Adjournment Debate

Valedictories

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (17:51): On behalf of the government can I thank all of those who have worked so hard behind the scenes to make the parliament function. First, can I thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and of course the Speaker for presiding over the house. I thank the Acting Clerk and the Acting Deputy Clerk, Paul Collett, and of course the table staff who keep everything working here.

I also thank the catering staff and other staff at Parliament House for everything they do every year to keep this such a well-functioning and splendid place to work. I would like to also thank and pass on my best Christmas wishes to the Leader of the Opposition and to the opposition members of the house on behalf of the government.

I would like to particularly point out and thank our whip and deputy whip for the incredibly hard work that they both do on behalf of the government to make sure that we rarely lose a vote in the house. That is, of course, so very important. Of course, I thank the staff in the whip's office, Carol and Wendy, for the great work that they do on behalf of the government. I also thank my parliamentary adviser, Corey Harris—the ever-efficient Corey.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: He is always cheerful, yes, indeed. I thank him for the great work that he does. I wish all members a very safe and merry Christmas and I look forward to being back here in February 2015. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (17:53): I would also like to make some final valedictory remarks for this year, and wish all members of this house all the very best for a happy Christmas and a successful new year.

I would like to thank the staff who work in Parliament House. They are very hardworking people. In particular, I would like to acknowledge David Woolman, the building services manager, and Liz Lynch, his lovely assistant, who look after the building services extremely well. It is a privilege to work in this house but it is only a privilege because it is kept in such good order. We have been particularly pleased to be able to have Old Parliament House back this year, and what a splendid job they have done.

Thanks from this side of the house to the catering staff led by Creon Grantham and James Nicholas and to their entire team for the outstanding level of service provided to members but, most importantly, to the guests and dignitaries who visit this house. I think that is something we can feel very proud of. Thanks also to the finance staff.

To Philip Spencer, the Leader of Hansard, and his entire team who work extraordinarily hard. I do not know how they do their job. Listening to some of the speeches, I do not know why they do their job, either: but, there you go. They must enjoy it. They must have lots of chats back in their room after they leave here, thinking, 'Did you hear that load of—'. Anyway, I will not go there, but I do sincerely thank the team from Hansard for the excellent work they do.

To the entire House of Assembly staff, led by, of course, on this side of the house, the Acting Clerk Rick Crump, who does an outstanding job, and we are very grateful to him and to his entire team, including Paul Collett, who is his great assistant.

I would like to specifically acknowledge this year someone in the other place. We do not normally do that but I think this year is an extraordinary year where we acknowledge 50 years of service from Jan Davis. What an outstanding service. I said yesterday when we met in the Balcony Room that it was not just the quantity of her service but the quality of her service as well over those 50 years. She started here when Tom Playford was the premier of South Australia, some time before I was born.

The library is ably led, of course, by Dr John Weste, and we congratulate him on his elevation to Director of Library Services in this place; and, of course, PNSG who keep everything else operating.

This year we have seen some departures from this house and, in particular, I would like to acknowledge the service of Iain Evans to this place—21 years of continuous service. It is an outstanding record. He should be commended for the wonderful work he has done. Of course, this year we also acknowledged the sad passing of the late Dr Bob Such, who contributed in this house for 25 years. He will be sorely missed.

This year has been an interesting year. There have been some highs and some lows, I must say, for people on this side of the house. We were very pleased to participate as effectively as we possibly could in the passage of the return to work legislation. This is important, long overdue work for South Australia. We were particularly pleased to participate in the debates regarding the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal—again, long overdue reform for this state—and we are grateful that the government has accepted some of our important amendments to that overarching umbrella legislation.

One of the disappointments this year, of course, was the government failing to really work with the opposition effectively to establish a commissioner for children and young people. That is a real disappointment. That is a real wasted opportunity. We need to do so much more in the area of child protection and it is incumbent upon every single person in this house not to play politics with child protection. We should have had that through. The government committed to getting it through before the end of last year, before the end of November 2013, and, of course, here we are in December 2014 and we have prorogued. It is extremely disappointing. The minister in that area should hang her head in shame.

It was also shameful last night in the other place. The opposition moved the Stolen Generations (Compensation) Bill. This is long overdue legislation in South Australia. It was first talked about by the Hon. Tammy Franks in the other place. At the time the Legislative Council moved consideration of this off to the Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee, they undertook a body of work and I think came up with a very good analysis of the Tasmanian model. The government chose not to take it up. We on this side of the house decided that it was extraordinarily important to bring that legislation to the house.

I must say it was a very sad moment for this parliament when we really were treated with complete and utter disrespect, and I think Aboriginal people in South Australia were treated with complete and utter disrespect, with regard to that legislation. The government did not consult and did not participate in the committee stage and, in fact, the minister was not even present in the chamber for the consideration.

The low point for this entire year, surely, comes with the passage of this bill today, the APY amendment bill. I think the government's handling of this is nothing short of disgraceful. Today we asked reasonable questions and we could not even get an answer as to whether or not the Commissioner for Aboriginal Engagement in South Australia had even been consulted.

I note that the minister has been castigated by his colleagues in the other place and today a no-confidence motion was passed in this minister. That is the second no-confidence motion passed in this minister this year. I understand that before this there had only been three successful no-confidence motions in a 20-year period in the other place. We have had two of them this year against the same minister, and I just put it to this parliament that we need ministers who are hardworking and who have the best interests of their portfolio in mind. If they are not prepared to do the work then they should get out of the way and let somebody who has the right motivation take over important portfolios.

Sitting extended beyond 18:00 on motion of Hon. J.J. Snelling.

Mr MARSHALL: To my side of the house, I thank my team for their continued support of me as their leader. I thank my hardworking deputy, Vickie Chapman, and I thank John Gardner, the member for Morialta who is the whip. The whip is an extraordinarily important person and he does an extraordinarily good job.

I am not going to single out other people. I will say thank you very much to the shadow cabinet for their hard work. We meet weekly and there is a lot of important work to do, but I think the great joy for me this year is the new members who have joined our team. The member for Schubert—who thought somebody could take over from the previous member for Schubert—has hit the ground running. The member for Hartley is doing an outstanding job. I thank the member for Mount Gambier for his hard work, especially when dealing with difficult issues regarding unconventional gas in his area.

I also thank the member for Mitchell and acknowledge his great start to the year as he is already into the shadow cabinet and, of course, the member for Bright who is the deputy whip. I think he has the great honour of being one of the first new MPs, on this side of the house anyway, to go directly onto the Economic and Finance Committee, one of the most prestigious standing committees of this parliament.

They have all made a great start and it gives us great hope for the future of this parliament. I think it is an important job to come into parliament and to work diligently to advance the cause of South Australia and with these five new people who have come in on this side I know that each and every one of them has the right motivation, and that augurs well for this place.

The only thing I wish to do now is to thank the Speaker, of course, for his fair rulings throughout the entire year, and you, Deputy Speaker, for your work as the committee chair, and to wish all members on both sides a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER (18:03): Hear, hear! It is my privilege, as I am in the chair at the moment, to thank all members for their remarks this afternoon and their goodwill in my time in the chair since my appointment as Deputy Speaker.

In concurrence with the leader I would like to thank all our parliamentary colleagues for all their good and diligent work throughout the year in progressing the work of the state and the government, and to also acknowledge all our colleagues who work within the building and thank them for all they do to support us in our work. I am sure all of us will return to our electorates and enjoy all the school graduation ceremonies, music evenings and carols nights in the final week of school. We all want to be able to return safely to this place in February after our holiday and continue again the work of the state.

At 18:04 the house adjourned until Tuesday 10 February 2015 at 11:00.