SA State Budget 2024: Opposition Leader David Speirs’ reply speech

Axing a GP tax and investigating nuclear energy would help cut living costs under a Liberal government, Opposition Leader David Speirs says in his budget reply speech.

Opposition Leader David Speirs speaks in parliament. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Kelly Barnes

A GP payroll tax grab would be axed and a royal commission into nuclear energy ordered under a Liberal government, Opposition Leader David Speirs has vowed.

Delivering his budget reply speech on Tuesday morning, Mr Speirs accused Labor of raising the cost of visiting a doctor during a cost-of-living crisis by imposing the payroll tax.

He said AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine construction in Adelaide meant nuclear electricity generation should be considered in South Australia.

“The question every South Australian has to ask themselves is: ‘Are they better off now than they were in 2022?’ The answer is a resounding ‘no’,” Mr Speirs said.

“The typical South Australian family is more than $20,000 worse off per year under Labor, as the cost of everyday essentials continue to soar.”

Mr Speirs said the $20,000 figure was calculated by a combination of higher interest rates, energy bills, groceries, fuel and other essentials.

He said the Liberals would abolish the GP payroll tax if elected in 2026, saying this would stop sick people “paying more to see their doctor or avoiding their GP and ending up in our overwhelmed EDs”.

Mr Speirs, who last week visited AUKUS submarine nuclear reactor builder Rolls-Royce’s plant in Derby, UK, said a royal commission would consider the viability of nuclear energy generation in SA.

“I’ve long been saying we need to have an open-minded conversation about the potential for a civil nuclear industry in South Australia, as we’re paying some of the highest electricity prices in the world and every option to produce affordable, reliable power should be on the table,” he said.

Treasurer Stephen Mullighan demanded Mr Speirs declare whether he would cut services or raise taxes to fund his promises.

“Today David Speirs committed a future Liberal government to spending hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars more, and at the same time committed to tackling the state’s debt levels,” he said.

“There’s only two options he has to achieve this, and one is to massively cut the services that South Australians rely on from state government or to increase taxes.

“And now he must tell South Australians which one of those he will deliver, should he be premier.”

A landmark court ruling last year found GPs working in clinics as contractors are deemed employees — making such clinics liable for payroll tax.

The state government granted an amnesty on the tax but will start charging from July 1. It says it is not a new tax, just correct application of an existing tax, and has granted an exemption to bulk billed consultations.

Revenue was not forecast in the June 6 state budget but Mr Mullighan insists “the vast majority of GPs won’t be paying payroll tax under these measures”.

A fortnight’s restrictions on about 90 per cent of elective surgeries were lifted on Monday, having been imposed in a bid to ease gridlock in emergency departments and clogged hospital beds.

Ambulance officers spent more than 86,000 hours waiting in hospital car parks, costing about $5.2m in paramedic wages, in the two years to March since the Labor government came to power on its core promise to “fix” ramping, The Advertiser revealed.

Originally published as SA State Budget 2024: Opposition Leader David Speirs’ reply speech