MATTERS OF INTEREST

PUBLIC SERVICE EMPLOYMENT POLICY

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (15:22): I rise to speak on a matter of great importance. Recently, the Liberal Party announced its policy to sack 35,000 South Australian workers. When the Labor Party produced a brochure highlighting this policy to the good people of South Australia, the Liberal Party, showing its usual poor political judgement, complained to the Electoral Commissioner that the brochure was inaccurate or misleading. This strategy backfired spectacularly. In the end, the Electoral Commissioner found no case to answer. An independent umpire had a look at it and judged that the ALP brochure stacked up.

Why might an independent umpire find it is fair to say, 'The Liberal Party wants you sacked'? Quite simply, because that is what the Liberal leader said. She tried to get out of it straight away though, that afternoon. Unbelievably, what the leader of the Liberal Party tried to say was, 'Oops, I didn't mean to reveal the policy. Didn't mean to scare people. Better try and hide it. Now we'll have an audit commission. And by the way, maybe I was incompetent and used the wrong figures.'

Somewhat ironically, this disingenuous tactic of trying to hide the policy was apparently the idea of the member for Waite. What did the media make of these tactics? Frankly, like most South Australians, they did not believe it. They just did not believe it. Mike Smithson on FIVEaa said:

She's let the cat out of the bag. Clearly that is going to become Liberal Party policy.

On the Liberal leader's attempts to rewrite the history of what happened earlier that day and claim that somehow she confused herself and used the wrong figures, again, the media did not believe her. They did not believe her. Angelique Johnson from ABC radio said:

I'd have to say the questions were black and white...There were no confusing questions...No trickery by journalists.

Ms Johnson went on to say:

But it doesn't really wash this...'I was quoting from the Liberal government'...as Simon Royal pointed out she was very accurate on how many staff were in the Public Service currently.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: Liberal government?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Liberal opposition. This attempt to try to make up excuses and deceive the people made the Liberal leader look even worse. They looked sneaky, deceitful, grossly incompetent, or all of the above. It got even worse for the opposition. While the Liberal leader was trying to back away from her gaffe, the former and occasionally loyal deputy was out there being his usual helpful self. He gave an interview to The Australian that afternoon, and what did he say about the Liberal Party policy to slash 35,000 jobs? Let me quote The Australian:

Mr Williams said the Liberal Party was 'of one mind' on cutting the Public Service. 'I think this is very consistent with the views of everybody in the party room' Mr Williams said.

Yes, the genius and very former deputy leader of the Liberal Party dropped you all in it. He let the whole world know that each and every member of the Liberal Party wants to sack 35,000 South Australian workers. The next day, on radio the Leader of the Opposition, in effect, admitting to wanting to smash the Public Service, foolishly said that her job cuts could be achieved by natural attrition and not affect front-line services. However, in a press release, dated 24 October 2006, the Hon. Rob Lucas said of the Rann government's announcement to cut 1,600 public servants, 'It is naive to think that all of these public servants will leave through natural attrition.'

So the Hon. Rob Lucas, a former treasurer, does not think you can reduce the Public Service by 1,600 through natural attrition, but the Liberal leader is out there trying to fool the good people of South Australia into believing that you can reduce it by 35,000 through natural attrition. It is little wonder, when considering this evidence, that the Electoral Commissioner found no case to answer in the Labor Party's brochure and found the truthfulness of the statement, 'The Liberal Party wants you sacked.'

The Liberal Party had its chance to change leaders recently and try to repudiate this. Many unnamed Liberal MPs were quoted in the media as saying that releasing this policy and the gaffe had just cost the opposition the next election, but 13 members of the Liberal Party decided that the party was firmly committed to this policy, and they probably realised that voters just would not believe that a change of leader would mean a change of policy.

Given the Electoral Commissioner's findings, and in an effort to help inform the good people of this state about the dangers of a divided, incompetent opposition, the Labor Party is now continuing to distribute these brochures. The Labor Party has now had printed tens of thousands more of these brochures. If any honourable members are interested in helping to distribute some of these brochures—I think the Deputy Leader of the Opposition has an interest in these matters—I am more than happy to give them some if they call by my office.