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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-11-17 Daily Xml
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Industrial Relations

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (14:19): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier have a plan to protect South Australian businesses from intimidation and, if not, does he intend to support legislation to protect the construction industry? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr COWDREY: The South Australian Liberal Party is fast-tracking the introduction of new legislation to protect the South Australian construction industry from thuggish union behaviour, which has been reported to include—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr COWDREY: —intimidation of subcontractors, threatening behaviour, verbal assault and increased disruption on worksites.

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton, there are two difficulties with the leave that you have sought to introduce facts. If you are referring to legislation and that legislation is before the house, then to some extent—

An honourable member: It's not before the house, sir.

The SPEAKER: Well, if it is not before the house then it is an expression of a future intention, highly speculative and not a present fact. I am going to give you an opportunity to recast the question. You might, in fact, decide to sever the purported facts from a question that probably stands alone in its own right.

Mr COWDREY: I do believe that it is on the public record that the introduction will come but, in any case, I will take your advice. My question is again to the Premier. Does the Premier have a plan to protect South Australian businesses from intimidation and, if not, what does he intend to do?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:20): I will do everything I reasonably can, given the status—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —of our constitution to do what the state government has at its disposal to advocate for better industrial relations in our country, which I think I have articulated at length today. What I would say to the member for Colton, who earlier referred to their 'fast-tracking of legislation', where is it?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: This is making us look bad, please make it stop.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for West Torrens knows better. Member for Morialta.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order: standing order 98. You have ruled that out of order, the Premier is defying you and the member for West Torrens is undermining you by talking over you, sir.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Undermining him? I'm promoting him. I'm his biggest fan.

The SPEAKER: Order! There is some force in what the member raises in the chamber. Premier, you have to hand standing order 98. I bring you back to the substance of the question.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: As I was saying, I appreciate that there are some in this house who will one day get around eventually to the fast-track effort, but notwithstanding that—

Mr Cowdrey interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Colton is warned. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The government, as I outlined previously, is committed to doing anything we reasonably can to harness and promote good industrial relations in the state of South Australia, notwithstanding the fact that industrial relations legislation that governs the private sector is not the responsibility of the state government, so we are left with the strength of our advocacy and I will deploy that tool as best I can.

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