Question Time

Ministerial Travel

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (14:21): I seek leave to make an explanation prior to directing a question to the Minister for the Environment on the subject of overseas travel.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: In a feature story in The Advertiser this morning, under the heading 'Hey, big spenders—that's our cash you're splashing', it went on to say:

With the state in the grips of a jobs crisis, tens of thousands of South Australians are having to tighten their belts. But this appears to have been lost on our big-spending state politicians and bureaucrats.

In that major article, The Advertiser says:

Taxpayers were billed almost $100,000 to send a delegation of seven senior government officials led by Jay Weatherill on a week-long European sojourn, new figures show.

The World Summit for Climate and Territories brought the globetrotting group of South Australians together in Lyon, in France's south east, during the European summer in June and July.

The article notes further on, without going through all the detail, that in the delegation of seven was minister Hunter, a staffer to minister Hunter, and two public servants within his department, the chief executive, Ms Sandy Pitcher, and senior public servant, Ms Julia Grant. What the documentation shows is that the senior public servant, Ms Julia Grant, travelled business class on this trip to Europe at a total cost of approximately $9,200 for the travel component of the total costs.

Public servants are required to follow guidelines and determinations from the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment in relation to taxpayer-funded overseas travel. The relevant determination is 3.2, Appendix 1, Overseas Travel Arrangements. Under that subsection, Standard of Air Travel, it says:

All public sector employees are to travel economy class for general air travel, both interstate and overseas, except for chief executives who may travel business class.

Employees travelling with ministers or chief executives are to travel economy class.

Approval of business class travel may be given, where there are substantial reasons for an employee to travel business class. Approval is at the chief executive's discretion.

My questions to the minister are:

1. What justification can the minister give to the taxpayers of South Australia for the public servant within his department (who is not a chief executive officer) travelling business class to this overseas conference?

2. Can the minister assure this house that his staff member, Mr Mooney, did not travel business class?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:25): What an incredibly obvious question and, might I say, a very particularly juvenile one from a failed Liberal Party treasurer who has nothing better to do than set up questions in this place based on articles in The Advertiser. You would think that, given all the time that we've had before sittings, they could have done some work, they could have done some research—but no. Like his leader, the Hon. Mr Ridgway, they rely on articles in The Advertiser which are entirely predictable and, I might say, are purely there because of the government's proactive disclosure policy. We put all this information out into the public realm, and we make it obvious that we have nothing to hide on these matters—nothing at all.

I did travel to Europe between 28 June and 6 July 2015, as honourable members would know who might have read that article. The primary purpose of the trip was to participate in the World Summit on Climate and Territories conference in Lyon, France. I accompanied the Premier who attended in his capacity as Co-chair of The Climate Group's States and Regions Alliance. The world summit was a valuable opportunity to recognise the role of sub-national governments in tackling climate change. At the summit, the French President, Mr François Hollande, and the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Ms Christiana Figueres, confirmed that COP 21 would include a dedicated day for sub-national governments.

Meetings with The Climate Group and its members discussed the need to position the States and Regions Alliance at the centre of sub-national governments at COP 21. Of course, as one of the world leaders of the States and Regions group, it is very important that South Australia was there at that meeting and will be at the COP 21 in Paris later this year representing our state's interest on the world stage, one of the most important meetings of the decade: COP 21 in Paris.

I attended a series of bilateral meetings during the conference and also attended a conference in Brussels on 30 June on climate adaptation. These events provided me with the opportunity to brief a number of jurisdictions on the work the state is doing on climate change and also, by implication, the lack of action of the current federal Liberal government.

Importantly, the meetings provided valuable insight into the progress and likely outcomes ahead of the Paris climate negotiations in November this year, as well as work being done at the sub-national jurisdictional level around the world—insight which is important as the state formulates its climate strategy.

In February this year, the South Australian government announced its intention to make Adelaide the world's first carbon-neutral city. Whilst in Europe, I visited Copenhagen, which shares our ambition of becoming a climate-neutral city. I met with the technical Mayor of the Copenhagen City Council, Mr Morten Kabell, to discuss the council strategies which include waste-sector reform, renewable energy generation, policies to discourage carbon intensive forms of transport and encourage low carbon transport, and the limited use of low carbon offsets.

I also met with the project manager of the Copenhagen City Council's Plastic Zero initiative to learn about the operation of the waste sector in Copenhagen. It is very obvious that in South Australia, throughout innovative initiatives led by, in some part, Zero Waste SA, we are somewhat more advanced in the development of the waste and recycling industries.

I also met with the owner and operator of Denmark's energy distribution network, providing insight into how Denmark is managing its energy security while working to achieve a number of targets including: wind power constituting 50 per cent of the electricity consumption by 2020; electricity and heating systems being fossil-free by 2035; and Denmark being fossil-free by 2050. These are ambitious aims, and very credible.

I met with the Head of Press at State of Green. State of Green is a joint venture half owned by the Danish government and half owned by a consortium of Danish companies with expertise in the green economy, a sector representing 7 per cent of Danish exports. State of Green markets Danish companies with expertise in the green economy to governments and businesses around the world. I'm currently exploring the possibility of Green Industries SA replicating the State of Green model as part of its role in commercialising and selling South Australian expertise in the waste, water and climate sectors.

In relation to some of the comments made in the honourable member's explanation before asking the question, let me just reflect for a minute where the ultimate thrust of his question will take us. As I said at the beginning, this story comes about because of the government's policy of proactive disclosure. There is no such proactive disclosure policy that is used by the Liberals in this place, indeed by any member at all.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: We're not in government.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: You are accountable for your travel, just as we are. If you head down this path where you try to indicate that travel is not an important part of government, or indeed of MPs' business, then it will be on your head.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! No debate. The minister is answering a question. Do you have a supplementary?

The Hon. R.I. Lucas: Is he still going or is that the end of his answer?

The PRESIDENT: I thought it was quite a comprehensive answer myself. Do you have a sup?