Independent Commission Against Corruption

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (14:59): My question is to the Attorney-General. Can the Attorney-General please update the house on how the 2018-19 state budget is delivering on the government's commitment to support the Independent Commission Against Corruption?

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General) (14:59): With pleasure. Thank you very much to the member for Finniss. I was in his electorate last week, and a pleasurable occasion that was. Thank you for the question. The member appreciates the gravity of the issues ICAC have to deal with, and I thank the member for his support.

The budget recently handed down by the government puts the money on the table for what we are committed to do. We went to the election saying we wanted public hearings. We have introduced legislation, which of course is being dealt with in the parliament, although temporarily of course, with the public integrity committee, and we have made sure that there is $7 million on the table so that we can investigate cases of suspected maladministration in public administration and corruption cases.

There is $7½ million for capital investment to actually prepare the site—build rooms, of course, to have public hearings—unlike the previous government. As I recall, they spent something like $11 million on the Sturt Street court renovation, which was so badly done that the Labor government—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: It was so badly done that the court has now closed and all that redecoration and refit are just sitting there, completely wasted.

The Hon. J.W. Weatherill interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Surely the member for Cheltenham is not interjecting.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: This is the sort of money they throw up against the wall. We know that the opposition had fought tooth and nail before the establishment ultimately of an ICAC. They have been beset with scandalous reports in respect of their conduct and their behaviour. I appreciate that some on the other side have had rather intimate and familiar knowledge about what happens in ICAC because they have been very publicly exposed in relation to their administration.

But the rest of us need to know, and the public of South Australia need to know, what goes on with respect to the commission's work, in particular with respect to misconduct and maladministration inquiries. We are committed to that. We want to make sure that there is every opportunity for the scrutiny of the conduct of the commission and the exposure, where appropriate, of public maladministration.

We will be reading, ultimately, the report which will be coming back to parliament and which we are expecting shortly, pursuant to the motion we passed and was extended to accommodate their work. We will be giving consideration to any of the matters, but no-one will be left in any doubt by the media coverage and the evidence that was presented to the committee in respect of public hearings that from every single witness it was absolutely clear, absolutely clear, the one thing that was common—that is, we must have public hearings available for the public to know what is going on and understand what the commission is doing.

That is the responsibility now that we have as a parliament—to progress that. As a government we're ready to do it. The money is on the table. It's in the budget. We're ready to go.