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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-09-13 Daily Xml
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PREMIER'S LEGACY

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood) (16:45): Earlier today, we were invited to the Legislative Council where there was a joint sitting of the two houses to swear in the new legislative councillor, the Hon. Mr Kandelaars. As part of that joint sitting we, of course, made some farewell comments about the retired legislative councillor, the Hon. Paul Holloway. It got me thinking because we have a few approaching farewells in our own house. It made me think: what are we going to say when the Premier leaves office? My thoughts on the topic are as follows.

When Mike Rann retires next month, I believe he will be like a man walking through the desert suddenly coming across his own footprints and realising he has been walking in one big circle the entire time. His premiership is a story of wasted opportunities and treading water. His two great achievements—the ones he is always talking about whenever he can get into the media (which, of course, is his greatest delight)—is the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the redevelopment of the Adelaide Oval.

Madam Deputy Speaker, I put it to you that these are two projects which will not be delivered during his premiership but, like so many of the things that this Premier talks about, they are well into the future. The desperation with which he is seeking to create a legacy is truly pathetic and sad. The highlights he often points to are developments and events which have survived his lack-lustre administration because they had enough perpetual motion from the previous Liberal government, which actually knew how to get things done.

Take, for example, Olympic Dam, which the Premier seems to be anointing as some monumental personal achievement and fiercely guarding from his future successor, Jay Weatherill. It takes a certain audacity to expect any credit for a project when you voted against its establishment at the beginning of your career, but that is how the Mike Rann spin cycle works: he picks things up, wipes off the original label and sells them again as brand Rann products.

How about the Tour Down Under? He has been riding that bike every January for years now; but, of course, we all know in this house that was an initiative of John Olsen when he was premier. In relation to the defence industries, again we heard the Premier today batting on about his legacy in the defence sector. Does he not understand we were manufacturing and producing submarines in South Australia well before he became the Premier? What about giving credit where credit is due? In reality, the ASC, Nick Minchin and successive federal governments of both persuasions had most of the work to do in establishing this important sector here in South Australia.

At every opportunity he comes in and makes ministerial statements about the Clipsal race, the Cabaret Festival or Tasting Australia. He never acknowledges that these are not his legacies. These are just things he likes to rebrand with the brand Rann. Of course, the one festival that he has created is the International Guitar Festival, which has been an absolute, unmitigated disaster.

What about some of his other failures? What are some of the other things he would rather have left off his greatest hits compilation? What about Mitsubishi? What about our manufacturing sector? What about the decline in our gross state product, the measure by which we are held up to other states? He always wants to talk on and on about his government putting in more money than the Liberals did a decade ago, but the real measure is our gross state product, and we are falling further behind other states. We are starting to lose contact with the main states in our country.

What about South Australia's taxation system? We are currently the highest taxing state of business in Australia and our small business sector is struggling to generate jobs in the deplorable conditions that have existed under this government. What about his complete failure on the River Murray—his complete and utter inability to do anything to help our farmers and irrigators? You only have to speak to my friend the member for Chaffey to hear what people up there say about the Premier. He should know—he was elected because of it. We have declining standards in our national literacy, as pointed out by the member for Unley earlier today. And don't get me started on his pet project, international students.

What about this government's record on Indigenous affairs? And there will be more said about that this week. The list of Rann's failures is long. His is a legacy of media releases instead of consultation, of black-listed radio programs instead of engagement and of policy decisions driven by ego and photo opportunities instead of substance and understanding. So, as Rann saunters off into the twilight (perhaps to join his old mate the member for Port Adelaide on a final jaunt through America), he is leaving behind him a huge mess. It is a mess for his work experience student, Jay Weatherill; it is a mess for the rest of his colleagues; and, most importantly, it is a mess for the people of South Australia.

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