House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-09-04 Daily Xml

Contents

Hopgood Theatre

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (15:00): Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is again to the Premier. What consultation did the government undertake before deciding to cut ongoing funding from the Hopgood Theatre?

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley—Minister for Industry and Skills) (15:01): This is extraordinary; the member wasn't listening.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: There was no money in the forward estimates.

Ms Stinson: I think you weren't listening to the question.

The SPEAKER: Order! I was listening.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: There was no cut. If there was a cut, maybe she is confirming that it was the member for West Torrens who cut the budget prior to the Mid-Year Budget Review. The facts are—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: —that the funding agreement, like so many other funding agreements, had come to an end. No negotiations were started by the mob on the other side there. 'Let's just kick the can along, get it over the election, and if we don't happen to get over the line it's something else we can blame the new government for,' that's the strategy of Labor. The facts are that the member for Reynell is being dishonest—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: —in suggesting that there was a cut. We have found funding for this year. We have found it: it has not been cut. The member for Reynell is being extremely 'cute', I think is the word, on this issue. She knows that the funding agreement wasn't renegotiated by the previous government. It was all part of putting together this wafer-thin perception of a surplus of the previous government, and now the people of the south are paying the price.