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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-03-20 Daily Xml
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Freedom of Information

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (14:20): My question is to the Premier. Is the Premier satisfied that his department is responding appropriately to any freedom of information request for access to documents? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr TEAGUE: In an application under freedom of information laws, the Department of the Premier and Cabinet has identified and I quote 'more than 400 documents' relating to the firm of Citadel Secure, Mr David Searles, Ms Cressida O'Hanlon or Mr James O'Hanlon dated from 17 March 2022 to 29 January 2024. On 22 February, the senior FOI officer was granted an informal extension of time until 14 March 2024; however, to date, has refused access to the documents.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Sir, on a point of clarification, is it appropriate to ask for opinions rather than actual seeking answers to facts?

The SPEAKER: That is a difficult matter of fine judgement.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Leader of opposition business, member for Morialta under 134.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: The form of words 'Is the minister, Premier, whoever, satisfied that their department has' has been taken as accepted in the past. I am fairly sure the member for West Torrens has asked questions that have been accepted in that form before himself.

The SPEAKER: I will allow the question. Premier.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:22): The direct answer to the shadow minister's question is yes, I am satisfied with the work undertaken by my department. In fact, the Department of the Premier and Cabinet has a number of responsibilities and chief amongst them is policy: policy delivery and policy development. To that end, the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, led by CEO Damien Walker, has been so very busy—so very busy—because this is a government that has a big, bold, ambitious policy for the future of our state.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morialta is warned for a third time. The member for Florey joins him. Member for West Torrens, order! It may be that the Premier has concluded his answer. No, he is still on his feet. Very well, the Premier has the call.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: I made pretty clear upon our election that we would have genuine expectations of the Public Service. That was particularly true for me and my relationship with the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, as one would expect. I made it clear that we had expectations for them to deliver and we needed them to step up to the plate because what was going to make this government so distinct and different from its predecessor was the fact that there was a big agenda. There was actually a plan for the future of our state.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: An ambition to realise all of the potential that South Australia has before it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morphett!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Whether it be the potential around a decarbonisation of industry globally—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Colton is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Whether it be the potential the state has around the decarbonisation of the global economy and our capacity for a clean energy future to deliver jobs for the future generations of our state; whether it be our ambition and our plans to invest in education to actually reform our education system to do new things so that young people can attain new skills to be able to participate in the economy tomorrow: university amalgamations—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —technical colleges, universal access to three-year-old-preschool, mid-year intake—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: You name it: a publicly run, publicly invested-in TAFE. It is a big program.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Undoing their privatisations.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Undoing privatisations after backflips and broken promises from the former government—a big effort. We know how hard it is to undo a privatisation, but this is a government that is getting it done. We are executing and delivering on those commitments, and at the same time bringing the budget back into surplus and reducing the debt-to-revenue ratio that was left to us by those opposite.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Florey! Member for Colton! There is a point of order from your colleague, the member for Morialta, which must be heard under 134.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Standing order 98: the question was about whether DPC was fulfilling its statutory obligations to the people of South Australia—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —under freedom of information laws.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Chaffey is warned for a second time. I have the point of order. I will listen carefully. It may be that the Premier's answer, having been expansive, can now turn to the question. Premier.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: There is a big ambition that this government has with a serious agenda, and DPC has the responsibility as a central agency—the principal central agency of government—to be across all of it. DPC works collaboratively with other agencies to fulfil that mandate and fulfil those tasks.

With respect to FOI, as I started my answer with, yes, I am very grateful for the fact that DPC is doing all of that work, and I haven't mentioned a whole range of other efforts. If I look down the line of ministers, what we are doing in tourism and major events; what we are doing in child protection and sporting infrastructure across the state, particularly for female facilities; what we are doing in the public housing sector under the leadership of Minister Cook. It goes on: what we are doing in housing, an area that was neglected by the former government. DPC is doing all of that work, and on top of that they are doing a great job responding to whatever FOIs you might have.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Heysen and then the member for Elizabeth, who has been waiting patiently.

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