Legislative Council Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2) 54 2 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Question Time Gibson Electorate Office Gibson Electorate Office The Hon. K.J. MAHER Legislative Council Leader of the Opposition Gibson Electorate Office The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:25): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Treasurer regarding electorate services. Leave granted. The Hon. K.J. MAHER Legislative Council The Hon. K.J. MAHER: The opposition has received a copy of an email from another employee in the member for Gibson's office that contains notes of a telephone conversation with the member for Gibson that indicates the member for Gibson was aware that hours were being recorded incorrectly. I seek leave to table a copy of that email as well as a copy of the letter and the covering email that I referred to previously. Leave granted. The Hon. K.J. MAHER Legislative Council The Hon. K.J. MAHER: My question to the Treasurer is: Treasurer, is it a breach of the Ministerial Code of Conduct or any other public sector policy to, firstly, employ a member of your family in your electorate office and, secondly, to instruct staff to fraudulently enter timesheets to pay wages for hours not worked? The Hon. R.I. LUCAS Legislative Council The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:26): Firstly, I would invite the Leader of the Opposition and indeed the member for West Torrens to make those claims outside of parliamentary privilege and see what happens. It's very easy in this particular forum to allege criminal acts of fraud against a member of parliament— Members interjecting: The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: Order, the Hon. Mr Wortley! The Hon. R.I. LUCAS Legislative Council The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: —when the member is in parliament. I would invite him to have the courage to go outside and make those same claims— Members interjecting: The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. R.I. LUCAS Legislative Council The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: —on the steps of Parliament House and let him be judged as to whether or not he has the guts to go outside— Members interjecting: The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. R.I. LUCAS Legislative Council The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: —and make those same claims of criminal acts of fraud against a member of parliament in relation to this. Members interjecting: The Hon. R.I. LUCAS Legislative Council The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Well, they have been addressed, they have been refuted. The Hon. I.K. Hunter Legislative Council The Hon. I.K. Hunter: No, they haven't. The Hon. R.I. LUCAS Legislative Council The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: They have been denied by the member. Members interjecting: The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. R.I. LUCAS Legislative Council The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I have read the issues—the response from officers who report to the— The Hon. I.K. Hunter Legislative Council The Hon. I.K. Hunter: What about the second email? The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hunter! The Hon. R.I. LUCAS Legislative Council The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: —former Treasurer. The officers who report to the former Treasurer— The Hon. I.K. Hunter interjecting: The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hunter is out of order. The Hon. R.I. LUCAS Legislative Council The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: —in relation to these particular issues. Members interjecting Legislative Council Members interjecting: The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: The Minister for Human Services is out of order. The Hon. R.I. LUCAS Legislative Council The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: The member asked whether this was a breach of the Ministerial Code of Conduct. I remind the member that the member for Mitchell as he was, not the member for Gibson, wasn't a minister. He was actually a member of the opposition. So the silliness of the question that the Leader of the Opposition is asking when he says: was it a breach of the Ministerial Code of Conduct— Members interjecting: The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hunter is out of order and the Leader of the Opposition is out of order. The Hon. R.I. LUCAS Legislative Council The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: —for a member of the Liberal opposition to actually undertake the alleged activities that he makes. Members interjecting: The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: Order, the Hon. Mr Hunter! The Hon. R.I. LUCAS Legislative Council The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: The silliness of that particular question— Members interjecting: The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. R.I. LUCAS Legislative Council The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: —is there is a lack of actual capacity of the Leader of the Opposition to prosecute any sort of attack— Members interjecting Legislative Council Members interjecting: The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: Order on both sides! The Hon. R.I. LUCAS Legislative Council The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: —against the government or a minister of the Crown. When he gets it wrong in terms of who was in government— The Hon. I.K. Hunter interjecting: The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hunter! The Hon. R.I. LUCAS Legislative Council The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: —when he gets it wrong in terms of the member's electorate—in fact, he gets most things wrong in this particular chamber.