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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-06-03 Daily Xml
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Legislative Council President

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:20): A further supplementary to the Premier. In relation to the child pornography charges against the Hon. Bernard Finnigan MLC, the Premier said, 'The crimes of which Mr Finnigan stands accused are extremely serious and carry with them the possibility of a term of imprisonment. I call upon him to resign his public office.' Why won't the Premier now ask the President in the other place to step aside from his position pending the outcome of corruption allegations against him?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (14:21): I think I have adequately answered this. Just because somebody makes a frivolous or unsubstantiated assertion under privilege in this place about another person—and I won't explore that theme any further just for now—just because somebody does that does not mean there is one scintilla of evidence.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is called to order and so is the member for Unley.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: The Hon. John Gazzola, if I recall correctly, referred to statements made by the Hon. Mr Ridgway, statements which the Hon. Mr Ridgway has failed to substantiate, and the Hon. Mr—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned for the first time.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: The Hon. Mr Gazzola had the good grace to go into the other place and say, 'Look, I actually have got this wrong.' Mr Speaker, that is what he said.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: He did. He went in there—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley is called to order and the leader is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: He went into the other place, and I know this because I have seen it in Hansard, and he acknowledged that he had made an error and he expressed his apologies to the Hon. Russell Wortley at having made such an error.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: The assertion that he is continuing to maintain some complaint about the Hon. Russell Wortley is not correct, and I think we can all take comfort from the fact that the Hon. Russell Wortley has said publicly it would appear (I am assuming that the honourable member's quote is accurate) that he welcomes being referred to the commission because the way I read that is that, just like the other allegations which were found to be completely unsubstantiated that had been made against him some time ago and been regurgitated here and there by various people, he is confident—

An honourable member: Under privilege.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Under privilege, yes, indeed—he is confident that when the commission has a look at matters regarding him a similar outcome will apply. I think it is not an unreasonable thing to say when the allegations are so flimsy and have remained sitting out there in nowhere land for the best part of a decade, nobody having proven any of it or substantiated any of it, the suggestion that he should be asked to step aside on the basis of that flimsy material being chucked up yet again with nothing fresh is ridiculous.

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