House of Assembly Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1) 54 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Keogh Case Keogh Case Mr KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly West Torrens Keogh Case Mr KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (14:49): My question is for the Attorney-General. Why didn't the Attorney-General delegate her decision-making powers in relation to the ex gratia payment to accused murderer Henry Keogh, given the Attorney-General has recused herself from the decision-making process in relation to other matters involving Keogh? With your leave and that of the house, I will explain. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Was that a no? There being a dissenting voice, leave is not given. However, the question can still stand. Member for West Torrens, would you like to reconsider? Mr KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly Mr KOUTSANTONIS: The government have withdrawn leave, sir— The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Yes. Mr KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly Mr KOUTSANTONIS: —in an unprecedented way. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Ministers will not interject. The question still stands without that last part. The Deputy Premier. The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN House of Assembly Bragg Deputy Premier Attorney-General The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General) (14:50): The member for West Torrens asked in respect of a freedom of information application matter, of which I delegated authority. Upon winning office, and I was very proud to be appointed the Attorney-General, one of the first things I did was to obtain advice from the Solicitor-General as to how I should be managing any matters in which I had had any involvement or given advice on in opposition in respect of a very long list of FOI applications. Some of them were still pending before SACAT, some of them had been completed, some of them were still being reviewed by the Attorney-General's office, or had been referred to the Attorney-General's office from myriads of other departments to which I had either sent FOI's whilst in opposition or to which some of my colleagues—some of them now in cabinet—had been party, and including a number of my own. One of them was in respect of a freedom of information application by Channel 7 in respect of the matter referred to, but on all of them I was advised to delegate my authority to the chief executive, and that's exactly what I did.