SPOTLESS CONTRACT

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (14:23): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. Why did the government deny South Australian and national companies the right to tender for facility management services by deciding to expand the Spotless facilities management contract without going to tender? Rod Hook from the minister's department told the Budget and Finance Committee that cabinet had decided to expand the government's facilities management contract with Spotless to include Health, Housing SA and SAFECOM facilities which, we understand, will add about $35 million to that contract without going to tender.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (14:24): I thank the member for Davenport for his question; I hope he in turn thanks The Advertiser for its role in it. It is nice to see that some things are consistent: The Advertiser prints the story and they ask the question.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for MacKillop is warned.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: And now I have the member for MacKillop! Madam Speaker, it is on the record, the member for MacKillop likes to quote James Thurber. I think that the character he should acquaint himself with is Walter Mitty, because I think that, if he researches this—

Mr MARSHALL: Point of order—

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: —he will find that they have a great deal in common.

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order.

Mr MARSHALL: Madam Speaker, 128.

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order.

Mr Williams: You used to be funny once.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Do you know who Walter Mitty was?

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The James Thurber character?

The SPEAKER: Order! I ask the minister to come back to the substance of the question.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The reason that the decision was taken to extend the Spotless contract was in the best interests of the taxpayer on the—

An honourable member: How do we know?

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: On the advice of the responsible officer and one—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: False laughter!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my left will behave.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I would point out that the first contract with Spotless was written in 1998 by the previous government, Madam Speaker. It allowed for renewals of that contract—a choice of going to tender or renewing the contract, and, of course, the contractual relations—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, Leader of the Opposition!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: And those contractual arrangements did allow—

Mr Marshall: Did they donate to the ALP?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I am sorry; the member for Norwood is a long way back and my hearing is not what it used to be.

Mr Marshall: I said, 'Did they donate to the ALP?' Is that loud enough?

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Norwood!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The member for Norwood is suggesting that there is a connection between donations to the ALP and this Spotless contract.

An honourable member: He's asking.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Oh, he's just asking the question. It's not like if you're outside the house it's not defamatory if you are just asking a question. I invite him therefore to go outside and just ask the question. Just go outside and 'just ask the question'. It is an absolutely defamatory suggestion, and he should have the courage to say it outside of the house.

As I said, the contractual arrangements allowed for the addition of new areas of responsibility to the contractor. A major consideration in not going to market for a tender just for those services was that it was difficult to determine the actual volume of the service.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Which is amusing to the member for Norwood, because, of course, as well as being an expert on reconciliation, he is a past expert on facilities management. It is a great loss to this chamber that he languishes so far back, because he is truly a Renaissance man: he knows everything about everything. The truth is, Madam Speaker, that, on the advice—

The Hon. J.R. Rau interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Yes, he is. He is a da Vinci of our times.

Mr Marshall: If only someone would offer you a job. That's never going to happen.

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Norwood!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: There is a fellow, Madam Speaker, in this place who, if he sat any further back, would be in the corridor—

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: —suggesting that I have not got a job—again, I will have to puzzle through that later. The fact that it would be difficult to determine in advance in the tendering process the actual volumes, I am advised, is one of the principal reasons that it was considered the best value to the taxpayer to expand this contract. I will go on to point—

Mrs Redmond: How do you know?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: How do I know? On the advice of the person who we employ to manage those contracts. Of course, they may not have the expertise and—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for MacKillop, you are warned.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: —they may not be as skilled as the member for Norwood or the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Of course, not everyone on his side shares his Walter Mitty views of his skills. I do note that in Crikey the other day some of them considered them to be less than useful, I think is the politest way of putting it. An essential consideration was that it was hard to determine the actual volume of work, and it was the advice of the department that the best way would be to expand the existing contract according to provisions that—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! You will listen to the minister's answer.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: It is regrettable that the opposition finds this hard to understand. It is a long time since they were in government, and let us hope that continues.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for MacKillop!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: What I would invite the Deputy Leader of the Opposition pro tem to do is take a briefing from the responsible officer, because we will be very happy to provide that. What I will say is that, as recently as 1.30 yesterday afternoon, I was advised by that officer that the performance of Spotless on the contract is good.