Adelaide Convention Centre Gala Dinner

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (14:36): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Assistant Minister to the Premier a question regarding the 29 May dinner.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: I have spoken to a number of people who attended that dinner on 29 May, and none of them were aware that it was a fundraising event—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: When you read the flyer you can understand how nobody would understand that. It might be a joke, but I imagine it breaches the law, this whole event.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: My question to the assistant minister is: exactly how many invitations to the 29 May dinner were issued to organisations that had applied for or received multicultural grant funding, and what guarantee can the assistant minister provide that no official government data, resources or personnel were used in organising the event?

The Hon. J.S. LEE (14:37): I invite the honourable member to name those individuals—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order, on both sides! The Minister for Human Services is out of order. The assistant minister has the call.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: Thank you, Mr President. It is ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous, to assume that I would send invitations to leaders just because they have benefited from a grant from the government. That is ridiculous. These are things that maybe the opposition would actually harness and do. We don't do that.

If I had done that the event wouldn't have been 923 people, I can guarantee you. It would be more than that. I had to put a stop on it, I had to close the bookings early, because they had reached capacity. I only invited people who were well known to me and then it was up to them, the leaders, to invite their friends. There is nothing wrong with those leaders wanting to invite their friends. So tell me and name those people who the member actually projected in his questions to me, that there were a few individuals who went to the opposition to release that information. I just invite the member to name them.