Grievance Debate

Australian Labor Party

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (15:23): We are nearly six months into the first term of the Malinauskas Labor government and we are now seeing some very worrying patterns of behaviour emerging. Failure to deliver on major projects, a lack of transparency, jobs for mates, arrogance—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —arrogance demonstrated so well by the member for West Torrens, and poor judgement also demonstrated so well by the member for West Torrens, plague this government day by day. Over the winter break, though, arguably the most concerning behaviour was uncovered: a six-figure donation to the South Australian Labor Party from the John Setka-led Victorian branch of the CFMEU in the days leading up to the March 2022 state election.

John Setka is incredibly well known across not just the union movement, not just parliament, but actually in the day-to-day community and in the courts system as a militant unionist with a history of thug behaviour, terrible behaviour on worksites, who clearly has an issue respecting and treating women well. He is a perpetrator of domestic violence, a known perpetrator, and someone who people from industry, people from political parties, people from the Labor Party across this nation, people like Anthony Albanese, Labor Prime Minister of Australia, have sought to distance themselves from.

But that is not the case when it comes to the South Australian Labor Party. They have welcomed John Setka into South Australia. They have rolled out the red carpet for him, paid for by that $125,000 donation. They have opened the door for the Victorian branch of the CFMEU to undertake a significant takeover of workplaces in South Australia. They have given CFMEU members the capacity to sit on government boards, paid boards. I go back to jobs for mates.

After the revelation of the $125,000 donation entered the public record. We repeatedly, as an opposition, called on Premier Malinauskas for weeks to reject that donation. Not only that, we asked him to reject that donation and hand it to a domestic violence charity to send a strong signal that the behaviour of John Setka was not welcome in South Australia, not welcome on South Australian worksites, not welcome in the Labor administration of South Australia.

But what did the Premier do? He rejected those calls as 'a bit too cute'. What sort of message does that send to the victims of domestic violence in this state? What sort of message does that send? It sends a message that the Premier of South Australia and the Labor Party have a casual attitude to domestic violence and taking action to deal with it, and that is what we saw from this action—a casual attitude from Peter Malinauskas. When he did eventually—

Mr BROWN: Point of order, Mr Speaker.

The SPEAKER: Order! Leader, please be seated. There is a point of order which I will hear from the member for Florey under 134, the returning member for Florey.

Mr BROWN: I ask the Leader of the Opposition to withdraw that remark about the Labor Party members having a casual attitude towards domestic violence. It might be his attitude but it is not mine.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morialta in relation to the point of order raised by the member for Florey.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: The member for Florey knows well that a class of people being described in such a way, such as the Labor Party in this case, has never been held to be in breach of the standing orders.

The SPEAKER: I will listen carefully to the point of order. A class has been identified. Unless the member himself is raising a point of order on his own—

Mr BROWN: Sir, I am personally offended by the remarks made by the Leader of the Opposition and I ask him to withdraw.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The house will come to order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Unley! Member for Newland! The member for Hammond was previously on two warnings: I reinstate those two warnings. Member for Florey, individuals are not readily discernible from the class. I am going to listen carefully to the leader.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: Thank you for your wise judgement, Mr Speaker. The very fact of this matter is that this is a government that displays immense arrogance. It dismisses the views of domestic violence victims in this case and it has created a situation where a militant union has rolled into this state, is taking over worksites and will push up the cost of construction through delays and productivity loss. This is what Labor is doing in this state, and this comes from a Premier who said that he would be overtly pro business. Well, we have not seen much of that since he took office in March 2022.

What we have seen is a Premier and a government which have been repeatedly anti-business. They have allowed the CFMEU to roll into town; they have caved into union pressure on the Return to Work bill; they have reviewed an independent decision regarding the future of the Brompton Gasworks site; they have been spreading information, misinformation, regarding paid parking, discouraging investment around shopping centre owners; and they have delayed major projects such as the north-south corridor. This is a government that has lost its way within its first few weeks in office. The evidence is there very clearly for all to see and it will be up to South Australians to make that judgement.