Member for Frome, Government Agreement

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:17): Thank you sir. My question is to the member for Frome: can the member for Frome corroborate the Premier's answer that indeed he provided no assurance to the member for Frome that the state government would underwrite the Nyrstar upgrade prior to reforming government?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mount Gambier is called to order for forced laughter. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:18): You don't get away with misrepresenting my answer and then trying to put it to somebody else and seeing how they go. The member for Frome naturally enough wanted to satisfy himself that he was dealing with political parties who, should they ultimately form a government, would put themselves in a position to ensure that the Nyrstar transformation project would go ahead, and we did provide those assurances as a party. I know that you gave those assurances as a party because, frankly, the member for Frome made that a precondition for both of us sitting down and having discussions with him, and that was natural and entirely appropriate.

Mr Marshall: You said no assurances until after you formed government.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I'm not going to have you misrepresent me. The commitments that we made were made after we took the advice from the Crown Solicitor—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —from the Export, Finance and Insurance Corporation, from our own independent experts, from leading international commercial advisory firms, our own environmental advice, our own health advice, and the due deliberations of cabinet. That is when the binding arrangements were put in place by the State of South Australia in respect of these matters.

Mr MARSHALL: Supplementary, sir.

The SPEAKER: Before we have a further supplementary, the member for Heysen is warned for the second time. I am afraid, leader, you are called to order. The member for Hartley is called to order—so young—and the deputy leader is called to order. Second supplementary.