Member's Remarks

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (14:47): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the minister advise the house what happened 11 years ago today?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:47): Eleven years ago today I was a young, idealistic trade and investment minister—

An honourable member: When you could travel.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —when you could travel—and I was asked a question by the then Leader of the Opposition, Mrs Redmond, about a series of budget measures regarding Tiger Airways.

As I was giving my answer, there was an interjection from the member for Chaffey, 'Speak English.' The Hansard has recorded it, and the Hansard has me saying:

She took it off him. That's okay. He had all day in estimates; but I'm with you, brother. $2.25 million was provided—

I was obviously trying to make some sort of joke.

An honourable member: Good speech.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Good speech. Mr Whetstone interjected, the Hansard shows. Then it shows me saying 11 years ago today: 'What did you say? Speak English?' Mr Whetstone's response: 'Yes.' My response then—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —is the same as it is now. I do speak English, and if you are making a reference to my Greek heritage, I am proud of my Greek heritage and I will not take offence from someone like you. Perhaps you should go back to the Riverland and speak to the people there of Greek heritage—in Barmera, in Renmark, in Loxton—and see what they say to you about this outrageous attack.

Mr Speaker, I am sick of this. It's got to stop. I know that in the to-and-fro of politics things can get very, very personal, and we can talk about ideology, about party, about policy. This goes too far and it's got to stop, and trying to pretend that it didn't happen makes it worse. I would also point out to the house that this person now is a shadow minister again, a shadow minister of the alternative government.

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Florey is called to order. I will hear a point of order under 134 from the member for Morialta.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Standing order 98: the member was asked about circumstances 11 years ago. He has talked about the matter that he was involved in and from his perspective and the house understands that. He is now entering debate, matters for which he is not responsible to the house.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Morialta, I hear your point of order. I may say this may be the broadest question that I have ever heard, and if it's not the broadest then it would be in the grand final. I am listening carefully to the answer, but I am not certain that it is going to be a matter with which 98 is going to engage.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Can I make one further submission?

The SPEAKER: Very well.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: There can be broad questions for which ministers are responsible for elements to the house and can have some scope in doing so, but when a minister—and this is a point that the member for West Torrens made during the last parliament dozens of times—ascribes matters to the opposition, they are automatically almost, by his submission, and I am happy to have more flexibility, usually in that case, as in this, entering into debate.

The SPEAKER: That may be. I'm not going to rule on the point of order, but I do observe this: standing order 126 of course provides a mechanism for a member to ask for a statement to be withdrawn. The member for Chaffey has raised a point of order with me in relation to that standing order, as I understand it. Standing order 127, of course, also prevents digression or personal reflection on members.

We now have an engagement between both major parties which deals with, certainly, the standing orders and an effort to ventilate matters that might otherwise be best left outside of the chamber. What I am going to do is invite the member for Chaffey to address me on this matter. It may be that I don't need to rule on this point of order and we can move forward.

Mr WHETSTONE: I withdraw that point of order.

The SPEAKER: Very well. I'm going to hear from the minister and then, ideally, the house is going to return to its business.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: We should return to our business. I just point out to the house that not 10 minutes ago the house was assured that these statements were never made, and they are on the parliamentary record. I ask members to reflect on that. We are the majority, so there will be no privileges motion because we can't have the majority investigating the minority, but it's a clear-cut case. It's obvious. I'm glad the member has withdrawn it and I just hope perhaps the Leader of the Opposition might want to have a quiet word with his shadow cabinet about these references in future and about the line of questioning about ethnic community clubs and the work that they do. This serves no-one.

The SPEAKER: The point of order has been withdrawn and the matter has been resolved.