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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-06-29 Daily Xml
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Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:54): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure. Does the minister think it is appropriate to meet with a parliamentary committee witness, Leigh Whicker, on the last working day before he gave evidence to the Budget and Finance Committee? Who initiated the meeting and what was the purpose of that meeting?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Energy) (14:55): I will go over things I have already said today and then explain a few things to my learned friend on the other side. The committee that is taking place before the upper house is, in my personal experience of these sorts of biased political circuses, likely to go for as long as the Liberals can wring it out.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: And never report.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: And never report, as the member for Croydon might well say. It is therefore not open to the government, if we are seeking to complete this project, to wait until the committee has reported or concluded before we speak to people who might be called. For example, Rod Hook is apparently going to be called to this august body, and if I did not speak to Rod Hook it would make it just a little awkward to deliver the $5 billion infrastructure program we have.

I also indicate to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition that in coming weeks I will be meeting with a large number of people who quite possibly have been or might be called before that committee, because it is my intention to attempt to bring that project to a successful conclusion. In regard to the specific meeting, my understanding was that it was a meeting sought between Rod Hook and Leigh Whicker.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: A meeting sought by Rod Hook with Leigh Whicker, for those hard of hearing on the other side. The purpose of that meeting was for Rod to talk to Leigh initially, and to further people, about the sorts of governance structures that will be necessary when we go from this stage of the project to actually building something; that is, how—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I am quite happy to wait until you have finished with your inane interjections, but I am not going to talk over them.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I would have thought those on the other side would recognise that it is proper to put into place, as you moved into the phase where the project might be let and built, the proper governance structures; that is the responsible thing to do. Leigh Whicker is going to be an extremely important person in all of this, as will Ian McLachlan and a number of other people be.

Mr Williams: The day before he gives evidence.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: 'The day before he's given evidence,' he mutters. Can I point out to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition that it is out of order to interject, you stickler.

Mr Williams: It is also out of order to not answer the substance of the question.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: If the Deputy Leader of the Opposition pro tem would desist, I will answer the substance. The meeting, as I understand it, was sought by Rod Hook with Mr Whicker to discuss those things. I called in to see Mr Whicker because, for those who do not know, Rod Hook's office is on the same floor as mine. I said hello; he is somewhat of a mate of mine.

The Hon. K.O. Foley: Good bloke.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: He is not a bad fellow at all. I said to him, 'We'll be talking a great deal in coming times.' The first thing I said to him was, 'It's absolutely essential, because this is going to be a very biased witch-hunt'—I may not have said that to him, but that is what it is going to be—'that we do not talk about any evidence you might give to their select committee.' That is why I called in to see him, and I have to tell you I am going to be doing that with everyone who I think might be called before that committee, but what I am not going to do is stop bringing this project to completion. Now, I actually left the meeting—I think, from memory, Leigh went on to point out to me that he thought it would be very wise if I were to meet soon with a number of people from the Crows, for reasons the details of which I will not go into.

The bottom line is that the government is not going to cease pursuing what is an extremely important job for South Australia, an extremely important outcome for football and a very good outcome for the overall precinct down on the riverbank—we will not stop pursuing that—because the Liberal opposition decides to run a political sideshow in the Legislative Council. That is not going to happen. What I will do is protect myself from this political sideshow and those people who might be called by, on every occasion that I think someone might be called before that committee, saying to them that I do not want to have any discussions about anything they might be called to give evidence about.

It is inevitable that there will be something tangentially there that we are going to talk about, otherwise the simple way to stop the government doing a project would be to have some sort of committee on it. That is what occurred. I will point out that Leigh Whicker later came to a lunch with a number of us where he stayed for only a very short period of time, ate an orecchiette, I think from memory—

The Hon. K.O. Foley: A what?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: An orecchiette, with, I think, a pollo ragu from memory, and he left quickly. I think that the only football matters that were discussed there with the bunch of blokes at the table were about who the best coaches were and things like that. Let me give members opposite an ironclad guarantee: I am going to continue to talk to people that might be called before your august trial star chamber. I am going to continue to do that in the discharge of my obligations, because I am not going to let this circus you are running interfere with something very important to the people of South Australia.

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