Grievance Debate

Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute

Mr KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (15:04): I am very concerned, and the people of South Australia should be very concerned, about what has unfolded today. The Premier announced that, without tender and without process, his government in its first 100 days, and I quote, 'would engage the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute to audit the state's current housing assets and map future demand'.

That organisation is headed by a man called Tony De Domenico. This man has promoted men with links to organised crime bodies in Victoria, the man who quite famously was the mobster who had the lobster with the Victorian Leader of the Opposition, a close personal friend of the Premier—a close personal friend of the Premier. The Premier said on many occasions that he and Matthew Guy are very, very close confidants, and what we found out today is that the Premier is claiming that he did not even know what this organisation was that he included in his 100-day plan.

Mr Brown: His own plan.

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: His own plan. Not a plan that he has developed since coming to government; this is from opposition. The questions are these: what did the Premier know and when did he know it? Who has he met? Why did he meet them? Who is it within the government who arranged to have this institute given a government contract without tender, without process, without procurement, without following Treasurer's Instructions? This organisation is headed by a man who is under an independent investigation, I understand, by the Victorian government for promoting a mafia figure.

When this mafia figure was promoted to an organisation in Victoria, the Italian government intervened. I have to say that the stench of this is beginning to rise. I do not want to make any assumptions about what may or may not have occurred, about what conversations may or may not have occurred, but I just do point out to the house that this is what we do know: the Liberal Party before the election published its 100-day action plan.

Dr Close: And they're very proud of it.

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: And they're very proud of it, they promoted it, they put it online. The Premier told the house that he is personally monitoring the implementation of his government's 100-day plan. It is his plan. Within that plan, he has told the people of South Australia that he is appointing this organisation, as I said, without tender.

What we know about this organisation, from reports in Victoria through the Herald Sun and The Age, is that the gentleman who is chair of this organisation is a very prominent Liberal Party member, a man who was a former deputy chief minister of the ACT and who headed up a private sector organisation called the Urban Development Institute of Australia. What we do know about this man is that he and Matthew Guy were very closely linked. Mr De Domenico was linked to this Calabrian mafia figure, Mr Tony Madafferi, as a chamber member. When that promotion occurred to that prominent business body, we understand that there was an intervention from the Italian Embassy.

This is the chain of events here: a mobster has lobster with prominent Liberal figures; this prominent mobster is promoted by a prominent Liberal figure to a chamber; and the head of the institute who promoted this figure has now been awarded a contract by the government, without a contract, tender or procurement. What part am I missing about this? What is it that I am missing? And the Premier when asked acted like he did not know anything about his plan. I will paraphrase what the Premier said. He said, 'Don't ask me, I just work here.'

Mr Brown: 'Just my plan. Don't ask me about my plan.'

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: 'Don't ask me about my 100-day plan. I'm just the Premier.' I have to say that I am very concerned about this, and I think that many South Australians would be concerned to hear that the Premier has awarded this contract to this organisation without process given the links that this man has to prominent organised-crime figures in Victoria, and given that this man, from some media reports, is under independent investigation by the Victorian government. I do not have the details of that independent investigation, but these are very concerning allegations.