ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S OPERATING ACCOUNT

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen) (14:31): Did the Attorney-General and the government apply a double standard to the management of cash in the Attorney-General's bank accounts? Former CEO Kate Lennon was forced to resign for breaching a Treasurer's Instruction, yet when the Auditor-General discovered a $4 million discrepancy in the Attorney-General's operating account, which was also a breach of a Treasurer's Instruction, the Attorney-General appears to have taken no action at all.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON (Croydon—Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:32): It is touching the way that the Liberal opposition rallies to the cause of Kate Lennon—

The Hon. R.G. Kerin interjecting:

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: No, I think you have the wrong case there, Kero. I think you are confusing yourself. The Auditor-General found that Kate Lennon had shifted millions of dollars of taxpayers' money into an account, an administered item account, where it was never going to be found in the normal course of audit. The money was carryover money that should have been returned to Treasury and spent in accordance with the priorities of the elected government. Kate Lennon and her co-conspirators ran a government in exile during the period of Trevor Griffin (the attorney-general of blessed memory), and when the government changed and they got the Labor government that they wanted—because let us not beat around the bush about Kate Lennon's political affiliations—they found—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!!

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: No, I do not think the member for MacKillop quite heard me correctly. Kate Lennon ran an administration in exile, a Labor administration in exile, during the period of Trevor Griffin's being the attorney-general which is why you got the criminal justice policy you got for eight years.

When the Labor government was elected, after a few months she decided she did not much like the look of it and it did not look socialist enough for her, so she decided to run her programs—not the government's programs—by putting money in the Crown Solicitor's Trust Account, which is like putting it in the second-hand motor vehicle dealers fund. To compare that with an official during a period of staff transition failing to monitor an overdraft—there is no comparison at all.