Legislative Council President

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:18): Supplementary: further to the—

The SPEAKER: A supplementary for the Leader of the Opposition.

Mr MARSHALL: Further to the Premier's answer to that question to the Minister for Regional Development, my supplementary question to the Minister for Regional Development is: what action will the minister now take, given that his signed agreement with the Premier stated, 'The Government and the Independent Member agree that there is a justified concern in the community about the standards of parliamentary conduct'?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:19): Can I say that we will be bringing to this house further public policy reforms which are directed at precisely those questions. We are working on them as we speak to ensure that we address these very questions. One important issue of parliamentary standards of behaviour, of political parties and of members of parliament, is, of course the way in which some parties at the last state election, namely the Liberal Party of South Australia, chose to ignore the specific directions of the Electoral Commissioner—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —to publish an apology concerning grossly defamatory material that was published concerning myself. Obviously I have a personal interest in that but I think there is a broader public policy issue.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: The member for Stuart.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Standing order 98; I don't believe the Premier's answer has anything to do with the Leader of the Opposition's question.

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition asked what is the government—you may be seated while I give my ruling—what actions the government is going to take.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: No, questions are dealt with collectively by the ministry. The ministry chooses which minister is to answer, and he or she answers the question and on behalf of the government the Premier is giving the answer about what the government proposes to do. So, I don't rule in favour of the point of order—but I thank the member for Stuart for giving me a pause during which I can call the member for Heysen to order and warn her a first time, and call the members for Schubert, Hammond and Morphett, the leader and the deputy leader to order. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Thank you, sir. In fact, there is an even more direct relationship with the question, and that is that in the very agreement that we reached with the member for Frome there was a commitment to set up a process to review the conduct of elections. Indeed, the Deputy Premier just a few moments ago made a ministerial statement which set out the very arrangements that we seek to put in place, that is, a standing committee of this place to inquire into the conduct of elections.

One of the pieces of conduct was directly relevant, because it was raised by the member for Fisher in our discussions. We were having joint discussions with the member for Frome and the member for Fisher before the member for Fisher became ill, and one of the things that he advanced, and which the member for Frome picked up, was this question of electoral reform. He was very worried about the fact that people were able to engage in conduct during elections, and it could be the subject of adverse findings by the Electoral Commissioner but could actually be ignored by a political party, and there was no obvious remedy for the Electoral Commissioner. That is what happened to me during the election, a shameful and defamatory—

Ms Redmond: Shameful?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Well, you apologised—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Mr Speaker, it was so shameful that the Leader of the Opposition apologised for it. But what he did not do was ensure that his party complied with the direction of the Electoral Commissioner to publish in the same repetition advertisements which essentially withdrew the allegation. In terms of the gravity of the offending conduct, I find it a little difficult to imagine the allegation of somebody lying concerning a question of child sexual abuse—I can't imagine there being a more grave offence than making a false allegation about somebody concerning the question of child sexual abuse. If you're prepared to lie about that, I wonder what are you prepared to stoop to, to actually achieve electoral victory. This is part of the motivation that animated the member for Fisher, and the member for Frome joined him, and it is now reflected in the very decision that the deputy leader announced today, and you'll have an opportunity to agitate all of your petty grievances in that same process.

The SPEAKER: Before we go to the next question, the members for Chaffey, Morphett and Unley are warned a first time. The member for Unley offended twice and, therefore, is called to order and warned a first time. The members for Heysen and Hammond are warned a second and final time, and the members for Mount Gambier and Adelaide are called to order.

Mr PEDERICK: Point of order, Mr Speaker: I have not been warned once yet, so I am not sure where you got a double-up.

The SPEAKER: If you will be seated, I will tell you the reason.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is warned for the second time, and the Treasurer is called to order. The member for Hammond offended twice during the Premier's answer and I was unwilling to interrupt the Premier to call him to order, so there are two offences. Leader.