Employment Figures

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (15:14): My question is to the Premier. How does the Premier justify his claim that the number of jobs in renewable energy is increasing when figures produced by the ABS show direct employment in renewable energy activities has fallen from 1,950 in—

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Point of order, sir: standing order 97. The member for Stuart does not have leave to introduce facts into his question.

Members interjecting:

Mr GARDNER: Point of order, sir—

The SPEAKER: No, I am thinking about this point of order.

Mr GARDNER: It is a frivolous point of order because you have previously ruled that that very point of order is bogus.

The Hon. J.M. Rankine interjecting:

The SPEAKER: No, I do not require any help from the member for Wright. There has been this tendency of the opposition to load up their facts at the front instead of at the back and not seek leave for an explanation. The explanation seems to come at the front—

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon: Which is the upper house way.

The SPEAKER: —which is, as the member for Newland interjects—

Mr Pisoni: Out of order.

The SPEAKER: —out of order, of course; the member for Unley is quite right. The upper house does it that way and it would be a bad thing if that were introduced, in my opinion, in this chamber. So, the member for Stuart has asked a question. I think we were pretty clear on—

Mr van Holst Pellekaan: No.

The SPEAKER: No? You did not get to the question?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Could the member for Stuart just ask a question?

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Yes, sir. In line with your order, you will notice that the facts are at the very end of the question, which is exactly what you asked for. How does the Premier justify his claim that the number of jobs in renewable energy is increasing when the figures produced by the ABS show direct employment in renewable energy activities has fallen from—

The SPEAKER: No; the way the question is asked is out of order. The member for Ashford.