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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-05-12 Daily Xml
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ICAC Investigation

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright) (15:13): I wish to resume my remarks from the Supply Bill debate this morning about the outcome of the ICAC investigation into the appointment of Vicki Antoniou, a public servant, into a Public Service position for which on any measure she was more than suitable.

The member for Unley had pursued Ms Antoniou for two years under parliamentary privilege. At the 2013 estimates hearing into multicultural affairs, all of his questions were about her. At that time we had received FOI requests from the member for Unley costing taxpayers nearly $50,000. Not all, but many, centred on Ms Antoniou. By February it had nearly reached $90,000. It is now clear that what the member for Unley thought would be his $90,000 coup de grâce to my ministerial career when parliament resumed in February was rendered irrelevant by my unrelated decision to retire from the ministry after almost nine years.

The member for Unley was not going to risk saying anything outside of parliament. He would have been breaking the law and this time he would have blown himself up. The member for Unley could get away with it only under parliamentary privilege relying on one of your rulings, sir. So he crouched intently, waiting until I came into question time as a minister in the sitting starting on Tuesday 10 February. Michael Owen reported on 5 February, the Friday after my resignation, and I quote:

Opposition frontbencher David Pisoni, who has pursued the matter since 2013, yesterday said the government would face questions about the matter when parliament resumed next week.

That day, Owen told listeners to ABC radio's Spin Cycle, and again I quote:

I think we are going to see a lot from David Pisoni next week in parliament. Watch this space. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of next week there will be some explosive stuff coming out.

There have been more than 36 opposition grievance speeches since Michael Owen made that prediction. There have been more than 300 opposition questions without notice since Michael Owen made that prediction. Not one of them has been about this matter—nothing. The member for Unley had already set up Michael Owen to do his dirty work for him.

After I announced I was retiring from the ministry, but before my exit interview with Matthew Abraham on ABC radio, I believe the member for Unley or someone from the Liberal Party (but, on past form, you would have to say that Unley is a front runner) prepped Matthew Abraham with the claim that I had taken a ministerial trip to Borneo at taxpayers' expense knowing that I was going to step down as a minister within days. That tip went belly up when I was able to simply answer, 'No.' I was on leave and not a cent of taxpayers' money was involved. But smear again was the intention—no time to check, caught out because of my resignation.

Then Matthew Abraham tried another tack: was I aware of an investigation. I was unaware of any investigations but fingered the member for Unley's constant pursuit of Ms Antoniou. Obviously, he had been tipped off about the ICAC investigation (that is, Matthew Abraham), but to his credit he was a bit more cautious than Michael Owen. The questioning did not faze me as I knew nothing about it, as Commissioner Lander has made clear.

Matthew Abraham and Michael Owen may now feel about the member for Unley like the member for Waite feels about the member for Unley feeding him the dodgy documents and like the member for Heysen feels about relying on ammunition supplied by the member for Unley. Both former leaders of the Liberal Party are no longer leaders, partly owing to the information supplied by the member for Unley.

The member for Bragg also could not let an opportunity pass to make a baseless allegation against me. She was not going to let the member for Unley get all the credit for the kill. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition demanded that the government answer questions about Michael Owen's stories, though she knew full well that if we did so our answers would be unlawful under the ICAC Act. This woman is shadow attorney-general! I have not missed reports of the Leader of the Opposition on a whispering campaign to tell anyone who would listen the 'real reason' I resigned from the ministry was owing to an ICAC investigation.

The leader and deputy leader made the mistake of others before them, and that is to rely on information from the member for Unley. Whoever drafted the dodgy documents picked his or her mark perfectly when he or she put them in the parliamentary pigeonhole of the member for Unley. In a more ethical world, I might have hoped that the member for Unley and his dupes might have fronted the house and the public and apologised for making one of the worst allegations one can make about another person in public life.

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