Attorney-General

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:38): My question is to the Premier. Why did the member for Bragg resign her Deputy Premiership, her Minister for Local Government and Minister for Planning portfolios, but not resign the Attorney-General portfolio? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: Both the member for Bragg and the Premier throughout the course of last week told South Australians that the Attorney-General was conflicted as a consequence of having oversight of the Ombudsman, yet she has resigned all her other positions but retained the very position she supposedly has a conflict in, namely, the Attorney-General's portfolio.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:39): I think this has been pretty well covered. The reason that she resigned as the Deputy Premier is we need to have a permanent Deputy Premier. That's the advice that we have received, so when she resigned from that role, pending the Ombudsman's inquiry, then we held a ballot in our Liberal party room and we now have the member for Stuart as the Deputy Premier for South Australia.

The reason why that had to occur was because it was determined that she would stand aside during the Ombudsman's inquiry. We don't know what length of time that is going to take. Is it going to be three days? Is it going to be three months? Is it going to be six months? So that's the reason to the first part of your question, why she resigned from that position. In terms of—

Mr Malinauskas: Why resign Local Government and keep the Attorney-General's portfolio?

The SPEAKER: Order, the leader! The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: To bring the member for Heysen into the cabinet, he needed to have a portfolio. He took the Planning and Local Government portfolio.

Mr Malinauskas: Why not just take the Attorney-General's portfolio?

The SPEAKER: Order! The leader is called to order. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: For all the reasons that we have outlined in plenty of detail—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for West Torrens is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —for a long period of time over the last 10 days, there was no reason for the Attorney-General to resign from that position. She provided me with the advice, the very strong advice—

Members interjecting:

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

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —that she would step aside pending the Ombudsman's inquiry, and that's exactly and precisely—

Members interjecting:

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

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —what she did.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Before I call the leader, the member for Chaffey and members to my left will cease their exchange.