Citizen's Right of Reply

Citizen's Right of Reply

The SPEAKER (14:02): The report I have presented relates to a request from the Rt Hon. The Lord Mayor of Adelaide Mr Stephen Yarwood for a right of reply in relation to a reference to him made by the member for Heysen in the House of Assembly on 14 October.

A submission from Mr Yarwood was referred to the committee on 15 October by me under the house's sessional orders which provide for the right of reply procedures. The committee considered the submission at the meetings on 15, 16 and 28 October and has recommended to the house that a response in the terms included in the report I have just presented be incorporated in Hansard. This is the first occasion on which the committee has recommended to the house that a response be incorporated in Hansard.

In recommending that the response be incorporated in Hansard, the committee notes, as required by the sessional orders of the house for a right of reply, that it has not judged the truth of any statement made in the house or the submission of the person making a response. The response reads as follows:

Speaker, House of Assembly

South Australian Parliament

North Tce, Adelaide 5000

Dear Mr Speaker,

I write to clarify and correct statements made by the Member for Heysen, Ms Isobel Redmond, in the South Australian Parliament on the 14th of October 2014.

Ms Redmond claimed that we had a long conversation in which I launched 'a torrent of verbal abuse' whilst walking to Government House.

She also claimed I called her an abhorrent name and suggested I had pushed a camera at a prior event.

I wish to advise that these claims are untrue.

I request my response to be inserted in Hansard.

Yours sincerely

The Right Honourable

The Lord Mayor of Adelaide Stephen Yarwood