Question Time

Inviting the World to Walk Through our Door

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:18): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Employment a question about somebody he considers as one of his very best friends, the Minister for Investment and Trade, and his latest publication, South Australia. Inviting the World to Walk Through our Door.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I think it was a couple of weeks ago at a lavish function that this book was launched, and I was very privileged today to receive it in the mail from the Minister for Investment and Trade.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: It wasn't autographed and I'm disappointed, and that will be one of my questions: can they take it back and get it autographed for me? It was published a few weeks ago and launched at a function at the Adelaide Oval. It is interesting to note that it is very typical of a number of publications and what we see this government is telling all of us in South Australia about all the good work that the government is doing, when really realistically it should be advertising what we do for the rest of the world.

I also note, before asking my questions, that the photograph of the honourable minister, Mr Hamilton-Smith, is one that I suspect is at least 10 years old. That then brings into question the actual validity of the rest of the data in this particular publication if he is using a photograph that is potentially up to 10 years old. It looks like it was well before he was a leader of the opposition because he looks young and not too stressed. My questions to the minister are:

1. How many of these were printed and what was the cost of the printing?

2. In how many languages other than English were they printed and how many copies in those other languages were printed?

3. Why has the minister not used a current photograph of himself in the publication?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:20): I thank the honourable member for his hard-hitting questions and his continued attempts to bring down the government with his very difficult first question of the day. It is clear he is not one of the ones struggling for preselection at the end of this week, by the nature of his questions. He is not battling it out; he does not feel the need to perform in this chamber. However, I will take the questions on notice and bring back a reply to his very incisive questions about what photos were used.