House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-07-23 Daily Xml

Contents

MINISTERIAL ADVISERS, CODE OF CONDUCT

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (14:53): Supplementary, sir. Just for clarity: is the Premier indicating that all ministerial advisers are acting at all times with political neutrality?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Premier, will you be seated. The Leader of the Opposition is warned for the first time, and the member for Stuart is called to order. The Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:54): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Our advice is that the code, in fact, binds ministerial advisers because they are members of the state public sector. Of course, there are some clauses that are not relevant to them because they have a specific role as ministerial advisers. All of the things that the honourable member set out in his clever little media release yesterday, such as accepting gifts—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Like Kevin Naughton.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's right—conflicts of interest, other employment—all of those matters that were set out in his media release yesterday, trying to get a cheap toe on a blog, have all been addressed in the code of ethics.

Mr PISONI: Point of order, Mr Speaker: 127. The Premier is—

The SPEAKER: 127?

Mr PISONI: Imputing improper motives on the Leader of the Opposition, and I ask him to withdraw.

The SPEAKER: I am very close to naming the member for Unley because that is a point of order without merit and designed to obstruct the business of the house. I ask the member for Unley not to detain the house again with points of order of such low quality. There might be points of order that might be taken against the Premier's answer. Imputing improper motives is not one of them.