Riverbank Arena

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (14:50): My question again is to the Premier. Why hasn't the Premier released the business case for the new stadium in conjunction with the budget, as he committed to when he first announced it in March of this year?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Elizabeth!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:50): Those opposite continue to characterise this as a basketball stadium and, whilst there will be basketball played there, there will also be netball played there. We think it is really important to get female sport centre stage in that overall Riverbank Precinct. We think it is absolutely important and something that should be done.

It is one of the areas that we focused on, and my understanding is that there has been an agreement with the Thunderbirds to play some of their matches at the existing Adelaide Entertainment Centre as a precursor ultimately to the Riverbank arena. It just would be fantastic, wouldn't it, to see the Thunderbirds play in terms of a capacity crowd.

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Minister!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We have obviously been investing very significantly in women's sports since we came to government—

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier will resume his seat. The member for Lee rises on a point of order.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Once again, standing 98: debate. The question was quite specific about the business case, not the playing arrangements of the Thunderbirds.

The SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order. The Premier will direct his answer to the specific question. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: As I was saying, Infrastructure SA has done work on this business case. They have evaluated it, and, of course, Jeremy Conway, the Chief Executive of Infrastructure SA, actually appeared before a Budget and Finance Committee earlier this week. He answered a series of questions from the opposition. I am not sure whether they were paying attention. I know it is a committee from the other place, but usually in a political party people get along, they give people a call, flick somebody a text—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It's commonplace on this side of the house.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier will resume his seat. The member for Lee rises on a point of order.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Once again, standing order 98: the question was quite specific about why the Premier hasn't released a business case, not about turbulence in his political party.

The SPEAKER: I have upheld a point of order.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I remind the member for Lee that there is no occasion for the introduction of further remarks in the course of making a point of order. I uphold the point of order. The question was directed to the release of the business case. The Premier will direct his answer to the specific question. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: As I was saying, there are various milestones with regard to this project. The most recent one, which was released by Infrastructure SA, is that this project is ready for investing. Now, of course, all that detailed design work is done. We have seen some fantastic images of what this incredible new facility could look like. We know what the benefits are going to be, whilst those opposite are sceptical. They have been sceptical about lots of things, including—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —being very sceptical about projects like the Adelaide Oval Hotel, which those opposite were very sceptical about. In fact, many people in South Australia were very sceptical about it.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: The Premier will resume his seat. The member for Lee on a point of order.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Yes, Mr Speaker. Once again, standing order 98: debate. The question was quite specific about why the Premier hasn't released the business case, as he previously committed. We have traversed the Thunderbirds, political turbulence in parties and now a hotel.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Lee has now raised the point of order on three occasions. Again, I uphold the point of order. I was listening carefully to the Premier's contribution following that further specific direction, and I'm—

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I'm in the course of ruling on the point of order. I'm listening carefully to the Premier's answer and looking for the context in which the Premier is addressing the timing or circumstances that might relate to the release of the business case or otherwise. The Premier has been directed to the specific question, and the Premier will address the specific question. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you very much, sir. As I was saying, Jeremy Conway, who is the Chief Executive of Infrastructure SA, appeared before Budget and Finance only earlier this week, and members of the opposition had the opportunity to ask detailed questions about the project. They had that opportunity and they asked those questions, and I encourage them to share some of those notes—or maybe the member for Lee could take a look. I think it has all been captured by Hansard.

It is not clear to me what detailed information over and above what has been provided the member for Lee actually requires. What we do know is that they oppose it. We are going to build it: they oppose it.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Mr Speaker—

The SPEAKER: The Premier will resume his seat. The member for Lee, on what I presume to be a point of order on standing order 98, and once again reiterating the point of order he has made on a number of occasions.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Thank you, sir.

The SPEAKER: At this point I will move on. Does the member for Lee seek the call?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: No, sir.

The SPEAKER: The member for Elder.