House of Assembly Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1) 54 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Grievance Debate Government Business Government Business The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL House of Assembly Mawson The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson) (15:22): All members of parliament work hard inside this place and also out in our electorates. I do not think there are too many people—certainly not in Mawson—who go through and check how many speeches I have made in this place. The Leader of Government Business told us last week that he was very, very excited about a statistic that will show how many speeches government backbenchers have made this year. He cannot wait until the end of the sitting year so that he can release those statistics. I just want to say to the Leader of Government Business: no-one out there in the real world gives a toss about how many speeches are made by backbenchers on either side about bills going through this place. It is— The Hon. S.C. Mullighan House of Assembly The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: It's the same speech, too. The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL House of Assembly The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: It is the same speech on the government's side. It gets handed around and some poor, unwitting backbencher has to read it out. You can tell it is the first time they have seen it, and we are hearing from government backbenchers that they are unhappy with that. It is also keeping us from the communities that we represent. I will stay in here for hour after hour, and I will be in here every day if that is what is required to pass legislation that will make a difference to South Australia. But if it is just about vanity— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL House of Assembly The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: —for the Leader of Government Business, it is time he grew up. When you are in primary school, you enter the walkathon or spellathon and raise money for the number of words you spell or how many kilometres you walk— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order, you two! The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL House of Assembly The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: That is where it belongs: in primary school, not in here. This is the place where we come to debate legislation and to pass bills so that we can make South Australia a better place— The Hon. T.J. Whetstone interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Minister, please. The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL House of Assembly The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: When we are not in here, we should be out at the year 7 graduations like at Rapid Bay, where I intend to be tonight, or tomorrow night at the Willunga Farmers Market Wilmark Awards. We need to be out there with the people because if we get back to democracy, it is of the people for the people, and that is where we need to be spending our time, not wasting it in here with repetition and needless and useless contributions from people opposite who have been handed a script just to fill in the time. We had an example a couple of weeks ago where the Leader of Government Business made us take a break of 90 minutes. We came back here at 7.30pm. Everyone had finished talking after about 25 to 30 minutes and then there was a flurry of speeches handed out to backbenchers on the government side to keep us here for another 90 minutes. I am a really hard worker. I work my absolute guts out. But sitting here for 90 minutes so that we can come back for a further 90 minutes defies reason. It is disrespectful to all the staff in parliament, it adds cost to the people in parliament and it is disrespectful to the people out in our electorates whom we should be out there joining in with at meetings and community organisations. I hope that this little juvenile, vanity pursuit of the Leader of Government Business will finish now. His game is over. I know that he is going to come out with these statistics and try to get an unwitting journalist to write about how wonderful this new government is and how many speeches backbenchers have made. People out there do not give a toss about how many speeches are made in this place. What they want is a better economy. What they want is more jobs. What they want is a better health system. What they want is a better education system. That is what we should all be working towards— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL House of Assembly The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: —looking after the people who vote for us to represent them in here. I know the Leader of Government Business is a new father, but we all have families as well, so when he gets a pair to go home to be with his child he needs to think about all the other families in here who are not getting that or the right to be able to go and spend time in their local electorates. I am hoping that, as we draw to a close for this first parliamentary sitting year with a Liberal government, when we come back next year we will see a different approach, an approach where we can come in here and work effectively and efficiently to get the legislation through so that we can spend time out in our electorates where it really counts, with the people who have elected us to come in here and do the work. I am looking forward to winding up this year and seeing a better attitude from the government next year. Time expired.