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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-09-09 Daily Xml
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Gibson Electorate Office

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (14:59): My question is to the Premier, representing the Treasurer. Is the Premier, or the Treasurer, aware of allegations of an incident in his Minister for Infrastructure and Transport's electorate office of physical abuse on 20 November 2017 toward a staffer employed in the electorate office? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: On 20 November, the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure received an email from a staffer of his that states the following:

I have found our catch up this morning to be very aggressive and I do not feel like I was provided with a safe work environment. This morning's catch up felt like it was designed to undermine me in my position in the office by publicly humiliating me within the open plan.

Both [two other staffers, who I won't mention] were able to see and hear your raised voice and advance towards me in my office after I told you that I was finding your conduct and communication towards me aggressive. This was also after I had repeatedly communicated that my work conditions are very stressful. I felt like I was backed into a corner to be yelled at. I would like to know how you think catch ups like this are conducive to a positive work environment and how you think these catch ups inspire motivation?

I would also like to know how you as the Member with responsibility for the workplace conditions are going to ensure my place of work is safe and free from mental and physical harm?

I have said and written many times that I feel like I am being targeted and treated very differently from other staff with no explanation as to why. You have said that all staff are being treated the same but I do not see evidence of this. For example, I do not see other staff being yelled at in open plan for all to hear or aggressively approached in their offices.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (15:01): I might as well deal with this fairly quickly. It does surprise me that the member for West Torrens asks this question in our house. It is the question that was asked by the Hon. Kyam Maher in the other place yesterday at 2.19. I refer you to Hansard, where the Treasurer provided a comprehensive answer to the question that the member for West Torrens has asked.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It is quite clear to me that the opposition has run out of questions, probably in this place as well as in the other one. We had the member for Frome having to chip in to try to help out the opposition during this question time. He had a decent question, talking about regional employment. We always love being asked questions about regional employment because the regions are going gangbusters at the moment. There are always some issues in our regions that we need to address—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —in terms of infrastructure, which has been good—

The SPEAKER: The Premier will resume his seat for a moment. The leader rises on a point of order.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: It won't surprise you, sir, that I rise on a point of order under standing order 98.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr MALINAUSKAS: The member for West Torrens' question—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right and members on my left! I am endeavouring to listen to the Leader of the Opposition's point of order. The Leader of the Opposition has the call.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: Standing order 98. The member for West Torrens' question was not regarding the member for Frome's extraordinary work in the regions; it was regarding a very serious allegation against the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure.

The SPEAKER: The question was directed to the Premier in his capacity representing the Treasurer and was directed indirectly to the Treasurer's awareness of certain matters having arisen on 20 November 2017. I am listening to the Premier's answer. I do draw the Premier back to the substance of the question. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Yes, there have been a series of questions in this house and there have been a series of questions in the other place with regard to this matter, and I was just drawing the member's attention to the fact that the exact quotation or extraction from correspondence that was provided to this house was provided to the Legislative Council and detailed questions were asked of the Treasurer.

What we have here is the member for West Torrens running out of questions, coming in here using up time and reinserting into Hansard the same quotes, rather than addressing some of the other issues that this house could be spending its time on. The Treasurer is in the other place. The member for West Torrens and Labor are running out of questions here and asking me to ask the Treasurer in the other place. I would have thought it's more logical, more efficient, but as it turns out he's actually been answering questions about this.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The leader will cease interjecting.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Those opposite want to scream; they want to shout. There's no point in screaming and shouting. The Treasurer has been very clear on what he knows about this issue. Of course, he points out very, very comprehensively that he wasn't the Treasurer during the time of these incidents; in fact, the person who was the Treasurer is the person asking the questions here in this house.

Sir, you couldn't script this. It's like an episode, a yet unbroadcast episode, of Yes Minister. I am quite sure the scriptwriters would love to see some of the content coming out of the opposition at the moment. What we know is there's been a lot of mudslinging from those opposite with regard to issues in an electorate office on this side of the house. What we haven't heard is much commentary about what's been going on in Hurtle Vale, in Badcoe, in Light, in other seats here—Reynell. We know about media reports into issues—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Hurtle Vale!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: There's a lot of screaming. We've hit a raw nerve over here, sir.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier will resume his seat.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We know there have been sensitive issues in that electorate office.

The SPEAKER: The Premier will resume his seat. The member for Hurtle Vale, the member for Playford and the member for Kaurna will leave for the remainder of question time in accordance with standing order 137A.

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: In silence, member for Playford.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The honourable members for Hurtle Vale, Playford and Kaurna having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: The Premier.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: As I was saying, there are very many issues regarding electorate offices that are occupied by members on the opposition benches. They have been well canvassed in the public domain. What we haven't heard yet is any comment from the Leader of the Opposition. What investigation has he made? He's quite happy for the member for West Torrens to come in, throwing mud around, making unsubstantiated allegations. He's made unsubstantiated—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —allegations, impugning the motives and the performance of the minister on this side of the house. Of course, we've tabled the advice from the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment today, which found that there was no case. But do we hear an apology from those opposite? No, no apology. They come in here, use privilege—completely and utterly inappropriate—throw out their accusations, which are completely and utterly inappropriate. He did exactly the same with regard to the Keolis Downer contract, making absolutely outrageous accusations of corruption. The member from West Torrens alleged corruption. The Auditor-General looked at it—nothing to see here. That's what we have, and of course we have the weakest Leader of the Opposition in the state's history—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —totally and utterly unprepared to stand up to the bully.

The SPEAKER: The Premier will resume his seat. I remind ministers, in responding to questions, of the provisions of standing order 98(a). The member for Colton has the call.

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