BURNSIDE COUNCIL

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:11): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for State/Local Government Relations a question about the Burnside Council.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: The minister's handling of the Burnside Council issue has attracted some comment and considerable criticism. We are aware now that the taxpayers of South Australia are paying Channel 10 sports reporter Mark Aiston's company (mediainsider) $500 per hour to provide media training to minister Wortley. In an interview with the Eastern Courier Messenger on 8 July the minister was asked, 'Have you read the MacPherson report? Are you legally allowed to read it?' Minister Wortley's response was:

I haven't read the report and I can't because there's a suppression order. It allows me to have a much more objective view and I can't take anyone's side.

In response to a series of further questions from media outlets too numerous to mention he was asked about this issue of reading the report. He stated the following to a number of media outlets as to why he could not read the report:

Once you read the report you then have information in your own head which during these interviews I could let out and which would have me in breach of the suppression orders,

As I said, he repeated that explanation, believe it or not, to a number of media outlets. My questions to the minister are:

1. Who advised him that he was not legally allowed to read the report due to the suppression order?

2. When the minister told the media, and I quote again:

Once you read the report you then have information in your own head which during these interviews I could let out and which would have me in breach of the suppression orders,

did Mr Mark Aiston provide him with that gem to use in media interviews, or was that all the minister's own work?

3. What has been the total cost of the media training provided by Mr Aiston's company (mediainsider) thus far?

4. Is the minister scheduled for further remedial media training by Mr Aiston's company in the future?

The PRESIDENT: Will the honourable minister respond to that funny sort of question?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:14): That deserves a response, and I actually thank the member for giving me the opportunity to respond. I do not think there would be a person in this room who has made statements that, in hindsight, if they had their time over again, they would not have made. I came out of the 5AA studio to a pack of media (a media pack) and I was in a jovial mood. If you look at it I was laughing and smiling. Just off the cuff I said, 'I haven't read the report because I might let something out that I don't know.' I made that comment. If I had my time over again—but you live and learn.

I have learnt from that mistake, and it will definitely not happen again. You can laugh about it all you want, that's fine, the joke's on me. I have had media training. I booked the media training on 5 July. I will read a quote from the Leader of the Opposition today, when she was asked what she thought of members of parliament having media training. She said:

From the point of view of members of parliament, though I think it's appropriate that we do get some training, I've had to learn a lot on the job as I go through life, but learning where to look when you have cameras from different angles pointing at you and those sorts of things is not natural.

Even the opposition leader understands the need for media training. I would like to make the position quite clear right now. In many years as a union official I negotiated very many training courses for our members in the industry. I never once in 20 years had an employer say to me that they would not fund the training for their people to do their job.

I am up-front and honest about this. I have had the media training. I advise any person who becomes a minister or anyone who becomes a member of parliament to undertake media training. With regard to the cost, I will take it on notice and forward that in the near future.