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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-09-07 Daily Xml
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Private Email Accounts

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:02): The supplementary question is to the Minister for Human Services. Given that the minister has identified that the staff member in question used private email with the agreement of the minister, and the minister in that answer also referred to her own use of private email in the course of her work activities, have all those emails from her—

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —and/or the staff member—

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

The SPEAKER: Order! I will hear the point of order under 134 from the member for West Torrens.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Standing order 134, sir—

Mr Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley is warned for a final time. The member for West Torrens.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Standing order 97, 'nor may a Member offer any facts except by leave of the House'. The shadow minister is attempting to insert facts as a matter of course in his question, which is unparliamentary.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: May I reword?

The SPEAKER: Very well. The member for Morialta.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: My supplementary question is this: has the minister satisfied herself that any emails referred to in her previous answer, or any other emails sent from private email accounts in the course of her duties or the duties of her office staff, have been kept in accordance with the State Records Act and made available to the manager of State Records? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will seek to explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: As described by the Minister for Health in a media release of 31 July 2018, we are reminded that former ICAC commissioner Bruce Lander said in his annual report:

It has come to my attention that at least in some government offices, personal email accounts might be used to convey official information between public officers, rather than through official government email facilities… It is a matter of concern that public officers would seek to circumvent a legislative scheme designed to enhance transparency in government decision making. Such conduct might, at the least, amount to misconduct in public administration and be the subject of investigation and potential disciplinary action.

The SPEAKER: I see the—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I see the minister.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (15:04): It seems to me that the opposition is attempting to impugn on a member a course of action that she has not in any way informed the house of. It seems to me that if the opposition have an accusation to make, let them make it. Let them make it. This fishing expedition after yesterday's big catch—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —seems to me to be a ploy of the opposition.

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: If the opposition have evidence of anything that is close to resembling their question, then let us see it—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —otherwise, I would have suspected that, over the course of the last six weeks, there might be some substantive questions to ask the ministers about the transition to year 7, about the state of the budget, about how our election commitments are being delivered, about infrastructure, about the north-south corridor or about energy. Instead, we are getting a series of questions based on Disney characters and a series of emails that have been answered previously. It's not our fault—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —that members opposite took holidays for the last six weeks.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is called to order. Order! I'm anxious to turn to the member for Narungga. The member for Narungga has the call.

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