House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-05-31 Daily Xml

Contents

Adelaide Comets

Mr TARZIA (Hartley) (14:33): My question is to the Minister for Sport. Are the Adelaide Comets moving from Ellis Park? With the leave of yourself, sir, and the house, I will explain.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The exchange between the Treasurer and the member for Dunstan will cease. The member for Hartley has sought leave. Is leave granted?

Leave granted.

Mr TARZIA: The opposition has been informed that Ellis Park in the West Parklands may be firming as a SAPOL preference for the new site for the Mounted Operations Unit, which needs to move from its existing Thebarton Police Barracks site to make way for the new Women's and Children's Hospital.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hartley! The member for Hartley is on a final warning. The Premier has the call.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Hartley! The member for Elizabeth is warned. Member for King! The members for Hurtle Vale and Reynell! I see the member for Badcoe and the member for Waite and Davenport. Order! Member for Hartley, order! The member for Elder is warned. Member for Newland! The Premier has the call. Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:34): I have every confidence, for the member for Hartley's benefit, that the next time the Leader of the Opposition stands up and says, 'I want to replace a man with a woman in this place,' he might actually really mean it—he might actually really mean it.

With respect to the member for Hartley's question regarding the Mounted Operations Unit, I am more than happy to answer the question because as Chair of the cabinet I have made clear that we have a substantial number of members of the cabinet—

The Hon. K.A. Hildyard interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Reynell!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —and their respective portfolio areas making a contribution to what, as I said earlier, is a complex policy decision, given the fact that it does touch on a number of portfolio areas, and the member for Hartley has alluded to potentially yet another.

As Chair of cabinet, in conjunction with another central agency in terms of Treasury, we are leading this exercise. We are going through all the options as thoroughly as we can. There are a number. The member for Hartley has spoken to one that may be a potential such option, but we are going through those options carefully and considerately and we will be making an announcement hopefully, as I said, somewhere between the next two and four weeks. When we do that, it will be a decision that will ultimately be signed off by the Minister for Health. From that moment onwards, the Mounted Operations Unit will start its process of transferring.

I think I made clear earlier all the reasons why the Mounted Operations Unit has to move in any event. It is not an easy task, but it's an important one. We accept that when you make decisions focused on the long term that means it comes with consequences. We look those consequences straight in the eye and take them on, knowing that the reason why we make these decisions is about the long-term interest of the state, and that's what people of South Australia expect of us. You should try to get on board.