mr Marshall as a spineless leader who cannot fight for SA because he is too beholden to big banks and other powerful external forces.

All this fuels Premier Jay Weatherill’s core election theme — that he and his government are standing up for the best interests of the state and its people. This will be fuelled when Labor blames Holden’s Elizabeth plant closure on October 20 on past federal Liberal goading.

Mr Marshall’s decision is consistent with that of his Liberal base, despite federal Treasurer Scott Morrison’s May Budget imposing a $6.2 billion bank tax. It will hearten some whom he angered when thwarting the proposed nuclear waste dump or proposing a fracking ban in the South East. But the lasting impact of this move is yet to be determined. The final test will come at the ballot box on March 17.