Grievance Debate

Labor Government

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:09): The last time I stood and talked about the Labor Party's plans to get rid of the honourable member for Croydon and his replacement to become the Labor leader, I was talking about the Hon. Peter Malinauskas. Well, here we are. That was back in December and, despite rumours whizzing around faster than the Premier's wind farms, Labor members said that was not going to happen, that notwithstanding the rumours that was not going to happen. Well, it is February and guess what? It is happening.

I, for one, Mr Speaker, am devastated that we are not going to be blessed with your quintessential personality after 2018. We now know Mr Malinauskas has confirmed he is moving into Croydon. He wants the member for Cheltenham's job as Labor leader. The Labor leadership transition will probably not be like it was the last time Mr Malinauskas told a Labor leader it was time to go. He will not, this time, be able to walk arm in arm with the member for Playford, his partner in crime, as he did last time. Why? Because the member for Playford is too busy.

He is, of course, trying to get rid of somebody else, and guess who that is? The member for Playford, who is busy slashing the services down there at the Modbury Hospital, is trying to blast out the member for Florey. The last bastion there, she is fighting away in her electorate, and in comes the member for Playford to smash her out of the way. It is the Labor Party's plan to parachute the architect, in the end, into the seat of Playford.

Who would that be? It is of course the architect of that filthy 2010 election campaign, Mr Michael Brown. The former state secretariat and also the architect of that disgraceful 'put your Family First' dodgy how-to-vote card wants to take the place of the member for Playford. Obviously, we see the right faction in total chaos. 'Mess' is an understatement.

Of course, it is not just confined to the right. The Premier's faction is in a bit of trouble as well. Why are they ripping themselves apart? Today, we know that the head of the Maritime Union, Mr Jamie Newlyn, is not happy with the deal that has been stitched up—not that you would have anything to do with that, Mr Speaker, of course—to parachute the AWU official Justin Hansen into the Legislative Council. He is not a happy boy at all.

So, in a late development—it takes three to tango in the Labor Party—we have Mr Hansen, Mr Newlyn and now we have Mr Trevor Smith from the CFMEU. He wants a part of the action, so there will be a nice little tussle there. You then have the failed candidate for the seat of Dunstan, Ms Jo Chapley. You smashed that election and you are back here with us, leader, and we are so proud of you.

What is Ms Chapley doing? She is currently treating the South Australian parliament a bit like a supermarket: you just move along from aisle to aisle until you find a seat that you like. She has now decided she does not want to run in Dunstan. You have obviously killed off that idea, leader. There is now speculation she will be running in King, but what did we have yesterday? We had the announcement that she is going to run in the state seat of Adelaide. Rachel, you are going to give her a hard time, I can tell you. While the Labor Party is fighting, blackouts are rolling out across South Australia. Would somebody please get back to work and turn on the lights?

The SPEAKER: Is that all there is? The member for Elder.