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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-04-03 Daily Xml
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Wright Electorate Office

Mr BOYER (Wright) (15:15): It has been 12 months now since the electorate office for the seat of Wright was unceremoniously booted from the Golden Grove Village. What has occurred in the year since must surely go down as the most blatant display of political interference in the location of an electorate office ever seen in South Australia. Make no mistake, the decision to exile the office 25 kilometres away from the seat of Wright was political. Yes, it is true that the old electorate office for the seat of Wright was no longer within the boundaries after the redistribution; it was out of those boundaries by all of about 370 metres.

Nonetheless, I fully expected to be told after the election that the member for King would take over the office at Golden Grove Village, but a few days after the election I received an unexpected call from the member for King in which she said that she did not want to take the office at the village but instead wanted an office that was more visible. Those are her exact words. I said I would be very happy to keep the office for Wright where it had been.

Ms LUETHEN: Point of order: I have heard inaccurate information being presented and personal reflection.

The SPEAKER: That is definitely not a point of order, but I will allow the member to perhaps make a personal explanation a bit later. The member for Wright.

Mr BOYER: On that basis, I met with electorate services to discuss these arrangements. Electorate services informed me that they had had similar conversations with the member for King in which she expressed a desire to find a different office. For that reason, they gave me the keys to the office at the Golden Grove Village and we were moved in.

These conversations are borne out in freedom of information documents that we obtained last year that show the member for King called the Savills Retail Leasing company on Tuesday 20 March to inquire about new office locations at the Highland Village in Greenwith and The Packing Shed shops in Golden Grove. It was clear as day that the member for King wanted out of the village, but those plans hit a snag. The member for King could not find a lease and she quickly realised that her only option was the existing office for Wright at the Golden Grove Village.

You would think, of course, that the member for King might have had the courtesy to contact me again, explain her predicament and politely inform me that she was left with no choice but to move into the office at the village, but no. Instead, she got the Hon. Rob Lucas in the other place to do her dirty work and he had his public servants call to tell us we would be leaving the village.

The SPEAKER: I ask the member for Wright to withdraw the statement 'asking the Hon. Rob Lucas to do her dirty work', please.

Mr BOYER: I withdraw, Mr Speaker.

The SPEAKER: Thank you, continue.

Mr BOYER: The choice was between my existing office at Parliament House or the old electorate office for the seat of Taylor in Virginia as our next location. I can tell you that the irony was not lost on us. When we asked why we could not stay at the village, we were told it was because the office was 370 metres out of the seat of Wright, but there was no issue moving us 25 kilometres away to Virginia. The rationale at the time was that there was an existing lease at Virginia that would present a savings to the taxpayer. Forget the disenfranchisement—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right!

Mr BOYER: —of the electors of Wright, the government can save a few dollars at their expense, so before we knew it the removal trucks had arrived and we were off. But that budget saving the Treasurer used as justification for sending us to Virginia was a red herring. In November, the lease for the office in Virginia had to be extended, which begs the question: why at that point was the office for Wright not moved into or closer to the seat of Wright? Indeed, was the Treasurer given advice by his public servants that this is what should have happened?

When we were given our marching orders just after last year's election, there was office space at the village that could have accommodated us. In fact, it is still empty and available right now, but instead, in July last year, the Treasurer issued a media release crowing about finding an office in Salisbury East.

The Hon. T.J. Whetstone: It's not even in your electorate.

Mr BOYER: Neither is Virginia. What do you not understand about this? Get a map. You are #RegionsMatter. You are Mr Regions Matter. Do you know where any of them are?

The Hon. T.J. Whetstone: Don't you like Virginia?

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr BOYER: Have a look at a map. How embarrassing.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr BOYER: Aren't you the minister for primary production?

Mr Patterson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morphett! He's been doing it all day out there on the wing.

Mr BOYER: But instead, in July last year, the Treasurer issued a media release crowing about finding an office in Salisbury East and how that office would be ready by October. You would think that, after almost 40 years in parliament, he would have realised that it is not a good idea to over-egg the pudding. Here we are, six months later, and that office is still not ready. In fact, the assurances given by the Treasurer about when it would be ready have been wrong on so many occasions that electorate services will no longer even give me a date.

Last week, the office for Wright moved to its third temporary location in 12 months, to share accommodation with the member for Ramsay. Nobody can tell me how long we are going to be there, and nobody can provide me with evidence that any work has started at Salisbury East, but everybody in the north-east is going to remember the treatment they have received from this Liberal government.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is called to order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Boyer interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Wright!

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Yes, the minister is correct. Member for King.

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