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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-03-15 Daily Xml
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MEDIA SERVICES

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:16): My question is again to the Premier. Given that the Premier's tender for public engagement campaign services is for media services until the next state election, how is this not a political use of taxpayers' money to try to get Labor re-elected in 2014?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:16): Let me explain. The engagement of the community in decisions that affect their lives is the first thing that I said when assuming this office. It is the first point that I made about a change in the way in which we are going to do government—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —and I know it causes mental confusion in the minds of those opposite, because they actually do not think the community belongs in the decision-making process. They do not believe that there is something valuable to be added in the public policy formulation process by involving the community. I will acknowledge that, in the past, we have not got this right. We have behaved as experts. We have sat in our ivory—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —towers dreaming up solutions to problems that we thought were important for people, and we have not done enough of consulting and communicating with the community about the things that affect their lives. So, I make no apologies that we are going to be spending resources on finding out what people want and involving them in the decisions that affect their lives. That will do two things—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —it will improve the quality of the decision-making process and it will gain more community support for that process. The only people who will remain out of the loop will be the Liberal Party of South Australia. They are the people that are holding back South Australia, the Liberal Party of South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order.

Mr WILLIAMS: The Premier has once again descended into debate.

The SPEAKER: Thank you.

Mr WILLIAMS: If he wanted to answer the question, he could answer the question previously asked, which was: what is this going to cost taxpayers?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Premier, have you finished your answer?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Yes.

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