Grievance Debate

State Liberal Government

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (16:14): I welcome the opportunity to be able to address the house in this format for the first time since the midwinter break because, of course, it has been an incredibly eventful few weeks during the course of the parliament's winter recess. Most MPs in the parliament, I am sure on all sides, took the opportunity to get out and engage with their communities and spend some time talking to people about their circumstances and how they have been impacted during the course of the COVID-19 led recession.

It is hard not to get overwhelmed, when you get out and talk to people about it, by the level of human tragedy within our community, not in regard to the health response, because that has been largely very good in South Australia, but in regard to the economic response. There is a lot of human tragedy in our community at the moment. In my own electorate, I spoke to people who own cafes and restaurants who are grappling with their decisions to have to lay people off, notwithstanding the support of JobKeeper.

I heard of one gentleman who took out a very substantial loan to keep his hotel laundry business going not knowing what the future of that debt is and his capacity to be able to service it because he does not know how long the pandemic will last. That was having implications for his family and children. These are human stories, real people who are currently looking to government for leadership in their time of need, and that includes leadership from the state government. That includes having a government that is exercising the function of delivering policy in a way that will make a material difference to their lives.

They are looking to those opposite for policy, reason, consideration and leadership. They want to see people caring about their jobs rather than their own, and it is incredibly unfortunate that throughout the course of the winter break we saw anything but that occurring. What we saw was a government mired in a scandal of its own making as a result of a suite of Liberal country MPs doing everything they possibly could to maximise the benefit to them as a result of living beyond the 75-kilometre radius.

It is a crisis that has engulfed the government. It has already been well litigated in the media and in the public sphere, and it will continue to be litigated in this house. But the problem is that that crisis has resulted in a substantial change in the ranks within the government. What we have seen is a comprehensive reshuffle, a bunch of leadership roles changing as a result of that country members' allowance scandal. Now, this week, in this place, upon return back to parliament what we are starting to see unfold is the consequence that is happening on the functioning of the government and, indeed, the impact that will have on real people's lives.

Let's start by looking at some of the new faces we have, none less than the Speaker himself, who took the opportunity of his elevation to immediately embark on a partisan attack rather than try to allow for the ordinary, practical and appropriate functioning of the house itself—hardly bodes well for good government. Then, of course, let's take the new Minister for Police. What did he do on the first opportunity he rose to his feet? He decided to make a scandalous attack on the shadow minister for police, a good man who has been a serving police officer himself.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: Point of order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The leader will resume his seat.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: This is a personal reflection. I withdrew the comment and I apologised. This is a personal reflection on me, and it was not my first contribution.

The SPEAKER: The minister has withdrawn and apologised. The matter, I understood, was resolved to the satisfaction of the member for Elizabeth. He has raised a point of order. He has indicated that he has been aggrieved. The minister withdrew and apologised, so I ask that the leader not relitigate that matter in the circumstances.

Mr PICTON: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: On the point of order.

Mr PICTON: Point of order, Mr Speaker: this is the grievance debate of our parliament. The comment was said. It was not being raised as a point of order in the speech: it was being raised as part of a grievance speech. If your ruling goes through, you are effectively saying that we are not allowed to make comment on things that were said that were later withdrawn in parliament, which I think is not a particularly good precedent for our parliament to set.

The SPEAKER: It is not a ruling, member for Kaurna. The point of order has been raised. I am simply noting that the minister has already withdrawn and apologised.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: After the scandalous attack on the shadow police minister, the minister had to withdraw and apologise for it, and then he could not even let us know about what is happening at the Hindley Street Police Station, notwithstanding the fact that there is a For Lease sign out the front. Then, of course, we got the new Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Goodness gracious!

This minister is now responsible for one of the most important portfolios within the government. He is in charge of the infrastructure program that is supposed to be delivering real jobs to South Australia, and it turns out that it largely only exists on paper. Furthermore, on one of the central platforms of this government's policy agenda with regard to public transport, the privatisation of the train and tram network, apparently the minister has not even had the time to be briefed about such an important policy of the government. It is truly extraordinary.

My point is this: at a time when we have 170,000 South Australians currently either out of work or looking for more work, at a time when building approvals in the state are down 32 per cent, exports are down to 2.9 per cent of the national share when at the time of the election they were 4.1 per cent, at a time when we are in the midst of an economic crisis, this government has had to completely reshape its front bench, including a central economic portfolio, and this has all descended because of a crisis of the government's own making—and it is the people of South Australia who are set to suffer.

This cannot occur in a continued way for the life of this government. What we need is fresh leadership in this state, a serious policy agenda to address the economic crisis and a stable and united government that is concerned about South Australians more than themselves.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The leader's time has expired.