LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL VACANCY

Mrs GERAGHTY (Torrens) (14:26): Can the Premier advise the house as to whether the provisions in the constitution for filling a casual vacancy in the Legislative Council are the same as applied in Don Dunstan's time?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:27): There is some breaking legal news for the opposition. We know that at the federal level there are eminent lawyers who make up 70 per cent of their front bench; apparently, that is not the case here in South Australia when it comes to the state opposition.

I was asked a question before about whether I would do the same as Don Dunstan in terms of filling a casual vacancy in the Legislative Council. I will because he did the right thing and I will do the right thing. But there is something perhaps that the Leader of the Opposition and his legal adviser next to him perhaps missed out. The constitutional provisions that deal with the filling of casual vacancies in the Legislative Council were enacted in 1985. Don Dunstan resigned in February 1979, six years before.

Previously, it required a joint sitting only. There was no reference to nominations based on party affiliations/endorsements. Therefore, Don Dunstan's comments related to a completely different constitutional environment. I would have thought that someone who practised law, albeit not as a justice of the peace for a quarter of a century, would now understand that this parliament is required to follow the current law and the current constitutional provisions, and that is exactly what we are doing. We are taking the advice of another distinguished QC in Chris Kourakis QC, the Solicitor-General.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!