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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-09-08 Daily Xml
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PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS

Mr GRIFFITHS (Goyder—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (16:28): Why did the Treasurer award a $323 million contract to private sector consortium Pinnacle Education for the government's super schools project, when this was $9 million more expensive than the traditional public sector build? The Partnerships SA guidelines published by the Department of Treasury and Finance website make it clear that:

The project must be able to demonstrate that the cost to the community of the project provided by the public sector is lower than the equivalent project provided by the public sector.

Further, the Treasurer told parliament on 3 June 2009:

I have always said that if these PPPs do not provide value for money to the state, we will proceed with a very different delivery model.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Federal/State Relations) (16:30): This is a very interesting question and it is important that I make the point: who is the shadow treasurer for the Liberal Party?

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for MacKillop!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I say that for one very important reason, not just because there has been only one press release by the new shadow after he was prompted by a journalist. I have been attacked by and have had to debate with and confront the shadow finance minister Rob Lucas on half a dozen occasions already and my main thrust—

Mr WILLIAMS: I have a point of order, sir. It might be interesting to someone on that side, but the opposition has asked serious questions today and we are still waiting for answers.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr WILLIAMS: There is no relevance—

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for MacKillop needs to draw his point of order. He does not need to add any elaboration to it.

Mr WILLIAMS: Well, sir, there is no relevance in his answer to the question.

The SPEAKER: However, if he sits down I will uphold his point of order. The Treasurer must answer the substance of the question.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: The reason I am saying that is because Rob Lucas raised this issue about a month ago. He raised this very point a month ago.

Mr WILLIAMS: I have a point of order, Mr Speaker. The Treasurer is directly defying your ruling made not 10 seconds ago.

The SPEAKER: Order! I don't think he is. The Treasurer.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: As I said, it has already been raised either at a committee meeting or publicly in the press by the shadow treasurer, Rob Lucas—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for MacKillop!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: He is shadow finance, right. The deputy leader is at least a month behind. In fact, more embarrassing—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for MacKillop!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Not at all, because I have a diligent staff—something the former leader did not have when the false email came in. I will now give an answer that I think will demonstrate why Rob Lucas is a far superior shadow minister to the hapless deputy leader and shadow treasurer.

Mr GRIFFITHS: I have a point of order, sir. The Treasurer has reflected upon me in an inappropriate manner.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I presume the deputy leader is referring to the word 'hapless'. I do not think the word 'hapless' has been considered unparliamentary. No doubt, out of an abundance of courtesy, the Deputy Premier, if the deputy leader has been offended, will apologise.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Being the decent guy I am—and clearly I have upset and offended the sensitivities of the new deputy leader—if he is upset by my calling him hapless, I withdraw and apologise. I do not want to embarrass the deputy leader on his first attack at me, but a press release issued by me and my colleague the Minister for Health (as the acting minister for education) states—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Wait for it. The press release of 17 July states:

…although the PPP model ultimately proved to be nearly $9.2 million (or almost 3 per cent) more expensive than a traditional build, it did come with Pinnacle's commitment to meeting the government's extremely tight timetable for delivering the schools at a fixed price. Such a timetable would have proved extremely difficult to deliver under a traditional procurement method, and that is one of the real advantages in the PPP system; the successful tenderer carries the financial, construction and maintenance risks.

On 17 July in a public press release I explained why. Since that time, shadow treasurer Rob Lucas—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Sorry, shadow finance minister Rob Lucas—I keep getting confused as to who does what—raised it as an issue either in a committee, in parliament or publicly; I cannot remember where.

Rolling into the house two-thirds of the way through question time is the new deputy leader—who was goaded into a press release by a journalist from The Australian because he had never put one out, who has not got up one morning and attacked me on radio and who has outsourced treasury to Rob Lucas—whose first major attack on me was answered publicly nearly two months ago. I say to the deputy leader that you have to do better than regurgitate one of my press releases from seven weeks ago.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Mr Speaker, I can say that I did read today that Rob Lucas is now on the tactics committee. I bet you that was Rob Lucas's idea to ask that question. Was it Rob Lucas's idea, because, if it was, he set you up, sucker.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

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