Local Government Amalgamations

Mr TELFER (Flinders) (15:04): My question is to the Minister for Local Government. Does the minister support forced amalgamations? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr TELFER: The government has said it will accumulate the votes of both council areas in the South-East council plebiscite, rather than each council areas both being considered separately, and thus could have a recommendation to amalgamate that one of the individual councils do not support.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (15:04): We have been very clear about this. How much more evidence does the shadow minister want of the fact that we don't support forced amalgamations—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —than of course us having an utterly transparent, democratic process where absolutely everybody gets a say? The minister—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is warned for a second time. The member for Flinders is called to order. You have asked this question; the Premier is answering.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The Minister for Local Government has been on the record about this repeatedly, and if the shadow minister had been paying attention to what his counterpart has been saying—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Flinders! Member for Flinders, you are warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —he would know all too well what the answer to the question is. I would simply illustrate this point: that the very tenor, the very tone of the questions that the shadow minister is asking—in fact, all of the messaging that the shadow minister has been projecting on this issue ever since—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Flinders, you are on one warning.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —the government started to facilitate this question.

The SPEAKER: Order! Premier, there is a point of order from the member for Morialta, which I will hear under 134.

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner: Thank you, sir. Standing order 98 rules out debate. The Premier is now parsing and analysing the question and the stream of questions. That is debate. The question that the Premier is required to answer was in relation to forced amalgamations and, specifically, Grant to Mount Gambier.

The SPEAKER: That may be, but we are early in the answer and some latitude is offered as a matter of custom and has been offered by previous Speakers to both the leader and the Premier. Some context has been permitted. I understand the Premier is intending to introduce some context, both more generally in terms of government policy and in the course of answers that have been put to the government. I do emphasise the importance of standing order 98 to the Premier.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Let me characterise this another way in order to provide the context that is required for the definitive answer to the member for Flinders's question. We are now having a vote of the Limestone Coast community, or part of it—Mount Gambier, the Grant district council. That vote is the biggest community consultation that has ever happened in the state about a community consultation. We are having a vote to determine whether or not we consult the community.

Mr Telfer: That's not right.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: That is right. The member for Flinders—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Flinders!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —doesn't comprehend the fact that—

Mr Telfer interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Flinders!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —we have committed our policy, which is that if there is a yes vote—which is a big 'if'; I'm not a savant and I don't know what the outcome of the ballot will be—if we were to assume for just a moment that residents in Grant and Mount Gambier collectively decide to vote yes, then what will ensue is a community consultation.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Flinders!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: As I have explained repeatedly, as has the Minister for Local Government, we will both concurrently conduct an exercise that is more scientific in its basis through the local boundaries commission and the Productivity Commission, and then separately there will be a community consultation run by the government, which is within our purview. We will have a community consultation if this community consultation determines that it is necessary.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: That's right! It begs the question—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Morialta!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —what are those opposite worried about?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta, you are on three warnings.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: How could you not possibly support the proposition?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Flinders, you are warned for a second time. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: How could you not possibly support the proposition?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Unley! Member for Morialta, you are on three warnings. You well know the standing orders. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We are out there talking to people on the ground, as I have on a repeated basis.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: I think I have been down there—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —as Premier more than my predecessor was—throughout a whole term of government, I might add.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Nonetheless, we are out there talking to people. We are hearing what they are saying. We have an interest in that community, and we are facilitating them to have a say on their future. I say that's a good thing to do, and I think the people at the South-East agree.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morialta is on three warnings, with seven minutes remaining.