House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-10-28 Daily Xml

Contents

SafeWork SA Advisory Council

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:15): A supplementary to the Minister for Industrial Relations: could the minister explain why SafeWork SA Advisory Council's annual report hasn't got any financial statements attached to it?

The Hon. J.J. Snelling: The question might be in order, but it is hardly a supplementary.

The SPEAKER: Well, let's treat it as a separate question. Would anyone like to answer it as a separate question?

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) (15:15): I would love to answer it as a separate question. Obviously, the member for Bragg has been studying the report, for which I commend her. She is very hardworking in this particular regard and, I might add, in her contributions to debate in this house she is nothing but thorough.

The Hon. J.J. Snelling: Some might say obsessive.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I prefer to call it thorough.

Mr Marshall: It's better than tardy and slow.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I would never accuse the honourable member of being tardy in her responses. They leave absolutely nothing to the imagination and they cover everything with great thoroughness. Indeed, I am reminded of the debate about Kangaroo Island a while ago: the thoroughness of that was breathtaking. For those of us who enjoyed that, it is sealed in our memories as an exemplar of thorough parliamentary exposition.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Okay, fair enough. You had me at hello.

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: You had me at one hour. If I was Patrick Star, I would start bidding down, but I'm not so I will move on. The answer is that I will have to find out whether or not it is conventional for a statement of account to accompany that report and, if it is, I shall also try and ascertain why it is that in this particular report it is not accompanying it.

Mr Marshall: Doesn't it strike you as odd as the minister responsible?

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I assume nothing, and when the probing forensic mind of the member for Bragg is combing through the entrails of my portfolios I am very careful that I don't get tripped up and so I will take counsel.