Question Time

MEDIA SERVICES

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:10): My question is to the Premier. Why is the Premier's department tendering for additional public engagement campaign services given that the Premier is already paying a private contractor for media services $186 million over three years, is already paying a US company, Socialtext, almost half a million dollars to provide social media services, and already has a community engagement division within his own department, and how much will these new extra media services cost taxpayers?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:11): I thank the honourable member for her question—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: She may have noticed that, from the very earliest time that I had the privilege of taking this role, I made it very clear that we were going to both lift the standard of debate and engage in a much broader debate with our community. I make no apologies for the fact that we will be using new ways in which to communicate and connect with the broader community.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Now I know that—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I cannot hear the Premier. Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Madam Speaker, I know that those opposite are not interested in the views of the community. In fact, they manifestly disregard the views of the community in relation to the shop trading hours debate. They set their base—

Mr WILLIAMS: Point of order, Madam Speaker.

The SPEAKER: Point of order, member for MacKillop.

Mr WILLIAMS: The Premier is clearly debating the answer to the question. I ask you to draw him back to the substance of the question.

The SPEAKER: Thank you. The member will sit down. I ask the Premier to return to the substance of the question.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I think the substance of the question is about tendering. I would have thought it was a fairly orthodox matter to actually go out to public tender when you are—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Well, would you like to listen to the answer? It is a pretty orthodox matter to go out to public tender when you want to find the best value for money for providing government services at a particular time—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, Leader of the Opposition!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —and, Madam Speaker, that is what we are doing in this case.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Mitchell.