Members

Valedictory

Debate resumed.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Energy and Mining) (17:43): I am very sad that Stephen is leaving. I am very sad. He is someone who the party had promoted and supported and, as a grouping, we had always wanted him to do well and succeed—and he has. The thing about most of us in this place is we do not get to choose the timing of our exit. Some do; most do not. He will leave and be able to hold his head very, very high. He is a very talented individual who will be able to do anything he wants to when he leaves this place, and I wish him and Antonia all the very best. I will keep my remarks very succinct because there are other valedictories that are as important to hear today.

The best time I have had in this parliament and the worst time I have had in this parliament were the four years in opposition, between 2018 and 2022. I remember thinking to myself, 'I'm not sure we can kill this government.' They helped, but everyone played a particular role in helping this government emerge victorious in 2022. Every other government during COVID was re-elected and every other government that had been elected in their first term had been re-elected. The odds were against us. This government would not have been elected had it not been for Stephen Mullighan's role. Without him, this party would not have been able to form a majority.

We were a very, very good team in opposition, and I think when we meet up at Gaucho's in about 20 years' time, and we are talking, it will not be about budget bilaterals, it will not be about Northern Water or the north-south corridor—it will be about those four years in opposition and about our focus on space. So I just want to say to Stephen, Antonia and the kids—enjoy what is next. But most importantly, thank you for helping us get here, because without you we would not be here.

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (17:45): I am mindful that we have a few other valedictories to get through tonight that, as the member for West Torrens said, are equally important. I have some remarks from none other than the member for Morialta that he would like me to pass on to you, member for Lee.

The SPEAKER: You can table them.

Mrs HURN: His directions were very specific, and I quote:

After 42 years of parallel careers, it is fitting that we are leaving the parliament together, too. I would like to think that we do so with enough fuel in the tank to offer something useful to our state, but not in this building any more.

Throughout the campaigns in which I have observed you—from student elections to state elections—you were always a fierce and effective campaigner, who worked hard to convince voters of your team's virtues.

In parliament, your value to the Labor Party has never been greater: never taking anything for granted, you have always looked for and taken opportunities to advance the causes you have believed in. Your party should be grateful for your efforts, and I am sure that they are.

More importantly, as a minister, when matters have needed to be resolved with good faith discussion, you have been willing to have those discussions in good faith—even when the political temperature in here has been high.

When constituents have come to us with tricky concerns that fall within your portfolio, you have been willing to make best endeavours to fix them. As a local MP I am grateful for that.

As a north-eastern suburbs commuter, I am also grateful for the O-Bahn tunnel—a project that you drove hard as minister, and which has done a lot to improve the reliability of that service.

My personal observation is that you are someone who is able to work extremely hard, and apply yourself extremely effectively towards whatever goal you are setting your sights on, while remaining across a vast level of detail in big portfolios.

You have a real gift with words, and when partisan politics has not been at stake, I have found your speeches impressive in a range of contexts.

You have a sharp mind, and an admirable ability to immediately grasp the salient points of an issue, and understand what is important.

After 28 years of campaigns, I am glad that we will almost certainly never run against each other again, and I look forward to seeing whatever role you undertake next. I am certain you will do it well.

Those are the words from the member for Morialta. Whilst I am up here, too, I would just like to wish you all the best, Stephen, for the next chapter. I know we have not been in this place together long, but I have always really appreciated the chats that we have had and, likewise, on local issues that you have engaged with me in—somewhat reluctantly at times. I have really appreciated the way in which you have gone about things. So I wish you and your family all the best for the future.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (17:48): I will try to be brief, but I did want to ventilate a few comments in particular about Stephen and our friendship and work together over the past 24 years, half of which has been in this parliament and half of it outside of it.

Similar to the Premier, I first remember meeting Stephen when I was in Young Labor—a budding young 18 year old coming along to meetings, and Stephen was an elder statesman at the time as an elder 22 year old. He has always been a very wise counsel, and he was a person that I and many other people looked to for advice on how to go forth in politics and how to succeed. From then on he has always been a very good source of advice and counsel and support for me right throughout our careers together.

In fact, we both ended up as chiefs of staff together in the Rann government, Stephen in Treasury and I in Health, funnily enough, and then that was matched by our later careers where we have had seven and a half years together as the Treasury and Health representatives of the Labor Party here in this place.

Similar to what the member for West Torrens was saying, I think we will all look back on that time that we spent in opposition together. There is a lot to be said about how bad opposition usually is, but the thing about it was that we spent so much time together, we operated together as an incredible team and we were all laser-light focused on the same goal and we all played our role in terms of making sure that we were ultimately successful. Stephen as the Treasury spokesperson, of course, did the low-hanging fruit of attacking tax increases and attacking spending cuts, etc., but he would be forensic in drilling down into the budget papers, drilling through budget estimates, understanding and finding every possible avenue of attack on the then government.

As the Premier said, though, he was incredibly witty and incredibly funny through all of that as well and he was always the first, whether it was in a cabinet meeting or in a text message, to make the joke that would absolutely make you laugh out loud. Despite the teasing that we occasionally do to the member for Heysen, Stephen and I went relatively toe to toe from time to time in using the parliament for the longest possible speeches in this place to try to drag things out.

Stephen was also incredibly disciplined about how we would operate as an opposition to make sure that we put forward a proposition for the election, as the Premier said, that was costed correctly and we could balance the books. A sign of how successful that was was not just the fact that we were able to succeed in the election, and the press conference around costings went very well, but we were immediately able to go into formulating a budget and Stephen was immediately able to deliver the budget because of that meticulous costing that had happened.

I remember sitting on a Teams meeting with Stephen with the world's most complicated Excel spreadsheet going through our costings in the lead-up to the election—which I hope never to have to repeat again in the future. In government, as the Premier says, it is not always easy to be a Labor Treasurer, particularly for a very forward-thinking government that wants to do a lot of things. There might have been the odd BCC meeting where some of us would have liked to have been somewhere else—but Stephen was incredibly great at keeping us on task in terms of making sure that we had the fiscal discipline needed to run a successful government.

One example of the passion that I saw firsthand Stephen demonstrate in terms of an issue was with the work that he did around Western Hospital. If it was not for Stephen, Western Hospital would be closed right now. He worked so hard with the Treasury officials, with the SAFA officials to find a solution to keep the doors of Western Hospital open and the fact that those services are continuing there, staff are working there, is a credit to Stephen's hard work.

I was particularly shocked at the news, like many of us were, that Stephen was leaving. I thought that he would be the last of us still here. But when I look back and think about all the things that actually he did say to us over many years I should have seen it coming. I just did not believe him at the time when he was saying it. But I am delighted that he is going to be able to spend more time with Antonia, Ben, Isaac and Olivia, his wonderful family. We are sad that we will not be able to spend as much time with him here.

I am delighted that his successor in the seat of Lee is somebody who has worked for both of us in David Wilkins, who—pending election—I am sure will make an incredible contribution in this place. I know, Stephen, you will go on to incredible work outside of this place and we all look forward to working with you in whatever role that takes in the future. Thank you.

Mr BROWN (Florey) (17:54): I will be brief because I know that people are waiting to give their valedictories. I first met the member for Lee in 2003 when, one week after I had started working for the Treasurer, he started working for the Treasurer. I have to say that over the two years that we worked together in the Treasurer's office I was struck by his sharp mind and his very deep work ethic, and also that in his persona as 'The Kid' he was incredible on the karaoke stage.

It took some time for us to get into this place together, but, as other speakers have said, between 2018 and 2022 he was an absolute stalwart of the team trying to get Labor back into government. It was a team effort, but he gave as much as anyone on that team. I remember the fact that he was so keen to try to make every single post a winner. Whether it was giving a third reading contribution on the Supply Bill—as I understand, the first time that had happened since 1982—or speaking for 45 minutes on clause 1 of land tax legislation and whether the bill actually had the correct name or not, he did everything he could to try to get us back into government, and not for personal glory or his own aggrandisement but because he knew that the people of South Australia needed a Labor government, and he did everything he possibly could to get us back in.

He has been an extremely valued colleague and a good friend of mine, and I will miss him. I was shocked by his decision to retire, but it takes real strength to retire at the top of your game and he is doing that now. I would like to pass on my best wishes to Antonia and the family; I know they will be blessed for spending more time with him. Thank you, Stephen.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley) (17:56): I first met Stephen in the Blue Room; I think he was working for Kevin Foley at the time. One of my media talents happened to be an old scholar with him and he did not take very much time at all to think, 'I'd better find out what Pisoni's up to,' and reacquaint himself with the old scholar, but I do not think he was successful in getting any information.

Then, of course, we had a lot to do with each other when we appeared at the same place at the same time when I was the shadow minister for transport. I remember the robust estimates committees. At one particular one, we spent quite some time on trams: everything from length to cost and so forth. After I was sworn in as a minister, I bumped into Stephen walking up the stairs at Parliament House and he said to me, 'Look, David, make sure you find some time to enjoy the job,' and then for the next four years he did everything he possibly could to stop me from doing so.

I also thank Stephen, because whenever there was an issue that was not a political issue but an issue that was important to me or our team or a constituent, he would always take a call, always agree to a meeting, and was very respectful. It reminded me of World Championship Wrestling: my grandfather used to think it was real, but they were beating each other up and yelling at each other on TV and doing all sorts of damage to each other, and then behind the scenes they were all having a drink and laughing and joking. That was exactly how I felt in my dealings with Stephen.

So thank you, Stephen—a great move with the family. My kids were just a little bit older when I entered this place and I believe there were some important things that I missed, so please do enjoy that. Thank you for your service.

The SPEAKER (17:59): I would like to put on the record my thanks to you, Stephen, for the time that we spent in cabinet together and for the billions of dollars you provided for infrastructure projects in the electorate of Mawson. You and the opposition leadership team were amazing to get us back into government in 2022 and it was through your diligent work that we did that.

From the point of view of sitting up here and adjudicating this place, it is pretty hard to throw someone out or pull them up when they say something so witty that both sides of the chamber are laughing their heads off and that is what always happened after you threw in one of those barbs. So all the very best to you and your family for the future. It has been great working with you.