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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-07-23 Daily Xml
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Matter of Privilege

Matter of Privilege

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (16:59): I rise on a matter of privilege. Today, the ICAC commissioner released a statement regarding the investigation of the country members' accommodation allowance by any member of parliament over the last 10 years. The ICAC commissioner claims, and I quote:

I have discussed with the Auditor-General any activities he may be conducting relevant to the matter to avoid duplication.

The ICAC commissioner then goes on to say:

The Auditor-General has advised me that he does not intend at this time to investigate the matter in light of his office's statutory responsibilities to audit the financial statements of all statutory public authorities.

That statement is dated 23 July 2020. In parliament, the Premier stated to the house in response to a question from the Leader of the Opposition—

The Hon. V.A. Chapman: Is this today?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: On 21 July. I quote:

My question is to the Premier. If members of the Premier's cabinet have made errors that the Premier believes are unacceptable, what recourse or what reprimand has the Premier imposed upon his ministers for wrongful claims of the country members' allowance?

The Premier rose at 14:31 on 21 July to answer that question. He goes on to say that in addition to his answer:

…the government has written to the Auditor-General, and let's not forget for one second that it is indeed the Auditor-General who provides oversight of this parliamentary allowance. It's not a government allowance: it's a parliamentary allowance, and it's the Auditor-General who has responsibility for making sure that members act in accordance with those guidelines.

Members interjected and the Speaker brought the house to order. The Premier goes on to say:

We have asked the Auditor-General to provide a greater level of scrutiny; in fact, we have suggested to the Auditor-General that he may choose—we cannot direct him, but he may choose—to conduct random audits of country MPs' accommodation allowance claims. This will assure the people of South Australia that, when we spend a cent of their money, it is done in accordance with those strict guidelines.

In response to a question from me on 1 July 2020—the question was to the Premier:

My question is to the Premier. Why hasn't the Premier instructed his party room colleague Terry Stephens to stand aside to allow a thorough, independent investigation of his country members' allowance claims?

The Premier, on 1 July, answered with the following:

I thank the member for West Torrens for his question. This is a matter, of course, for the Legislative Council, but what I can say is that I am very supportive of the fact that the President there has referred the country member accommodation entitlements to the Auditor-General. He will look at all members' returns with regard to that matter. More than that, the President has also referred his specific taxation issues to the commissioner for taxation in South Australia.

There have been questions and there have been issues raised. We now have two eminently qualified people looking into this issue. My understanding is that the President has asked for a swift response from the Auditor-General so that we can clarify this matter. I just repeat that if there are issues that are identified in that report, either from the Auditor-General or from RevenueSA and the commissioner for taxation, then we will take the appropriate action.

I believe that the Premier wilfully and intentionally misled the House of Assembly to divert from the scandal at hand, to avoid having to answer questions, and to imply to the house that the Auditor-General was investigating it. Given the statements by His Honour Bruce Lander QC that the Auditor-General is not investigating these matters, I ask that you report this matter to the Speaker to investigate whether a prima facie case exists to establish a privileges committee into the Premier, to conduct a privileges committee, assemble it and investigate the actions of the Premier.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: I wish to speak on this matter to the extent of informing the Speaker that when he reviews the whole of the statement—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: No, it is my time to speak. Sit down.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, Attorney, there is a point of order and my understanding is that you are not able to speak.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: My point of order is that I am making a point of order as to the matter that is to be presented to the Speaker.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: What is your point of order, Attorney?

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: My point of order is that the whole of the statement of Mr Bruce Lander be presented to the Deputy Speaker—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Of course it will.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: What do you mean, 'of course you will'?

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: He is about to ask for it. I've got to give it to him.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: I am about to tell you—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Attorney, enough.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: My point of order is—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, Attorney, I am not going to accept the point of order. I am sure all of that will come out in due course, and I am going to ask the member for West Torrens to hand to me relevant documentation, which I will pass on to the Speaker for his consideration.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: Point of order: I now also seek that the documents be identified as to what has been presented for consideration by the Speaker. If it does not include the whole of Mr Lander's ICAC statement today, outlining his discussions with the Auditor-General, that should be brought to the attention of the Speaker.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: It appears to me, Attorney, that the member for West Torrens has handed to me a one-page public statement by the Hon. Bruce Lander QC.

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