Grievance Debate

LABOR MINISTERS

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (15:24): What a great day for the Minister for Transport. What we saw today was the start of the play-out about the leadership of the Labor Party after the next election. The Australian, of course, has been out there reporting that the Minister for Transport is going to be the next leader. And what we had today was the arch rival, the Minister for Health, come in and do a ministerial statement, not on mental health, not on hospitals, not on patients, but on something about a Holden's industrial agreement, nothing to do with the Minister for Health.

Why would the Minister for Health be doing that particular agreement? Because he knows that the Minister for Transport is slowly but surely gathering the numbers on the leadership for after the next election. Today was like an audition for a poor man's Australia's Got Talent. We had the Minister for Health trying to promote himself, we had Minister for Transport trying his very best to look the statesman, and it really was a good day for the Minister for Transport.

What the Minister for Health showed is that he was an attack dog on go slow. He really is no Pat Conlon when it comes to an attack on the opposition. This all plays into, of course, the Minister for Infrastructure's long held plan to take over the leadership of the Labor Party at the last election. Go and ask the Minister for Health how many people rolled up to his media drinks that he was going to have at his house. The answer is: none; they would not go there. That is my understanding. The difference is that the Minister for Transport was a lot more subtle in the way he was dealing with the media, and we all know how that particular game is played.

For the Minister for Health to come in here and lecture the opposition about parliamentary standards and correcting the record—well, give me a break. This was the treasurer who did not even know that there were no observers on the zoo board. We all remember that, Mr Speaker: standing up in the parliament, telling us not to worry we have observers on the zoo board, only to go back to his department and suddenly discover that the Rip Van Winkle staff in his office had not realised that there had been no observers on the zoo board. So, the Minister for Health comes in here and lectures us about the Leader of the Opposition correcting the record and he himself was very embarrassed when there were no observers on the zoo board.

This was the treasurer who could not deliver a surplus. Imagine him and Wayne Swan ringing each other up saying, 'Have you found a surplus? I haven't found a surplus. Have you found a surplus?' Between the pair of them they cannot deliver a surplus. This was the treasurer who said he was going to keep the AAA credit rating and could not. This was the treasurer who told the parliament they were going to have a 50 per cent debt to revenue ratio and could not deliver that either. Then he has the temerity to come in here and lecture us about telling the truth, being accurate to parliament and correcting the record. Give me a break.

This is a government that has no standards. We all remember the former treasurer—it seems to go with that portfolio—the Hon. Kevin Foley, when he told everyone, before the election, that the Adelaide Oval would be $450 million and not a cent more. It is now north of $600 million, the whole project and ancillary costs. Then we had the famous motion of no confidence in the treasurer because he conveniently forgot that he had had a meeting with Leigh Whicker about the cost blowout and the only reason he recalled it was that Leigh Whicker was going to brief the opposition and be subject to questions at a Stadium Management Authority briefing and at that point the memory came flooding back in a great rush of honesty. I mean, give me a break.

For this government to come in here and lecture us about parliamentary standards and honesty is a joke. What we have playing out today is Simba. The Minister for Transport, Simba, the one who wants to be king, King Kouts they call him in the corridors, Mr Speaker, he is the one who wants to be the leader and what we have is the poor old Minister for Health, who has gone one too many rounds. He reminds me of Eric the Eel, that swimmer in the Olympics, because he is in the game, he is certainly in the game, but he is just not winning.