Mining Legislation

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:16): So consultation means nothing. My question is to the Premier.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr MALINAUSKAS: Will the Premier now—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Education is called to order. I remind members that there is something on the Notice Paper at the moment pertaining to mining. I will hear the question carefully.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: My question is to the Premier again. Will the Premier now honour his election commitment and consult with regional communities on the mining bill?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir: the Leader of the Opposition has just completely ignored your warning and is obstructing the house.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: Point of order on the point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Sir, the leader is not canvassing the merits of a bill.

The SPEAKER: I think the answer can be given without canvassing the merits of the bill. I will allow the question. The Premier has the call, and I expect him to be heard in silence or members will be departing.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:17): I am very happy to answer this question—in fact, any of the questions, as inane as they may be—from the current Leader of the Opposition.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is warned for a second and final time, and the member for Badcoe is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We don't have any questions from the deputy leader about important—

Ms Hildyard interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Reynell is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —public issues to do with education this week. We don't have many questions coming from the deputy leader at all about her portfolios. For some reason they don't want to talk about education. They don't want to talk about TAFE.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is warned for a second and final time. I have allowed the question.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: But we do have a question—

The SPEAKER: I have asked for it to be heard in silence. There are members on my left and right interjecting.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —from the Leader of the Opposition, and he is asking a question about consultation. Of course, my answer is that we are always consulting. We think it's really important in regional communities in South Australia. Consultation doesn't necessarily mean agreeing with every single person on every single issue. But being respectful, sitting down and listening to people—

Mr Odenwalder interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Elizabeth is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and making sure that government is informed of their thoughts is very important to this government, and we will continue consulting with people in regional communities and people from right across this state. We are the party—

The Hon. Z.L. Bettison: A decision you should have made yesterday morning.

The SPEAKER: The member for Ramsay is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —which arguably represents the broadest cross-section of the South Australian population. We are not the party of narrow interest groups. We are not the party which basically takes its riding instructions from the trade union bosses, like those opposite.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We are the ones who make up our own mind.

Mr Teague interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Heysen is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We are the ones who back the people of South Australia. Now, sir, you may like some evidence of this to back up the claims that I am making in parliament today, and I will just give you a couple of examples. This will be important for the Leader of the Opposition to perhaps tune into at the moment because, after their election loss at the most recent state election, he said he was going out on a 'listening' tour. He was going to type in some places on the GPS.

Mr Duluk: He hasn't been to Mitcham yet.

The SPEAKER: The member for Waite is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: 'Coomandook,' he said. 'Where's that?' he said.

Mr Pederick interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Anyway, he found Coomandook.

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: He hasn't been there yet, but he found out where it is. It's in South Australia. A couple of things that we were talking to the people of South Australia about—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —were things like rate capping. This was something that was hugely popular. Did they listen to the people of South Australia?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: No. No, they didn't.

The SPEAKER: The Premier will be seated for just one moment, please. There is a point of order from the member for West Torrens.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: This is now a debate, sir.

The SPEAKER: Debate.

The Hon. D.G. Pisoni: He asked about consulting.

The SPEAKER: I will deliberate on the point of order. For once, the Minister for Industry makes a very valid point: it was about consultation. However, I will listen carefully to ensure that the Premier sticks to the substance of the question. Premier.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The question was about whether the government would be consulting with people to inform decisions that we make as a government, and I gave the example of the rate capping consultation that we did. The opposition leader said he was consulting. I don't know who he was consulting with: 'Ring, ring. Is that Don? G'day, Don. What should I be doing today?' It's a little bit embarrassing. Of course, that's not the only thing he rang up Uncle Don about. Then there was shop trading hours: we consulted with the people of South Australia, and it's fair to say—

Mr Brown: What about in Millicent? Did you talk to the people of Millicent?

The SPEAKER: The member for Playford is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It's fair to say that everybody agreed with further relaxation, but that's the difference between us in the Liberal Party and those opposite: we listen to a variety of people—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and we make up our mind based upon what we think is in the best interests of the population overall. I don't think there are any doubts that the vast majority of people want further deregulation—

The SPEAKER: The Premier's time has expired.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —everybody, it seems, except the Leader of the Opposition.

The SPEAKER: Thank you, Premier. The member for Heysen and then the leader.

The Hon. Z.L. Bettison: Oh, a Dixer.

The SPEAKER: The member for Ramsay is on two warnings.