Brand South Australia

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:20): No; no supplementary. I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment regarding Brand SA.

The PRESIDENT: Is this your second question?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Second question.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: I again refer to the letter the Hon. Emily Bourke tabled yesterday. That letter was received at approximately 11.30, some two and a half hours prior to yesterday's Legislative Council question time. In question time yesterday the minister was directly asked, and I quote, 'has the minister read the contents of the letter from Mr Peter Joy'. The minister answered with a very simple and definitive, 'No.' It is almost inconceivable that in the two and a half hours prior to question time yesterday no-one from the Premier's office who was copied into this letter informed the minister that there had been explosive allegations that made mention and directly implicate the minister in this funding cut fiasco.

Either the Premier's office or, much more worryingly, the minister's own office had that little regard for the minister that they choose to keep him in the dark on these matters, or alternatively the minister did read the Peter Joy letter and is not being truthful in his answer to this chamber. Again, a series of FOIs that have been lodged will shed significantly more light on this issue. My question, simply, to the minister is: why was the minister kept in the dark about this letter?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (14:22): I wasn't aware of the letter until the Hon. Ms Bourke tabled it in the chamber yesterday.