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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-03-10 Daily Xml
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ADELAIDE OVAL

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (14:22): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure. Can the minister advise the house about the comments and attitudes of various bodies about the prospect of AFL football being played at Adelaide Oval?

The Hon. I.F. EVANS: Point of order: that question is hypothetical.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: No, it's not.

The Hon. I.F. EVANS: It is, because he talked about the possibility of having football at Adelaide Oval. It is hypothetical.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. I.F. EVANS: Of course it is.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! It is bordering, but I think we will see how the minister responds to the question.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure) (14:22): The first thing I would say—

Mr WILLIAMS: Point of order, Madam Speaker—

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr WILLIAMS: I am wondering what responsibility the minister has to the house for comments other people have made about football.

The SPEAKER: The question was addressed to him, and he has played a significant role—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Madam Speaker, isn't it extraordinary on these two points—can I tell the member for Davenport, as he is about to find out—that the attitudes and comments are not hypothetical; they are entirely real, and they are out there, and they do not like them. Isn't it extraordinary that just a short while ago they could not get enough of asking questions on Adelaide Oval, and now they don't want one and they will do anything to stop one. Now, why would that be?

Those extremely non-hypothetical attitudes—let me run through them for you. Firstly, very recently we saw that great South Australian, Ian McLachlan, former Liberal federal minister, welcoming the prospect of—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Doesn't it hurt them, Madam Speaker, doesn't it hurt them? Welcoming the prospect of AFL football—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Norwood! You are very vocal today—again.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: —at Adelaide Oval. He was joined on that day by former Liberal premier John Olsen, celebrating the arrival at a memorandum of understanding with cricket to get Australian football back at Adelaide Oval. How was that arrived at? A unanimous vote of the SACA board, of course, that notorious Labor hotbed—a unanimous vote of the SACA board. That unanimous vote of the SANFL—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Madam Speaker, they may not want to hear this; I know that they do not want to hear it because they refuse to ask a question about it. It is quite extraordinary given their enthusiasm just a while ago for it.

Mr Gardner: Have you finished drinking lunch today?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I beg your pardon?

An honourable member: Get on with it.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Madam Speaker, that is offensive.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: If they don't have a position, can they at least not be offensive?

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: Have some integrity.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Yes. My goodness me! I actually restrain from comments about you, Sunshine. Perhaps you should—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: —show a little restraint yourself.

The SPEAKER: Order! I didn't hear exactly what the member for Morialta said, but I am a bit concerned about what I did hear. I advise him to be very careful about what he says in this place.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: So, Madam Speaker, the SANFL commission unanimously has endorsed a memorandum of understanding to have AFL football played there. Of course, the league directors unanimously—and, of course, one of those league directors is another former Liberal premier, Rob Kerin; so, you would think that we have a degree of bipartisanship for something that is so good for South Australia.

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The Adelaide City Council, on whom some Liberals place so much hope—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will be quiet.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: —moved unanimously to welcome—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Leader of the Opposition, I warn you.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: —AFL football back to Adelaide Oval. We have even seen commentators who had opposed this move—and I pay them tribute—swing 180°. Stephen Rowe, a sworn critic of the project, having seen what is going on over there in the Stadium Management Authority building (which I now refer to as the 'oval office'), has had the courage and the decency to come around and say, 'This is a great thing for South Australia, a great thing for football.' I had a meeting with the Adelaide City Council on Monday evening—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: —and it has agreed to a memorandum of understanding with the government to cooperatively, collaboratively, get football back to Adelaide Oval. There are very few people left, it seems, who are opposed to this. But given the deafening silence from the opposition in the last few weeks about Adelaide Oval (something they were very keen on before), I thought that I had better do some research and find out what they think of it. I was buoyed up, Madam Speaker—

Mr PENGILLY: Point of order, Madam Speaker.

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order. The member for Finniss.

Mr PENGILLY: Standing order 98: the minister is entering into debate.

The SPEAKER: No. I have been looking very carefully at the question since it was asked. The minister can choose to answer it as he chooses, but I will listen carefully to what he says.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: This was produced by the hand, I assume, of Isobel Redmond, Leader of the Opposition. I am not referring to her incorrectly; that is what it says on the document. Her state Liberals' plan for a new stadium at Riverside West—

Mr Pisoni: Where did the document come from?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I didn't get it from you, Sunshine. I didn't get it from you. I wouldn't take it from you. I'd check its provenance if I got it from you, I can tell you that.

Mr Pisoni: Where did it come from?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: It came from you. The Liberal Party produced it. It says this:

Our vision for Riverside West involves a cultural and entertainment precinct that would transform the city. This must include a world-class stadium either by renewing Adelaide Oval or, if this proves untenable, by creating a new purpose-built facility. Both of these options will deliver a world-class stadium beside a new and exciting city pulse. Every other mainland state has created such a place. Why can't we?

Indeed, why can't we? And so—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: Why are you protesting so much, Switch?

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I warn the member for MacKillop.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: There is nothing so pleasant as a bellowing three-vote opposition deputy leader in pain, is there?

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The Leader of the Opposition says, 'Yes; had to ask your own question.' Yes, we did. We have plenty of them. What is the current attitude of the Liberal Party, given that they said, in 2009, 'Why can't we have a world-class stadium at Adelaide Oval? Why can't we have that precinct?', because what this involves is the most significant change—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: What we are going to see is not just a world-class stadium welcomed by the Adelaide City Council, but the greatest change in the city precinct on the riverfront that we have ever seen, a vitalisation of the city that we have never seen before. So, what is the attitude of the Liberal Party now? Possibly the most asinine comment I have ever heard from a leader of the opposition. Her attitude to this, 'Why can't we?' is: well, she is not going to weep into her Weet-Bix if it occurs. I have to say that I do not believe that. I think they will be very salty, soggy Weet-Bix if it does get up. That is her great contribution to this public debate.

What did Iain Evans say? Iain Evans, the member for Davenport, in February was still saying, 'We need two stadiums', and then in March he is saying, 'We can't afford one.' These are his comments. He says, 'Why are we paying about $700 million to get those extra 12,000 seats?' It is an invention. What $700 million? It is a complete invention. The opposition will not even tell the truth about the matter. They are incapable of telling the truth.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: He says it is true. Okay—

Mr WILLIAMS: I rise on a point of order. I know it was not quite a hypothetical question but the minister is debating.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The question was: comments and attitudes of various bodies, so I do not think we can say that he is debating. I am a bit concerned about the wording of the question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I hope the minister is about to round up his answer.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I have a few more things that need to be put on the record. Members opposite say it is debate for me to say that it is not true, that the $700 million is not true. The Leader of the Opposition was on the radio this morning saying, 'The question is why should we spend $600 million of taxpayers' money to put an extra 12,000 seats there?' One of them has not got it right. The truth is that they do not care; they are going to be as loose as they can about it. The truth is—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The other person, I might add, is Andrew Demetriou, who has recently made it clear that the AFL is committing to put funds into the stadium. So, what is the Liberals' attitude? You cannot find it. We know they have asked for a briefing from the sports about Adelaide Oval and before they get it the member for Adelaide is out there canvassing SACA members to vote against the oval. They know they cannot win the public debate so they are going to try to win the 25 per cent of SACA members to destroy a project valued by South Australians. The truth is that I have one thing that I want to know. Will the Liberal Party support the return of football to Adelaide Oval? Will they? We ask the question. The truth is that you cannot now find the Liberal Party position on this without a sniffer dog and a rescue helicopter.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr WILLIAMS: I rise on a point of order. The minister is continuing to debate his answer.

The SPEAKER: Yes, the minister is getting very close to debate now. I think he is about to finish his answer.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I must admit that last bit was a bit of debate.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The opposition leader needs to answer this to the public—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Yes, she does. Anyone who holds themself up as an alternative premier needs to answer this.

Members interjecting:

Ms CHAPMAN: I rise on a point of order.

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Bragg.

Ms CHAPMAN: That is a threat, followed up by: he is a health hazard, and clearly debate. He has crossed the line from quotes to threats and is now debating this matter, demanding that an opposition member actually give an answer to this house. He forgets that he is sitting on that side.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I think that is a fairly hypothetical point of order also, but, minister, have you finished?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I want to make one thing very clear, and I want to do something I have not done very often. I want to pay tribute to the member—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: —for Waite because I believe that the member for Waite did believe in football at Adelaide Oval. He has never changed his view and he should be given credit for that. It is a shame he wasn't allowed to win a democratic vote in his party. We might have got a different outcome.

Let me say this: I believe that the people of South Australia deserve to know what the Leader of the Opposition's attitude is in this and why she believes something that was good for South Australia—why can't we in 2009? Why can't we in 2011?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: South Australians deserve to know that.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Let me just close by saying this. You might be feeling good about a poll today, but let me assure you of this: every good poll they get is a death knell for her because the accidental opposition leader will not survive if they think they are going to win.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Davenport and the member for MacKillop, behave yourselves or you will go out. You have had your chance now. You have let some of your energy go, now behave. The Leader of the Opposition.

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