House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Ombudsman Investigation, Member for Bragg Ombudsman Investigation, Member for Bragg Mr TARZIA House of Assembly Hartley Ombudsman Investigation, Member for Bragg Mr TARZIA (Hartley) (15:20): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Following the report of the Ombudsman, will the minister withdraw the allegations he made during a hearing of the select committee on 3 November last year about conflicts of interest? With the leave of the house, I will explain. Leave granted. Mr TARZIA House of Assembly Mr TARZIA: While the former Attorney was giving evidence to the select committee, the minister said the following: I put it you, Attorney-General, that if you are running a business directly opposite a forest that's being milled, and you're running a business, an Airbnb business opposite a forest that's being milled, it would impact your ability to rent out that property… The statements to parliament where you said you had no interests in land near or adjacent to any operation by KIPT is pretty clearly wrong… I think any fair-minded person looking at this would just think you didn't want anything near your land changed and therefore you did not approve this port. The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly West Torrens Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Minister for Energy and Mining The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (15:21): I stand by all of that, every single word of it, every sentence, every syllable of that. I stand by it because it's true. There was a forest that was going to be contracted to KIPT that was— Ms Chapman House of Assembly Ms Chapman: What? The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: There was a forest that the committee found was going to be contracted to KIPT— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Sorry, the way I viewed it, my memory of it—and if I'm incorrect I will correct the record— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: My memory of this is that the forest adjacent to your property, the timber would have been contracted to KIPT. KIPT executives gave evidence to the committee saying so. I hope the Ombudsman wasn't told something different, because that's what we were told by KIPT, so I stand by that. That property was being used as a business— Mr Marshall interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order, member for Dunstan! The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: And I also say—not thrice, just once. An honourable member House of Assembly An honourable member: One out of three ain't bad. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I also point out that the former Deputy Premier told this house that the proposed freight routes did not go past Mayor Pengilly's house. That wasn't true: they did. That's why the former Deputy Premier was found guilty of misleading the parliament and, in an unprecedented way, had a no-confidence motion passed against her and subsequently was no longer the Deputy Premier or planning minister. She resigned those positions—not sacked; she just came to that conclusion herself, apparently. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, please be seated. There is a point of order. I will hear the member for Hartley. Mr TARZIA House of Assembly Mr TARZIA: Point of order: with respect, this is now debate, so 98, sir. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley draws standing order 98 to the attention of the house through me. I will listen very carefully. The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I stand by those statements, absolutely I do. If those statements are incorrect, I invite members opposite to ask for a privileges committee to be established. I encourage you all to move as many motions as you like because, I have to say, when we were accusing the then Deputy Premier of misleading the parliament we didn't control the chamber. We had only 19 votes. We were the opposition, and because we were the opposition we couldn't govern we couldn't take away her commission. Members opposite saw to that. I say to the Deputy Dufont aspirant, when he eventually builds those two votes to get a majority of nine, is it—what do you need, six?—to become deputy leader, you can fall on your sword and allow the member for Bragg return to her rightful place. In the meantime, the only member for Bragg that I will be ever apologising to is the former one who joins us in the gallery, a fine representative of the Liberal Party and of the eastern suburbs, the Hon. Graham Ingerson, who upheld the finest traditions of the Liberal Party.