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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-11-09 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

TRADE PROMOTION, PUGLIA REGION

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite) (15:27): I think what we have seen this week is an example of a tired government that needs to go, but particularly a very tired Premier who needs to go. This is an absolute disgrace. We had a budget weeks ago that cut hospitals, that forced country hospitals to look at closure, that cut funding to small schools, that resulted in public servants being sacked. We had a budget that left nothing behind but ruin.

This government told us that we were in a financial crisis, that there was no money, that there had to be pain and tough decisions, a government that wanted that pain to be spread widely. It followed the work of the Sustainable Budget Commission that had made serious recommendations about where the axe should fall.

What do we now find? We find that there is this little sacred cow, this little pet project, in Puglia, an invention of the Premier which has escaped the razor. As we dig down into that event, more and more is being revealed. I have been gathering together information on this for a very long time, and I must say that the budget estimates were most revealing.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: I am pleased to see that the former attorney sat in on some of that. He would know that it was revealed that there is $185,000 going into la Fiera del Levante, the breakdown of which is unknown. We know that the Treasurer has been over there on a ministerial visit, along with other ministers, hosting various events. We know that we are running this trade show, setting up a stand; however, we also know that no South Australians are invited to attend. It is $185,000 at Fiera del Levante.

This is in the context of $200,000 being cut from CITCSA, that supports the Italian chamber, in the context of an office being closed in Singapore and Dubai, further cuts in China and other trade offices, as they seek economies. This is a government which is completely failing to meet its targets in exports, industry and trade. But then we had the second edition.

The Hon. K.O. Foley interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: The Treasurer is hurling abuse across the chamber. He is the bloke who has overseen the decline in our exports and has put us in this position in the best possible times. Then we had the Sasanelli appointment revealed—$260,000. The government said that only $200,000 is the salary component, conveniently overlooking the remainder of the costs linked to that appointment. There is no indication of how this fellow was hired, no indication of whether there was an open tender, no indication of an open advertising of the position, no indication as to whether this was a position created for this person and, if so, why?

Was this a case of a job being created as a consequence of patronage, or is it the result of a job where someone was hired to fit and meet a need? Then we have this stunning revelation that not only do we have $260,000 tied up in the appointment but we are dishing out taxpayers' money to launch his art book and holding champagne cocktail functions at the library to support it, with questionable benefits—all of this in a context of an industry and trade environment which is in trouble, of declining exports where we are in a worse state than we were nine years ago and where, as I mentioned, health and education, small business—right across portfolios—are being cut to the bone.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: How old will you be in 2014?

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Croydon!

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: I want to know the answers to a few more questions. In particular, I want to know about the other bucket of money in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet controlled by the Premier that is used to send officials and ministers off to Fiera del Levante. I understand that not only did Monsignor Cappo attend but so did Pauline Peel, Deputy Chief Executive, Sustainability, Department of the Premier and Cabinet, and Mr Nicola Sasanelli, Special Envoy, funded by DPC, not from his own budget line. A mysterious Manlio Langiotti also attended—

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: What was that? Try again.

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Croydon, behave.

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: —and there is some concern about whether he is actually based in Italy and, somehow or other, we are funding his position. Were any others funded to attend? How many other government officials have gone to Italy from their own budget lines? There are more questions here that need answers. This is a disgrace. It is nepotism. It is a Premier gone mad with patronage in Puglia.

Time expired.

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