Off the Record: South Australia’s land tax stoush makes for odd bedfellows
The Adelaide war over changes to land tax has seen a couple of traditional rivals align — at least intellectually.
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In this week’s Off the Record we find that the land tax stoush makes for odd bedfellows, plus we discover the hideout of South Australia’s very own 007 in Africa, while another well-connected local is in some hot water in the United Kingdom. Now with added Good Week, Bad Week.
Land tax’s odd bedfellows
The torturous land tax saga is making for some strange bedfellows as Property Council state chief Daniel Gannon ditches old mate Premier Steven Marshall to fall into line with Labor headkicker Tom Koutsantonis.
Not only is Gannon in the deep freeze with the Liberals, he’s backing a tax plan authored by fallen NAB chairman Ken Henry (when he was federal Treasury secretary under Kevin Rudd’s Labor regime) and aired by Koutsantonis when he was Labor’s treasurer.
As we highlighted last week, Treasurer Rob Lucas has branded Gannon one “of our former friends” and sources close to Marshall declare the pair have not spoken for some time but stress that was not unusual, even amid heated political combat.
Gannon this week unveiled a range of Property Council ideas as alternatives to the State Government’s land tax plans, most notably including a bold proposal to replace the progressive land tax system with a flat rate charged on every residential and commercial property.
As Gannon pointed out, this was proposed in the Henry Tax Review of 2010.
Funnily enough, the Property Council idea has distinct echoes of another plan put forward in 2015, by Gannon’s frequent Twitter sparring partner Koutsantonis. The pair also duelled when Gannon was Marshall’s director of media and communications from 2013-14.
Koutsantonis unveiled a far-reaching review of state taxes in 2015, which included the option of an annual tax of an average $1200 on the family home. The broadbased land tax would have replaced stamp duty. But, like the Property Council idea, that went down like a lead balloon when people who had already been slugged with stamp duty realised they now faced paying an average $1200 every year.
Asked about his relations these days with Marshall and his ministers, Gannon said only: “We have ongoing conversations and dialogue with government ministers, advisers and bureaucrats.”
Dark Knight says vote miss legit
There was a notable absentee on Tuesday night when Tea Tree Gully Council made one of the biggest decisions of its tenure so far: Mayor Kevin Knight. The council voted 6-5 to not hand the State Government $2.2 million for stage one of the Golden Grove Rd upgrade, a Liberal party election promise, with Knight absent with ill health. Conspiracy theorists wondered if Knight had dodged a tough decision on purpose, with the vote likely to be 6-6 if Cr Damian Wyld (a Liberal Party member) had not chaired the meeting.
But Knight said his absence was genuine and he’d “never shirked a tough decision in my life’’. For the record, Knight said if the cote was tied he would not have used his casting vote to award the government the money, which could have either jacked up rates, dipped into capital works coffers or increased debt. - Ben Cameron
Monkey business in African hideaway is a real Downer
“WANNABE spy” Alexander Downer has been unusually quiet since bombshell revelations emerged that US President Donald Trump asked Prime Minister Scott Morrison for help with an inquiry to discredit the Mueller probe into the 2016 presidential vote.
Former Trump adviser George Papadopolous last week bizarrely declared Downer was a “wannabe spy” about to be “exposed on the world stage” for relaying claims of a Russian dirt file on Hillary Clinton. Since then, Downer has maintained a highly unusual social media silence and left unrequited hundreds of inquiries from journalists.
Downer was in Rwanda when the political firestorm erupted and posted a video of endangered gorillas, pleading for help to conserve them (see top of the page). The former foreign affairs minister and Mayo MP was staying at the $1800-a-night Virunga Lodge, promoted as “the premier luxury gorilla lodge of Rwanda and one of Africa’s finest and most renowned”.
It is “perched high on a ridge with stunning views of the Virunga Volcanoes” and nearby Lake Bulera.
Cooking up
The sweet tooths of parliament are lining up again at next weekend’s Coonalpyn Show. Riverland Tim Whetstone won last year’s politicians’ cooking challenge with a chocolate mud cake with pistachio skirt.
He will be defending his crown against Labor leader Peter Malinauskas and his ALP colleague Emily Bourke. Also baking are deputy premier Vickie Chapman and fellow Liberals Nick McBride, Adrian Pederick, Andrew McLachlan and Senator Anne Ruston.
Influencer
Well-connected Kadina lad Lynton Crosby is in a bit of bother in the United Kingdom. Crosby is a confidant of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his firm CTF Partners is being investigated for operating as an unregistered lobbyist.
The Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists has asked CTF to show how their work paid clients including the Saudi Arabian government didn’t spill over into their volunteer work with politicians including Johnson. The problem being CTF is not registered to work as a lobbyist in the UK.
Kid gloves
AGE is no barrier to tough questions at Marion Council. Faced with crying junior footballers from the Cove FC, Mayor Kris Hanna, a lawyer, did not hesitate to cross-examine them after they pleaded with elected members not to evict them from their Hallett Cove base following allegations of sexual harassment.
Hanna compared the council to an umpire and the club to a player who had given away a free and asked the children, who was responsible? The player or the umpire? Some thought Hanna’s questioning went too far.