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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-10-29 Daily Xml
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CAR PARKING LEVY

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (14:49): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier accept that the citizens' jury recommended to scrap the car park tax?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:50): No, I don't, and this—

An honourable member: Do you believe this question?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: No, I don't.

An honourable member: Did you give him this question?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It must have been. Can I say that when I commenced the citizens' jury I went down and spoke to some of the people there, and one gentleman came up to me and said, 'One of the reasons I'm here is because I actually wanted to show my son that politics can work. I want to make a difference and do something very positive. I've been a bit disturbed about how things always look like they are gridlocked in politics, and I accepted this invitation because I wanted to make a difference.' It was very poignant. Almost everybody I spoke to of those 43 people participated in good faith on that basis.

That is why I was absolutely enraged when the Leader of the Opposition's chief of staff misrepresented the outcome of the citizens' jury and asserted that it had voted to support the scrapping of the car parking tax. Those good people, who came along of their own free will to participate in an act of democracy because they wanted to back democracy for themselves, had that subverted because the Leader of the Opposition permitted his chief of staff—

Mr PENGILLY: Point of order, sir.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: No; you're going to have to hear all of this—you asked the question.

The SPEAKER: The point of order is what?

Mr PENGILLY: Standing order 98: I believe the Premier is debating and I seek some clarification from you, sir.

The SPEAKER: No; I think he's squarely addressing the leader's question whether he maintained a particular position. He appears to be maintaining it. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Can I say that those good people participated in good faith, and the Leader of the Opposition permitted his chief of staff to participate in that process. He participated—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Exactly, and that's your choice. He went along and he ran his line to scrap the car parking tax. When he couldn't actually persuade a majority of those people to support that—because there was a clear majority that opposed the idea of scrapping that tax because they could see the common sense of its application to public transport projects—he then went and out misrepresented the position that they had arrived at. That has now been clarified by newDemocracy that ran this process. You are going to have to live with the fact that you couldn't persuade 43 ordinary citizens who, when they had the facts—

Mr Marshall: It was 42.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: No; there weren't, that's right—there was one extraordinary citizen. There was one person who went along to run his own political agenda and it was thoroughly rejected. That is what is going to happen with your opposition to this particular measure. The good people of South Australia, when they have the facts in front of them, will see the good sense of investing in the long term in public transport, because they could see the contribution that made to the vibrancy of the city. I must say it's one of the more shameful things I have seen in my time in politics. Ordinary, decent citizens coming along to do something constructive and they get some apparatchik from the Liberal Party subverting the process.

Members interjecting:

Mr MARSHALL: I have a supplementary.

The SPEAKER: Before that, will the leader be seated. I call the member for Elder to order for interjecting, and I call the member for Hammond to order for not merely interjecting but bellowing across the chamber. The leader has a supplementary. I thought the answer was reasonably clear and didn't need explication, but anyway.

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