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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-09-23 Daily Xml
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Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:28): I will ask the Premier another question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader has the call.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: My question is to the Premier. When a South Australian goes onto your Facebook page—

Members interjecting:

Mr MALINAUSKAS: —on the Premier's Facebook—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my right!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier is called to order. The leader has the call. The leader is entitled to be heard in silence. Members on my left!

Mr MALINAUSKAS: My question is to the Premier. When a South Australian goes on the Premier's official Facebook page and signs up to the Premier's official Facebook page, where does the information regarding that South Australian go, to the South Australian Liberal Party or the South Australian government?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:29): The Leader of the Opposition is getting confused. I have had a Facebook account for it must be more than a decade. It's a Steven Marshall account. Yes, it does say 'Premier of South Australia'. It is not an official government Facebook site, an official government website. I happen to be the Premier of South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It's a position of great privilege. It's an honour to serve in this role. I will use every single method possible to promote our key COVID messages to the people of South Australia. The Leader of the Opposition is complaining about this today. He is coming in here saying, 'How dare the Liberal Party use Liberal Party dollars to promote the COVID message?' But he sits idly by—

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

Mr MALINAUSKAS: Standing order 98: this is clearly debate. The Premier is seeking to—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right!

Mr MALINAUSKAS: The Premier is seeking to characterise the line of questioning and making references to the Labor Party. We are simply asking: where does the information go? Is it going to the Liberal Party, or is it going to the government?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for King is called to order. The Premier, in answering the question—and I have noted the question—is addressing the substance of the question. The Premier is in order and the Premier has the call. I don't uphold the point of order. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It seems an extraordinary line of questioning, but nothing is extraordinary in this place anymore. The question right back to the Leader of the Opposition is: when people like his page—and, let's face it, he's been using taxpayer dollars to promote all sorts of political Labor Party advertisements in recent times, including radio advertisements—where does that data go? Where does that data go?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: When somebody likes the member from West Torrens's Facebook site, where does that data go? What sinister means is the member for West Torrens using with the data that he has collected because people like his page?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Playford is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: As I have said right from day one, this is very clearly Liberal Party dollars being used to promote the simple messages that we want to convey to the people of South Australia. I think it's great that the Liberal Party want to do this. I think it is outstanding that the Liberal Party want to join in. Clearly, those opposite are used to what was going on—which was rife when they were in government—which is using taxpayer dollars to advance their cause. This by contrast—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Yes, absolutely! And that's why when we came to government we had to completely rewrite—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —the way that we actually spent taxpayers dollars when it came to taxpayer-funded advertising campaigns because, quite frankly—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Ramsay!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —people were a bit sick of seeing Labor Party politicians' faces on their television set—paid for by the taxpayers of South Australia—immediately up to an election. That's what they were sick of and that's what we unwound on coming to government. But we still do have some significant expenditure in terms of our advertising, and I think most people appreciate we've got a very important message to get across to the people of South Australia.

With regard to the line of questioning that the Leader of the Opposition has gone down today, I cannot be any clearer: the Liberal Party have been using their own money, the Liberal Party's money, to promote to the people of South Australia their desire for all South Australians to know about COVID, the state's response to COVID, the things that we can do to protect our state and, in particular, having a successful vaccination rollout in this state. It's going well, and I thank the Liberal Party for participating in informing the people of South Australia about that.

This does contrast—and it's important for people to understand the contrast—between how the Liberal Party is spending money on a positive campaign to promote health and keep our state safe in our economy strong versus the Labor Party, which have taken taxpayer dollars through the Leader of the Opposition's office, put ads on radio, and they have done so for what reason? To promote Labor Party policies, not public health messages—Labor Party policies. That's the same old Labor. Shame on them!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Before I call the leader, the member for Playford is warned for a second time, the member for Ramsay is called to order, the member for Lee is called to order and the Minister for Innovation and Skills is warned. I call to order the Minister for Energy and Mining and I call to order the deputy leader and the leader.

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