Adelaide Convention Centre Gala Dinner

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:26): Final supplementary: can the assistant minister see how some people might have felt pressured, and indeed conflicted, to come up with $180 for a ticket so that they would consider that their applications might be looked on favourably?

The PRESIDENT: The assistant minister, if she wishes to.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The assistant minister doesn't need any assistance from her own backbench.

The Hon. J.S. LEE (14:26): I am not sure whether any of the members of the opposition have actually organised a big event at a venue like the Adelaide Convention Centre. The cost of a meal, just the food alone, is about $90 to $100 per person, plus a drinks package of $40 to $50 per person, plus you have staging, you have AV, you have a band to play, and then also the chair covers, the centre lights and decorations, etc. There is really not much out of the $180 to pay for. It is to pay for people who want to come and join the celebration; it is not to do with fundraising as such. But because the opposition members keep referring to it as a fundraiser and because it is an event of the Liberal Party, they make an assumption that it is a fundraiser.