SOUTH AUSTRALIAN VISITOR AND TRAVEL CENTRE

Mr PISONI (Unley) (15:06): My question is for the Minister for Tourism. When the minister was briefed—perhaps I should ask 'if' the minister was briefed—on winning the tender for the privatised—

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Point of order. You are not allowed to make a little speech when you ask a question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Thank you, minister. Member for Unley, can you finish your question, please?

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr PISONI: Freudian slip, Madam Speaker. When the minister was briefed on the winning tender for the privatised, relocated South Australian Visitor and Travel Centre was he informed that the centre would be moving into a basement with no disability access, and how did such a location meet government tender requirements?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Urban Development, Planning and the City of Adelaide, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Food Marketing) (15:07): I thank the honourable member for his question. The question presupposes that at some point in time I was given a detailed briefing about the outcome of the tender. That is not the case, unless, of course, in terms of any briefing, one is talking about the period after the tender was agreed to.

Mr Pisoni: Any time, any time at all, we'll take either one, John.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.R. RAU: As I have explained to the house before, the order of events is roughly this: on a particular day (I think it might have been a Wednesday or Thursday a couple of weeks ago) there was a story to the effect that there was a relationship between the successful tenderer and the chairman of the board. I asked, at that point, to be provided with the appropriate documentation considered by the CE in relation to that tender.

A day or so later, a bundle of documents arrived in my office and they were immediately forwarded on to the Auditor-General, accompanied by a letter from me saying, 'Here's the material that has been given to me about this matter. I ask you to look into it from the point of view of probity.' That is the sequence of events as far as my involvement in the matter is concerned.