BURNSIDE COUNCIL

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (14:53): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for State/Local Government Relations a question regarding the Burnside council.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: On Thursday 7 July, in response to a question from the Hon. Robert Lucas regarding the Burnside council, the minister undertook to check whether any of the officers in his ministerial office had any communication with Labor lobbyist John Quirke, husband of former Burnside councillor Davina Quirke, about the inquiry by Mr MacPherson into the Burnside council. Accordingly, I ask: has the minister, or any officers in his ministerial office, had any communication with Labor lobbyist John Quirke, husband of former Burnside councillor Davina Quirke, about the inquiry by Mr MacPherson into the Burnside council?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:54): I think it is important that we put this whole issue into a bit of perspective. As we all know, from 2006 there were complaints into the Burnside Council. There were also all sorts of allegations, many of which were referred to the Anti-Corruption Branch. The Anti-Corruption Branch went through these allegations and found no substance to them.

It was well known that the Burnside council was dysfunctional because of the actions of some of the councillors—not all, but some of the councillors. What happened in 2009 when the chief executive resigned—

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: It was a pretty simple question that I asked.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: The minister then launched an investigation into the council. This council——

Members interjecting:

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: You will get your answer, but I think we ought to put it in perspective, this whole issue.

The Hon. R.I. Lucas: Is this worth $500 an hour?

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: Didn't Mr Aiston tell you to address the microphone?

The Hon. R.I. Lucas: We want our money back!

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Lucas should go back and read some of his answers in Hansard when he was the treasurer.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: What happened was that an inquiry that was to take 12 weeks is now entering its third year.

The Hon. R.I. Lucas interjecting:

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Mr President, I am quite happy to talk for 32 minutes. I am quite happy to do that, and I will if I have to.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Recently I became Minister for State/Local Government Relations and I was confronted with a Supreme Court judgement which determined that a number of the terms of reference were ruled invalid. What that meant was that it created quite a number of legal impediments to completing the report. I considered that I was not prepared to spend millions of dollars of taxpayers' money on a report that could take years to complete (if it ever was completed), so I made the decision to terminate the investigation.

I also wanted to assure the residents of Burnside that no allegations were going to be swept under the carpet, so I instructed the Crown Solicitor's Office to go through all the material and if there was any evidence of criminal activity to refer it to the DPP, bearing in mind that the DPP is an independent body; they can do whatever they want.

This is the course of action which is in the best interests of the ratepayers of Burnside and the taxpayers of South Australia. I, as minister, was not prepared to allow millions more dollars to be thrown down a black hole on an investigation that because of a legal—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: I will get to Quirky in a minute, but I will finish what I have to say.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: We now have a situation where the residents of Burnside can feel assured that if there are any allegations of criminality they will be referred to the DPP, an independent body which can then make a decision as to whether it wants to send any evidence off to the investigative body or not. In regard to John Quirke, I can assure you that neither myself nor my staff have had any contact with John Quirke over the Burnside issue.

The Hon. R.I. Lucas: Why didn't you say that in the first place?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: I wanted to lead up to a climax; I wanted to get to a climax!

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Well, we have wasted a few more minutes of your question time; over to you.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The honourable minister—

The Hon. R.I. Lucas interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The honourable minister Wortley has obviously been reading some of the Hon. Mr Lucas' old answers to questions, I think. The honourable minister.