Members, Accommodation Allowances

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:30): My question is to the Premier. If members of the Premier's cabinet have made errors that the Premier believes are unacceptable, what recourse or what reprimand has the Premier imposed upon his ministers for wrongful claims of the country members' allowance?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:31): I have just made it very clear that I have asked people to go through those records over an extended period of time, identify any errors and rectify them as quickly as possible. But, more than that, we now have an arrangement which we have put in place going forward, which will provide much greater transparency for the taxpayers of South Australia, not on an annual basis, not on a quarterly basis but on a monthly basis, down to the individual MP and the nights they are away from their electorate in Adelaide on business and eligible for the accommodation allowance.

That is now there for the entire public to scrutinise at a much higher level than was ever provided under the former government, on a much higher level of scrutiny than under any other government in the country. I think this is a movement in the right direction.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: In addition to that, the government has written to the Auditor-General, and let's not forget for one second that it is indeed the Auditor-General who provides oversight of this parliamentary allowance. It's not a government allowance: it's a parliamentary allowance, and it's the Auditor-General who has responsibility for making sure that members act in accordance with those guidelines.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We have asked the Auditor-General to provide a greater level of scrutiny; in fact, we have suggested to the Auditor-General that he may choose—we cannot direct him, but he may choose—to conduct random audits of country MPs' accommodation allowance claims. This will assure the people of South Australia that, when we spend a cent of their money, it is done in accordance with those strict guidelines.

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned. Member for Playford, you can leave for 25 minutes for repeated interjections during the Premier's answer.

The honourable member for Playford having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee will be following him shortly.