Atkinson, Hon. M.J.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:49): The headlines of the last week, such as 'Speaker sorry for creepy Tweets', with allegations of bullying, sexist harassment, inappropriate behaviour and so on, are an indication of a sad and ignominious end to a very long career from Speaker Atkinson. The sad fact for Speaker Atkinson is that he has been a serial offender in relation to these types of allegations. I have previously placed on the record, on behalf of former staff, two successful staff claims of bullying against Speaker Atkinson in 2013 and 2015, which were settled at taxpayers' expense. I put on the public record details of another staff member who had given evidence that she had been reduced to tears as a result of the behaviour of Speaker Atkinson in his office.

Evidence going back to previous select committees—and let me refer to the Atkinson-Ashbourne select committee where the former deputy leader of the Labor Party, Mr Ralph Clarke, in evidence indicated that the member for Florey had told him during 2005 that the attorney-general had bullied her over a number of incidents and that she had at one time gone as far as taking advice from the police. That is the advice from two former Labor members in relation to Mr Atkinson's treatment of one particular member.

The issue of Speaker Atkinson's career is one that will take longer than five minutes to address, but I do want to indicate that his reputation as a member and as a Speaker will be forever stained by the Atkinson-Ashbourne affair. Members will recall that this relates to claims made by former deputy leader Ralph Clarke that offers were made to him for two board positions at a total cost of $60,000 to taxpayers for him to discontinue a defamation action against Mr Atkinson. That was the subject of a number of inquiries. Speaker Atkinson was then forced to stand down from his position as attorney-general by a furious, we are told, acting premier Kevin Foley and there was subsequently a select committee of this parliament and the majority of the members found in that particular select committee as follows:

The claim made by Attorney-General Atkinson that he was not aware that Ralph Clarke was offered government board positions in connection with the finalisation of the defamation case is not credible. The Attorney-General's claim is directly contradicted by his own staff and is inconsistent with the evidence of numerous witnesses.

That inquiry showed that former Atkinson staff member George Karzis, Labor staffer Randall Ashbourne, evidence from Cressida Wall, who was the chief of staff to Kevin Foley, Ralph Clarke himself, former Labor MPs Chris Schacht, Murray DeLaine and Labor party members Gary Lockwood and Edith Pringle at various levels did not provide any support for Mr Atkinson's position or directly contradicted Mr Atkinson's claims in relation to that tawdry affair. There is no doubting, as I am sure most members would acknowledge, that Mr Atkinson should have resigned from his position permanently as attorney-general. If he had not resigned, he should have been sacked by the premier if there had been any level of decency under the Labor government at that particular time.

There is no doubting that, if there had been an ICAC at that time, this is exactly the sort of issue that the ICAC was brought into South Australia to investigate. What we had from a former deputy leader of the Labor Party—not someone associated with the Liberal Party—was a clear accusation that he had been offered two paid board positions at taxpayers' expense for him to discontinue a defamation action against attorney-general Atkinson. That was the situation; they were the claims that were made and there was no doubting, in my view, that is one of the reasons why we needed to establish an ICAC in South Australia.

In concluding, as I said, it is a sad and ignominious end to Speaker Atkinson's career. I go back to some of the claims that he made in his very early days as a fair indication of the measure of the man. I look at some of his literature, which he circulated in his electorate, proudly boasting, and I still have a copy here, 'No white limousines or junkets for Michael Atkinson.' My message to the electors for Speaker Atkinson's electorate: judge him against his particular claim that he made when he originally sought office back in the eighties and nineties.