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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-10-30 Daily Xml
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MEMBERS' BEHAVIOUR

Mr GOLDSWORTHY (Kavel) (15:42): I rise today to express my concerns at the ongoing poor level of behaviour by members of the government. In this house, we have already heard the Deputy Premier blaspheme. Even their leadership discussions of a fortnight ago have been excused by the Premier as being the result of excessive intake of alcohol. Recently, the Premier also played down an incident of alleged abusive behaviour by the member for Morialta when a hairdressing appointment ran a few minutes late. These incidents point to a culture of poor behaviour by Labor MPs.

Today, a set of documents came into my possession confirming that this is not the first time that such behaviour by the member for Morialta has caused concerns. As members may recall, prior to coming into this house, the member was the CEO of the Blind Welfare Association. These documents detail a meeting between staff, the board and an independent consultant to resolve allegations that the CEO, Ms Lindsay Simmons, was abusive, abrupt, dogmatic, overpowering, loud, harassing and insulting. The concerns were accepted, prompting an apology by Ms Simmons and action by the board. The claims detailed in a transcript of the meeting make for sombre reading. They suggest that the Premier may well be sitting on a potential time bomb if the member's behaviour has returned to the levels exposed in this report.

On 12 December 1997, the staff of the Blind Welfare Association met with the executive board of management and the Australian Services Union. Among their concerns were the following: staff were in fear of her outbursts of rage; and a staff member recalled how her CEO was yelling and screaming until she was reduced to tears and would say to herself, 'Think of trees, Julie, think of trees. Get out of here in your head, just escape.' Another staff member related how language used in these outbursts affected staff, the public and other dealings with the association. The staff member said:

I am not a prude but f... is not a word to be used in the office and it's used commonly. It happens in front of the public. It happens in front of the staff. It is witnessed in the social centre.

That staff member approached the CEO and said:

Do you know that your staff are feeling persecuted? Do you know that your staff are feeling threatened?

There is the sad recollection of an incident where a staff member witnessed harassment which caused a female worker to start hyperventilating, with her baby kicking around. The female staff member was told by her doctor never to return to work.

A series of incidents are related where staff claim mental abuse over a period of years. Sadly, the transcript of this meeting reveals that the Blind Welfare Association lost a number of volunteers because it was unable to deal with the abuse from what is described as a 'raging red-faced CEO'. In a response document, Ms Simmons as CEO, accepts the claims of abusive, abrupt, dogmatic, overpowering, loud, harassing and insulting behaviour and promises to try to change. A subsequent document details the finding of the board of management. It states:

They are committed to providing a safe workplace for staff and have counselled Ms Simmons.

Ten resolutions were made to address the problem. Subsequent to that, an independent consultancy firm, Morgan and Banks, finds that urgent action is required to resolve a serious deterioration of relations between the CEO and staff. The report details an incident on 1 December 1997, where staff claimed the CEO had said, 'I'm going to kill you. I'm going to f.....g kill you.' The report finds that prima facie evidence exists to support claims of vilification.

I raise these issues because the public of South Australia is tiring of the abusive nature of this government. I say to the Premier: you clearly have a problem. Just as the Blind Welfare Association did, I suggest the Premier takes serious steps to address the problem.

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