Gillman Land Sale

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:03): Supplementary: have minutes been kept of all meetings attended by the Premier concerning the Adelaide Capital Partners Gillman land deal?

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: You met with them; what did you say?

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer is called to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:03): I think I have had very few meetings—I think one meeting—with Adelaide Capital Partners.

Mr Marshall: One meeting.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It was essentially—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer is warned a first time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: But I do know that they met with the Leader of the Opposition, and at no stage in that meeting did the Leader of the Opposition indicate anything other than—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —his complete support for the arrangement that they entered into with the government. It is of some surprise—

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is called to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It is of some surprise to the proponents of this particular development that they now hear the Leader of the Opposition essentially trying to blacken their name in the public media by associating themselves with these criticisms.

Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order. It was a very clear question—not debating about what is expected—

The SPEAKER: So, the point of order is the Premier is not answering the substance of the question.

Ms CHAPMAN: Indeed.

The SPEAKER: Is that the point of order?

Ms CHAPMAN: The question was clearly to ask whether minutes were kept at this one or more meetings that he had.

The SPEAKER: Look, I think that's just an occasion for an impromptu speech by the deputy leader. I will listen closely to the Premier's answer, if there is any more.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I can explain my involvement in this. I think, the first occasion—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: No, I think the first meeting—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is called to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The first occasion it was raised with me, I think, was by Raymond Spencer, the chair of the Economic Development Board, and then, I think, there was a meeting with proponents about this matter. I may have met them on more than one occasion, but I had no direct involvement in the negotiation of the matter. It was carried by a line minister.

The relevant minister at the time was the member for West Torrens, and he, together with his relationship with Renewal SA, had the carriage of the matters. From that point onwards, I simply was a very interested observer of matters and did request regular briefings on where this proposition was up to. It took, I think, in the order of six months or so for it to reach a position where it was brought to cabinet, where it was a cabinet decision which had the matter approved.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: So, I had no direct involvement in the day-to-day carriage of the matter.

The SPEAKER: And forced laughter will be treated in the same manner as sighing. Leader.