DOME Funding

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:23): My question is to the Premier. Is the Premier aware of correspondence written to him from the DOME organisation dated 24 March this year, and will the Premier reconsider reinstating funding to DOME?

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Innovation and Skills.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley—Minister for Innovation and Skills) (14:23): Thank you, sir.

Mr Malinauskas: The question is about a letter to the Premier.

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: A letter was written.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister will be seated for one moment. I remind members about the unity of cabinet principle, and any minister may answer.

The Hon. S.K. Knoll: Solidarity.

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Transport says 'solidarity', and he is called to order. The minister has the call.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir: what responsibility to the house does the Minister for Innovation and Skills have for correspondence to the Premier?

The Hon. S.K. Knoll: That is a bogus point of order.

The SPEAKER: Yes, that is a bogus point of order.

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Yes, he should, and he is warned for a second and final time. I am not going to remove him, but I could have. You are on two warnings and the minister has the call.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: We have a system in South Australia: it's called a cabinet government. Many people write to the Premier—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: —and the Premier rightly does the right thing: he sends it to the experts for the answer. It might surprise some on that side that the expert—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Do not provoke the opposition, minister.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: —in this case is the member for Unley. Right?

The SPEAKER: Do not provoke the opposition.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: Of course, I responded on behalf of the Premier, and I responded not long after the Premier received that on 8 April. In that correspondence, I invited DOME to continue talking to my department about how they can be involved in the government's agenda for skilling the South Australian workforce and supporting mature age workers here in South Australia. So DOME wrote? Yes. Did they get a response? Yes, they did, from the appropriate minister. I am very pleased that so many people do write to the Premier because it seems to be a sign that the Premier has a reputation of responding. People wouldn't be doing that if—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: —they weren't getting answers—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is warned.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: —and they get them in a very timely manner. I tell you now, they get a higher preference than—

The Hon. A. Piccolo interjecting:

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

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: —the form letters that come out on all sorts of issues—

Ms Stinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Badcoe!

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: —from the lunatic fringe. This is a very important issue for this government. We are the only major party that had skills training on the election agenda. We took a policy to the last election. We have a mandate for change because it wasn't working under those opposite. It wasn't working under those opposite. Only a fool would think you could continue doing what wasn't working and get a different result. I am not going to make any further comment on that comment. We have a mandate to improve and increase skills training here in South Australia, and we are also a government of innovation and we have been very innovative in the way that we have delivered our Skilling South Australia program.