Matter of Privilege

Matter of Privilege

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (17:49): Today in question time on 16 May 2019, the Leader of the Opposition asked the Premier the following question:

Has the Premier stripped all funding from Brand SA?

In response, the Premier told the house, and I quote:

I refer the Leader of the Opposition to the answers that we have provided in the Legislative Council.

In the Legislative Council, the Hon. Kyam Maher asked the Hon. David Ridgway, and I quote:

My question is to the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Has Brand SA been stripped of its funding, and has the successful I Choose SA campaign been dumped?

In response, the Hon. David Ridgway, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment said:

I thank the honourable member for his question. As members would know, the Marshall Liberal government undertook a major review of trade and investment, which was called the Joyce review, to help drive exports and investment growth. We are going to be making some changes as to how we promote South Australia to ensure that we are focused on promoting South Australia both interstate and overseas rather than within South Australia.

A supplementary question from the Hon. Kyam Maher:

…as part of the Joyce review, which the minister mentioned, will he rule out that Brand SA has been stripped of its funding?

Minister Ridgway responded:

As my colleague the honourable Treasurer said earlier, we are not going to play the rule in, rule out game. It's a game the opposition has played. We are not going to play the rule in, rule out game. We have a budget on 18 June, and that's when all will be revealed.

The Legislative Council was informed by minister Ridgway that no information would be published until the 2019-20 state budget is delivered to this house on budget day. Therefore, this house was directed to that information given to the Legislative Council by minister Ridgway by the Premier.

The opposition has received a copy of correspondence to Brand SA that the Premier personally signed, addressed to the chair of Brand SA, Mr Peter Joy, dated 16 May 2019. It was delivered to Mr Joy before question time today, and I quote:

Dear Peter,

Thank you for your letter of 13 May 2019 in relation to government funding to Brand South Australia.

I can confirm that following the Joyce Review, the government has decided to refresh how South Australia is promoted to drive economic growth. Accordingly, funds that previously were provided to Brand South Australia to promote the state will be reallocated.

I thank Brand South Australia for the role they have played over recent years and trust that individuals and businesses associated with Brand South Australia will continue to be strong advocates for this wonderful state.

Yours sincerely,

Hon. Steven Marshall MP

Premier of South Australia

16/5/2019

I believe the Premier has deliberately and intentionally misled the House of Assembly to disrupt the business of the house by misleading it about when a government decision would be announced in relation to Brand SA's funding to halt further questioning on the matter during question time. The Premier's letter makes it clear he was aware that Brand SA's funding would be removed and the timing of the receipt of that letter proves that he knew before he received and answered his question from the Leader of the Opposition.

I believe that a prima facie case exists for the establishment of a privileges committee. I ask that the Speaker give consideration to my matter of privilege and rule if a motion to establish a privileges committee should be given precedence over other business in the House of Assembly.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for West Torrens, given that you have raised a matter of privilege, I will refer this to the Speaker, obviously, so if you could bring to me any documents that you might have there, I will forward them to the Speaker for his consideration.