Election Commitments

The Hon. S.G. WADE (15:15): My supplementary question is: to what sources does the leader refer?

The Hon. K.J. Maher: Sorry, what was the question?

The Hon. S.G. WADE: To what sources of the election commitment list do you refer? You said, 'Look at the sources.'

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:15): Certainly in the lead-up to the election there were press releases, there were many outlets where our Labor election commitments were held. They were on websites, on glossy documents, on brochures, on media releases. There were any number of places that our election commitments were put before the people of South Australia.

I can go through some of our election commitments, some of the more well-known ones, seeing that the honourable member is so interested in what our election commitments were. He has asked a question and a supplementary about our election commitments, so I am happy to inform him of what some of them were.

One of them is not building a $600 million basketball stadium. That was a very strong election commitment of the South Australian then Labor opposition, now Labor government. That was one of our major election commitments: not to build a $600 million basketball stadium, and to put that money into the health system in South Australia. I am sure the honourable member will be very familiar with why that's important for South Australia.

That election commitment was weighed up by the good people of South Australia on 18 March when they decided to cast their ballots, and certainly that election commitment not to build a basketball stadium was one that found significant favour with the people of South Australia. I will tell you another one of our election commitments, seeing the member is that interested he has asked a question and a supplementary question about it. We have talked about it already today.

Another one of our election commitments was to reform shop trading hours. In fact, our election commitment was to deliver the biggest reform to shop trading hours—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: —this century. The good people of South Australia once again weighed up what do they prefer: the sensible, well thought out, albeit biggest reforms of shop trading hours this century that the Labor opposition was then offering, or the ideological zealotry of the Liberal Party for total and utter deregulation and decimating our independent grocery sector. The good people of South Australia on that election commitment weighed up what they would prefer and they decided that they preferred what the South Australian then Labor opposition was offering.

There were many other election commitments, because the honourable member is that interested he has not only asked a question but a supplementary question about our election commitments. Another one of those was to invest in kickstarting a hydrogen industry in South Australia. We made a commitment for a $593 million hydrogen plant in South Australia that has been announced. I'm sure, sir, that you will be very interested the placement of that hydrogen facility has been announced in the Upper Spencer Gulf, a part of the state that has provided so much economically for this state and has an ability to in the future. The people of South Australia—

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: Point of order: I believe in answering questions ministers are not required to place things on the public record on the public record again, so is the minister conceding that this is not on the public record?

The PRESIDENT: No. Conclude your remarks, minister.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Thank you, sir, I will conclude my remarks. As I have mentioned, some of the other policies that the then Labor opposition took to the state election: not building a basketball stadium, putting that money into hospitals; sensible reform on shop trading hours as opposed to complete deregulation; and, as I have mentioned, an investment in a renewable energy future and jobs in South Australia through the hydrogen plant were all things that were weighed up by the people of South Australia and they decided they didn't like what they saw from the four years of the Liberal government.