House of Assembly Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3) 51 3 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Ministerial Code of Conduct MINISTERIAL CODE OF CONDUCT Mrs REDMOND House of Assembly Heysen Leader of the Opposition MINISTERIAL CODE OF CONDUCT Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (15:10): I ask the Premier a supplementary question. If the Attorney-General did not recklessly attack the reputation of any other person, on what basis did the cabinet decide to pay out $210,000 of taxpayers' money? The Hon. P.F. Conlon House of Assembly The Hon. P.F. Conlon: On crown law advice. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. M.D. RANN House of Assembly Ramsay Premier Minister for Economic Development Minister for Social Inclusion Minister for the Arts Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change 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) (15:10): We made a decision that it was in the public interest not to go to the massive expense of bringing over a Western Australian judge and setting up a court, because you could not have a judge of this state sitting in judgment on one of our own, or the Attorney-General. We made that judgment, just as judgments were made for payouts and cases relating to a whole series of Liberal ministers. The Hon. P.F. Conlon House of Assembly The Hon. P.F. Conlon: We never indemnified anyone against crown law advice. The Hon. M.D. RANN House of Assembly The Hon. M.D. RANN: That's right. The key point is: was the Attorney-General acting honestly and sincerely in his beliefs? Absolutely. Totally. I also came out and condemned Mr Cannon's determinations, but I was not sued. I stand by what I said on that day: both of us honestly and sincerely believed that what he said was wrong. This was all about the choice of a few words for which the Attorney-General apologised. We made the decision to act in the public interest, and that is the difference. You would let out the von Einems, you would let out the McBrides and all the rest of them, because you would rather stand by your mates in the legal profession— The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier is now debating.