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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-11-16 Daily Xml
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Kangaroo Island Wharf Facility

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (15:14): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier explain to the house how the Deputy Premier did not have a conflict of interest in respect of the KIPT decision? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: It is now a matter of public record that the Deputy Premier owns a home that is rented out for Airbnb that is literally directly across the road of a set of forest that is set to be felled if the Smith Bay port decision was approved.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (15:15): Again, this is a matter which has been canvassed over a period of time and—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —it's still going at the moment—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —but I'm quite sure that the Deputy Premier has not had a conflict of interest. She has addressed—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I'm quite sure there are people who disagree with the decision that the planning minister made. There are many people who also support the decision that the planning minister has made, but that's not what this matter is about. This matter is whether or not the planning minister had a conflict of interest. For all of the reasons outlined by the Deputy Premier in the house last year—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —she has full confidence. The Deputy Premier—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —has kept the cabinet fully informed. She has kept the parliament fully informed regarding this complex issue. Let's not forget that this is an issue which goes back to the previous government. This is an issue which sat on the table—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Wright is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It has been on the table for an extraordinarily long period of time. There is timber on the island which needs to come off. Various people—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Not anymore—can't come off now.

The SPEAKER: Order, member for West Torrens!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Various people have put forward various suggestions.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Interjections between the Deputy Premier and the member for West Torrens will cease.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: There is timber. It's on the island and everybody agrees that it needs to come off. There have been various suggestions as to how that should come off over a lengthy period of time. This was an issue which confronted the previous government and they didn't make a decision on it.

It has been in place for a long period of time. It's a complex issue. It's a complex issue, but I have every confidence that the Attorney-General has made the right decision. It's exactly and precisely the same decision that I would have made, and there is no conflict of interest whatsoever. I'm being asked by those opposite to consider the groundbreaking news that Vickie Chapman originally came from Kangaroo Island.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I'm so glad that we have this very expensive—

Mr MALINAUSKAS: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Premier, please be seated. The leader on a point of order.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: Standing order 98, sir: debate. The question specifically asked for the Premier to explain how the Deputy Premier owning a house directly across the road from a forest set to be felled was not a conflict of interest. The amount of time that the home has been owned or the forest has been there is not relevant. The question is: how is it not a conflict of interest?

The SPEAKER: I understand the Premier is seeking to address the question and I bring the Premier back to the substance of the question.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The substance of the question was exactly and precisely what I was addressing. I'm not quite sure what the Leader of the Opposition was doing. I think it was just a little speech that he wanted to get off his chest. Maybe he will send it out to his followers on Meet Pete and tell people what he's doing. But the fact of the matter is that there is not a single shred of new evidence that has come to light from the very expensive select committee that the taxpayers of South Australia have had to pay for. The Leader of the Opposition again is just highlighting that the Deputy Premier has a property on Kangaroo Island. I knew that—I knew that.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Across the road there were trees. I have been to Kangaroo Island. Across the road everywhere there are trees. Kangaroo Island is six times the size of Singapore, but apparently, because the Attorney-General owns property on that site, she is incapable of making the decision. Well, I don't buy it. I don't buy it.

The Attorney-General makes hundreds of decisions—in fact, thousands of decisions—each year. She's an outstanding planning minister, she's an outstanding Attorney-General, she's an outstanding Deputy Premier and I'm not going to be swayed by any of the spurious arguments being put forward by the Rumpoles of the Bailey who sit opposite us in the chamber today.

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