Public Sector Recruitment

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:13): My question is to the Attorney-General. Given that it has been over a month since the Attorney-General said he would get an answer to the house, can the Attorney now advise whether Ms Veronica Theriault had access to cabinet documents?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for Consumer and Business Services, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (14:14): At the risk of nudging on the repetitive, I have asked all of the questions—

Mr Marshall: You didn't even ask that question. That's not part of an overall review.

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned for the second and final time.

Mr Wingard: Yes or no? Come on.

The SPEAKER: The member for Mitchell is warned and called to order.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I have referred all of the questions that have been asked of me in this place to Dr Russell. I will do it again and emphasise that my feeling about it is that there is a sense of urgency about the answers. I will refer that to Dr Russell and ask him to assist as quickly as he can. In relation to the particular matter that has just been raised, I will certainly include that in the questions that I ask Dr Russell.

If I could make a suggestion which might be of assistance: if the Leader of the Opposition has a series of quite particular questions about matters of some detail (such as this matter), I would be perfectly happy for him, if he wished to do so, to either have a chat with me or write me a letter, or whatever, and I can action that independently of being in here. It is perfectly reasonable for him to ask me for that sort of information and I'm very happy to do my best.

However, to ask the question in here and then—I have said that I would try to get the answers, which I have done. We have now had I think five or six questions on this topic, which is fine, and I have attempted to answer each one of them as best I can, but there is a certain familiarity about the answers now, so I am not sure that I can help the house much more than to say that I have taken up and will take up all of these matters with Dr Russell.