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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-07-07 Daily Xml
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BURNSIDE COUNCIL

Mr GOLDSWORTHY (Kavel) (14:49): My question is, again, to the Attorney-General. Given that the Full Court of the Supreme Court considered that it was in the public interest for the Burnside council inquiry to be completed, will the Attorney-General explain why the government has chosen to abandon the inquiry, and is it because the government interest is more important than public interest?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Urban Development, Planning and the City of Adelaide, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Food Marketing) (14:49): I thank the honourable member for that question. First of all, let's be clear on this: my understanding of what the Supreme Court said was that it would be, from their point of view, useful for a completed report to be released. It didn't say the government should go ahead and complete it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Secondly, with all due respect to the Supreme Court, it is not the Supreme Court's business to be telling the government whether to complete an administrative exercise or not. They have in their possession copies of the draft report, and they have made orders in respect of those copies—not the government; they, the Supreme Court—have made orders in respect of the release of that, and they have said the report should not be released.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Point of order: I am interested in the answer, having had some involvement, and I can't hear with the Deputy Leader of the Opposition constantly interjecting.

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: And the member for Unley interjects, while I am complaining about interjections—who, I point out, is not sucking lemons at present.

The SPEAKER: Order! Thank you, minister. The members on my left need to realise that they are asking the ministers the questions; they don't need to be answering themselves, otherwise we won't bother with question time. Attorney.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: So, the Supreme Court has suppressed the report: that is their decision. We do not intend to go on and spend more time and money on a report—

Mr Pisoni: That you've mucked up.

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Unley, you are warned.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: —into a group of councillors who are no longer members of the council, and—

Mr Goldsworthy interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Do you want to hear the rest of the answer or not?

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Kavel, you are warned also.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Do you want to hear the rest of the answer? We do not intend to spend time or money on the preparation of a report in relation to councillors who are no longer members of council and in relation to whom no remedy by the council would be of any use because they are not members of the council. And, as I tried to explain to you before, the whole experience of the Burnside council is a matter that has been taken into account in relation to the public integrity—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.R. RAU: It has been taken into account in relation to the preparation of the public integrity review which all of you had the opportunity to contribute to but didn't and, in due course, you will be seeing the finished product.

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