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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) (14:53): My supplementary question is to the Premier. What was the Premier's citizens' jury referring to when it asked the Labor government to—and I quote:

...withdraw measures, including cost barriers that may discourage people from driving into the Adelaide CBD and therefore contributing to vibrancy.

What were they referring to?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (15:54): They had a specific proposition in front of them to scrap the car parking tax. What they did in response to that—presumably because they are decent citizens who actually wanted to pay some respect to your chief of staff's arguments—was to put in there language that at least gave him some comfort to say that if there are some measures which would have the effect of reducing the capacity of people to come into the city. But they specifically rejected the proposition about abolishing this tax. It is an outrage that your—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I must say another thing: the very gentleman that actually was the spokesperson on behalf of the citizens' jury was just an ordinary member of the public who went out there with me. I must say I saw that language, and I looked at it at face value, and I thought, 'Perhaps that is about not supporting the car parking tax,' but I asked that question without suggesting what the answer should be, and he said it was specifically not that. They had specifically decided to support that tax because they thought it would make an important contribution to public transport.

Another point needs to be made here: when that gentleman made his point to the media and explained the very point that I have just given to the house, what those opposite sought to do was to characterise him as a dissident—somebody that was actually speaking out against the jury. So, this man, who went along in good faith as the spokesperson for the group and who faithfully recounted what had been decided by the group, was blackguarded by those opposite, who suggested that he was the dissident.

Mr PISONI: Point of order: surely the Premier is imputing improper motives.

The SPEAKER: No, he is not imputing improper motives: he is reintroducing that interesting word 'blackguard' to the parliament, which could, leader, probably be a word that needs revival. Before the leader rises, I warn the member for Unley for the first and second time for repeated interjection. Leader.

Mr MARSHALL: Given that the Premier—

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I haven't finished yet.

The SPEAKER: You haven't finished? Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Thank you, Mr Speaker. That particular gentleman came along and said to the cameras precisely what I have just told to the house. Because in the report there is a reference to the fact that all of these decisions were taken, I think, at the rate of 41-1 or 42-1, so there was one person standing out, what they sought to do was to characterise him as the one dissident when, in fact, that one person was somebody who didn't want any cars coming into the city—somebody who was an outlier who had very strong views about not encouraging cars at all into the city.

So, it was somebody, one might say, on the very Green edge of the spectrum who put that proposition. But what they tried to do was take a good, decent citizen, who put his hand up to make a contribution to the public debate, and seek to characterise him as the dissident that was speaking out against the collective wisdom of the group. So, not only did you defame that good citizen, you misrepresented the outcome of a decent attempt at democracy. We now know where those—

Ms Chapman: Come on, Jay.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: No, you are going to have to wear all of this. We now know what their attitude is to involving citizens in the decisions that affect their lives. They will misrepresent them, they will defame them—that's what the South Australian community have to look forward to if they were ever in the position of occupying the treasury bench.

Mr MARSHALL: Supplementary, sir.

The SPEAKER: Before I have, I think, a third supplementary, would the leader be seated? If the leader is going to ask questions like that, of that tone, and the Premier is going to answer them in that spirit, then I am just going to let you go. Leader.

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