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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-10-29 Daily Xml
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LAW AND ORDER ISSUES POSTCARD

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg) (14:37): My question is to the Attorney-General. The Attorney-General advised the house on 27 October: 'I will ask my staff and get an answer for the member for Bragg.' I now ask the Attorney-General if he will inform the house if his office was involved in the dirty tricks postcard campaign.

The SPEAKER: Again, the insertion of debate into the question. The Attorney-General.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON (Croydon—Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (14:38): The whole argument about the DL card does not actually refer to the substance of it. The Liberal Party don't object to the words in the—

Mr PISONI: Point of order, Mr Speaker—

The SPEAKER: Point of order, the member for Unley.

Mr PISONI: The question was about whether the Attorney-General's office was involved.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr PISONI: It's quite simple.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Unley will take his seat. The Attorney.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: So, the only thing that the parliamentary Liberal Party quibble with, about the card, is the return address. They don't—

Mr PISONI: Point of order. This was about whether the Attorney-General's office was involved.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr PISONI: He said he'd get back to us—

The SPEAKER: Order! The member—

Mr PISONI: —and 48 hours later—

The SPEAKER: —for Unley will take his seat. Can I patiently explain to the member for Unley: when you want to raise a point of order, you point out what the standing order is that you believe is being infringed. It is not an opportunity for you to start engaging in accusations, or whatever, across to the other side of the chamber. If you continue abusing points of order in that way I will simply ignore you. The Attorney-General.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: The substance of the card is that the parliamentary Liberal Party has had its machinations in the committee stage of the youth offenders bill conveyed to the public of South Australia. That is what they are objecting to.

Mr PENGILLY: On a point of order—

The SPEAKER: Point of order, the member for Finniss.

Mr PENGILLY: Sir, with respect, the point of order is relevance. The question was quite specific to the Attorney-General about communication with his office—quite specific, not the rest of the verbal diarrhoea he is going on with.

The SPEAKER: No, there is no point of order.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: So, there was a debate in this parliament on the youth offenders bill, how to deal with the so-called Gang of 49, and as—

Mr PISONI: On a point of order, sir—127, digression. This is not the substance of the question.

The SPEAKER: The substance of the question is about the DL card. The Attorney-General.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: The parliamentary Liberal Party is trying to cover up what it did in this house and the other place.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: So the member for Bragg interjects that she is proud that the other night—

Mr PENGILLY: On a point of order, sir—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Bragg!

Mr PENGILLY: Sir, I ask you to rule. The Attorney-General seems to be quite clearly debating the issue and not answering the substance of the question.

The SPEAKER: There was debate in the question. I cannot really see how I can stop the Attorney.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: I know that the Liberal Party is going to try to censor my reply because it does not want the truth of this matter to get out.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Venning: It's the same as the dodgy documents.

Mr Pengilly: You're in it up to your ears, Mick.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: Mr Speaker, the member for Schubert has just accused me of being involved in the dodgy documents—a matter for which he has previously apologised and withdrawn. I ask him now to withdraw and apologise.

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert was making that allegation.

Mr VENNING: I withdraw. If his denial was there, I will withdraw the comment.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: When the Rann government tried to ensure that the revolving door in youth justice was stopped revolving—

Mr WILLIAMS: On a point of order, Mr Speaker, this is clearly debate. It has nothing to do with the question.

Members interjecting:

Mr WILLIAMS: No, we asked about your involvement—

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr WILLIAMS: —in a very tawdry campaign. That is what we asked you.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for MacKillop will take his seat. There is no point of order.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: Let's leave aside the question of the return address. The substance—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: I will come to that.

Mr WILLIAMS: On a point of order, Mr Speaker, standing order 98 states that the minister must answer the substance of the question. The minister has just said that he wants to leave aside the substance of the question. He just told the house that that is what he wants to leave aside.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for MacKillop will take his seat. I am not in a position to rule anything on the minister's answer until I have an opportunity to hear it. The Attorney-General.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: Under Mrs Redmond's leadership, the parliamentary Liberal Party took a position that it was opposed to members of the Gang of 49 who were youths spending longer in youth detention. They moved an amendment in this place, in the committee stage of the bill, so that we could not apply the serious repeat offender provisions that apply to adults to youths. Indeed, the member for Flinders said it is a violation of the human rights of young offenders to detain them. That is on the record.

Mr WILLIAMS: I rise on a point of order, Mr Speaker. Again, I refer to standing order 98. The reason we have that standing order is so that members, and particularly ministers—

The SPEAKER: It is all right. I do not need to know why we have standing order 98.

Mr WILLIAMS: —cannot abuse the parliament.

The SPEAKER: The member for MacKillop will take his seat. There is no point of order.

Mr Williams: He is misrepresenting the opposition's position.

The SPEAKER: Order! If any member feels that they have been misrepresented there is an appropriate course of action that they can take.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: Both in this chamber and in the other place the parliamentary Liberal Party sought to delete the words 'recidivist youth offender' and 'youth parole' from the bill. Indeed, they were doing it in the other place yesterday. So, the DL—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: So, the Liberal opposition does not complain about the substance or the words of the DL card. The substance or words of the DL card are true in every particular. They accurately represent—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: —to the recipients the position that the parliamentary Liberal Party took—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for MacKillop!

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: —on the bill.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: So, the only thing—

Mr WILLIAMS: I rise on a point of order, Mr Speaker.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: This is ridiculous.

Mr WILLIAMS: It is ridiculous. I agree with the Leader of Government Business in the house. This is the very reason why we have standing orders, so that ministers—

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr WILLIAMS: —cannot abuse the privileges they have in this place. This is an abuse of the parliament—

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr WILLIAMS: —and you know it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Attorney-General.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: It is plain from the Hansard that the parliamentary Liberal Party took the view that members of the Gang of 49 who were youths should not be detained for longer than they are now, and they also took a position against the Youth Parole Board. So, when the government tried to make sure that members of the Gang of 49 who were youths had to earn parole in the future, the Liberal Party opposed it. In fact, earlier this week they tried to redirect the proceeds from the sale of hoon drivers' cars from victims of crime to the rehabilitation of offenders.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: Mr Speaker—

The SPEAKER: Order, the Attorney! I think the Attorney has canvassed—

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: Yes.

The SPEAKER: —the Liberal Party's position with regard to this card. He now needs to direct himself to whatever his staff have done or have not done.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: The DL card issued by the Australian Labor Party is true and correct in every particular and, indeed, the parliamentary Liberal Party has not sought in its questioning to quote the words in the card.

Ms CHAPMAN: Sir, I rise on a point of order. You have allowed the Attorney-General to address the issue, which you have now ruled he has dealt with, and he needs to get on to the substance of the question. The substance of the question is: did he ask his staff and was he involved?

The SPEAKER: The Attorney.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: Of course, the Australian Labor Party—

Ms Chapman: Did you ask your staff?

The SPEAKER: Order!

Ms Chapman: Did you ask your staff?

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Bragg!

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: The Australian Labor Party checked the substance of the card.

Ms CHAPMAN: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The Attorney-General directly said to this parliament two days ago that he would ask his staff—

The SPEAKER: Order! The—

Ms CHAPMAN: —and that is what I have asked him about; nothing to do with this other issue.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Bragg will take her seat. I do not think we are going to make any progress on this. The Attorney-General.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: Mr Speaker, yes, I have asked my staff; and, yes, they did confirm the accuracy of the card for the Australian Labor Party. The question of what the reply paid block is going to be is not a matter of concern to the Attorney-General's office and we had no input.

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