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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-05-12 Daily Xml
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ADELAIDE OVAL

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:26): My question is to the Treasurer. Given that the state government initially announced that it would be seeking up to $100 million from the commonwealth towards the Adelaide Oval upgrade, has the government sought this funding and, if so, why is such funding not in the federal budget?

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Federal/State Relations, Minister for Defence Industries) (14:26): The shadow treasurer, Rob Lucas, was last night on radio and again had a press conference today on this issue. I guess that the member for Davenport has yet again been overtaken, supplanted in his role, as the former deputy leader was, by Rob Lucas. Rob Lucas just cannot get over the fact that he is not the shadow treasurer, or even the treasurer, any more.

Madam Speaker, what a silly suggestion. We have made it clear that we will not expect from the consortia—the stadium management authority—a signed agreement on the stadium until 1 July. Why would you ask the commonwealth to give you $100 million in this budget if you did not have a signed guarantee? I have provisioned for expenditure on the stadium because it is a prudent thing for a state government to assess whether or not we have the budget capacity to withstand—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Madam Speaker, honestly—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Deputy leader, behave yourself!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: The Leader of the Opposition mumbles to herself and tries to interject across the chamber. I am happy to give an answer but, if members do not want to hear it, I will not waste their time or mine.

The commonwealth has indicated to us on a couple of fronts that we will receive a minimum of $100 million. But we are also in separate negotiations, or negotiations parallel to this, about what would occur should the nation win the Soccer World Cup, which would require further financial assistance to ensure it was FIFA compliant. There is correspondence of a confidential nature regarding those matters. Both the $100 million and the matter of whatever else may be required should we become the successful bidder with the need for it to be FIFA compliant, those negotiations—

Mr Venning interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Sorry, the member for—

Mr Venning: Keep talking.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Are you happy with the committee you have got now, after you threatened to stand if we supported him?

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: After he stared them down.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Ivan was running around saying, 'Will you support me for the committee if they give it to the member for Unley?' I love you; you are such a loyal lot over there. I see the member for Waite was criticising the marginal campaign in parliament today. They are such a loyal lot over there.

An honourable member: I am ready to lead.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Well, there we go—another one!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Madam Speaker, in the eight years I have been Deputy Premier, you may not realise but I have faced six deputy leaders—six members opposite have occupied the position of deputy leader. We will receive funding from the commonwealth, it will be provided when we have a signed agreement and when we advise the commonwealth in which year we would like that money to be provided.

We have stated publicly that it will take two years from sign off to the first build beginning. The federal government would not be announcing in this budget $100 million when we cannot even tell it as yet within which year we would want it provided. I know that many members opposite have not had state government budget experience, but I just say to them that this is a normal commonwealth/state financial arrangement.

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: You know, when I first came into this parliament, Madam Speaker, the chant from the then Liberals in government was, 'State Bank, $2 million a day in interest,' and 16½ years later they are still parroting it. The only difference is that it might have been true back in 1993; it is not true today.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I would say to the Liberal opposition that, when it comes to Adelaide Oval, we are building a hospital on the site on which they would have preferred a stadium; and the reason we are doing that is because we campaigned on it, we received a mandate for it and we are going to build it.

Mr Williams: An illegitimate government!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: An illegitimate government?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: One thing I know is that we have had the member for Bragg commending David Cameron, but I think that David Cameron worked out that you have got to get the majority of votes in the majority of seats to win government. That is how it works. The member for Waite—I have just read the transcript—was critical because you did not put enough resources into your marginals, and the factional system in the Liberal Party meant that one side of the Liberal Party would not support another candidate because they did not like them. The member for Waite is a man of courage and a man who speaks his mind with authority, and I have to say—

The SPEAKER: Order! There is a point of order.

Mr PENGILLY: My point of order is standing order No. 98: relevance and debating the issue.

The SPEAKER: Yes. I have thought carefully about this, but he is actually responding to a comment from your side of the house. But, Treasurer, perhaps you would like to refer back to the original question.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I will conclude and say this to members opposite: there is no other large, vacant space in the CBD to build a football stadium, and if you were to—

Mr Pisoni: The rail yards.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Where? Someone said the Parklands?

Mr Pisoni: The rail yards.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: We are building a hospital there.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: No; we are building a hospital. I reckon that if you looked at Adelaide and said, 'Where physically would be the best place to locate a stadium for the city?' you would probably pick Adelaide Oval if Adelaide Oval was not there.

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Why wouldn't you?

Mr Williams: Because there's no train or tram.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: They opposed the trams. I know that the member for MacKillop might not like walking, but it is only about a 300 metre walk from the train station to the front door of the Adelaide Oval. How much closer to do you want us to put the trains? Come on, come on, come on! I know that the leader does not remember a lot about her time at the Adelaide Oval, or for that matter never been to Football Park, but I have been going to Football Park for 20 or 30 years and I have been going to Adelaide Oval for longer. I know a little more about Adelaide Oval—

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: There are no trams or trains down there.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: There is no tram or train down there. It has worked very well over these years. I simply say that the oval and the precinct that we will develop will be transformational in this city, and it will, as Andrew Demetriou said to me last night over dinner (and he paid, so you do not have to FOI)—

The SPEAKER: Order! There is a point of order.

Mrs REDMOND: Point of order, Madam Speaker: the question was about the $100 million from the commonwealth government. If the Treasurer is going to answer the question, he has probably already answered it, and otherwise I think he has completely finished.

The SPEAKER: I think you are probably right, but he has been responding to numerous interjections from your side. The member for Bright.

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