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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-06-24 Daily Xml
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TREASURER'S REMARKS

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:22): My question is, again, to the Treasurer. Why did the Treasurer wait five days until 2 June, the same day and time that the Liberal Party was being briefed about the Adelaide Oval project, to inform the public of his knowledge of the cost blowout, instead of coming out on 28 May, immediately after becoming aware of misleading the parliament? On 2 June, the Treasurer told the media:

I am an extremely diligent and honest politician. The minute I recalled it I've gone public with it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Federal/State Relations, Minister for Defence Industries) (14:22): Some 20 days before parliament sat, and unlike former Liberal leaders—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Norwood will come to order, and the member for Schubert and the member for Hammond.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: —I did not have it exposed in this place by an opposition. I did not try to hide it. I did not try to ignore it. I did not try to deny it. I did not lie about it. I came out publicly.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: There have been all sorts of wild allegations that Leigh Whicker rang my office and said he would not lie about it if the Liberals got briefed—all of the nonsense that the Liberals have gone on about. When I found out about it on the Friday, I decided, as I have said before, that I had to do the right thing and advise the house. I then decided, in the early part of that week, that it was better to get it out now. I had a duty of honour to the public.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: You can yell and scream and carry on but, unlike Liberal ministers, who had to be caught out, who were caught out, never volunteered, I took the decision that I should go public.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Honestly, if you really think four days is an issue; it was almost three weeks before parliament sat. I could have avoided three weeks of attack. I could have avoided three weeks of opposition preparation for parliament, but I did not, because I did the honest and decent thing.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I am not sure why the opposition bothered to ask that question, because none of them listened to the answer.

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