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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-11-26 Daily Xml
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Members

Valedictory

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (16:58): I rise to make my final contribution to this house and, in doing so, I acknowledge I am making my remarks on the land of the Kaurna people. I acknowledge their relationship with their land and their elders, past, present and emerging, and I place on the record how glad I am that they, and all other indigenous groups, have a formal voice to this place as it conducts its deliberations.

There is a part of this parliament complex which has long fascinated me for the more than 20 years that I have been working in and around here. In between the two chambers there is a lounge where members can bring their guests and on the walls of that lounge there are panels with small portraits with the names and periods of service of all of the 700-odd members that have served in this place over the last 168 years. I have been absolutely fascinated by those panels over all that time. Firstly, I came in and looked to see what names I could recognise and put a face to the names. It is startling that almost all of the people on those panels are men, although fortunately that is changing in this day and age.

The one thing that really struck me and has stayed with me since I first started looking at those panels is just how briefly most members serve in this place. When people think of parliamentarians they think of perhaps the Kingstons or the Playfords or a Dunstan and assume that parliamentary careers extend on forever, but those panels tell a very different story. The vast majority of members have served in this place for less than eight years, many members under five.

When I became a member of parliament in 2014, I realised that in all likelihood my time in this place would be limited. It drives a sense of urgency to make sure that I am using this time in this place as a representative of my local community to try to get as much done as possible.

It has been the privilege of my professional life to serve my electorate as the member for Lee. It has meant a lot to me personally, particularly in the first term of my career when the electorate included the suburbs of Largs Bay and Semaphore, where the Mullighan family comes from. It is a great regret to me that the entirety of my parliamentary career has occurred after my father passed away, who had a public life in a different guise. It is a great regret that I have not been able to share with him the highs and lows of my career in public life.

However, I have been extremely grateful for the warm welcome that I have received from my constituents. To be invited into and included in so many lives and livelihoods over the years, whether it is at a front door or at a sporting or community event or on a business premises, it has been a wonderful privilege to get to know so many people, understand what is important to them and understand how we can make a difference to their benefit.

I want to acknowledge, in particular, those people who spend so much of their own time volunteering, whether it is in those sporting and community clubs, or whether it is in so many other ways that people donate their time to support others in our community. They are the glue that holds our communities together, and it has been a tremendous privilege to see those people commit such a large amount of their free time to those pleasures. They are the people who give our children their first opportunity in team sport. They are the people who encourage the elderly to get out of the house. They are the people who help others in our community, in particular those in need, and it has been a great pleasure to get to know many of them and admire their work.

I make special mention of the Greek, Italian and Serbian communities in my electorate who have welcomed me and accepted me as one of their own. To be included in the significant events on their calendar, to be taught a little of their language, to understand some of their culture and their customs and, of course, their food, are such wonderful experiences that contribute to being a member of parliament.

Our electorate offices are so critical to our work as MPs and the team in the Lee electorate office have been a huge help to me and to the electorate over the last 12 years and in particular during the time that I served as a minister. Karen Abineri, Kyall Smith, Corey Joyce, Carol Putland, Christian Alexandrides and the absolute best casual in the business Pauline Mannix, who has been working in state and federal electorate offices for more than 50 years, have been an enormous help. They have helped a huge number of people and they have helped me lobby and campaign for some of the changes that we have been able to deliver in our electorate.

I know sometimes it is not in the best form to be celebrating your successes and achievements, but I will not be burdening the house with my modesty. I am very pleased at some of the things that we have worked to get done in my electorate or for the benefit of my electorate: in particular, with the member for Port Adelaide and the member for Croydon, the Premier, lobbying to secure the funding for The Queen Elizabeth Hospital upgrade; working again with the member for Port Adelaide and the member for West Torrens to secure the funding for the upgrades to the Seaton High School and the West Lakes Shore, Westport and Grange primary schools; the redevelopments that we have been able to deliver for our local sporting clubs, whether it is the Seaton Ramblers, SMOSH West Lakes or the Henley and Grange Baseball Club; the Grange Recreation Reserve that we were grateful to have the minister come and officially open last week; and the Semaphore Surf Life Saving Club.

There has been a range of upgrades to local roads and intersections, but I am really pleased that, after 30 years of intransigence, we finally got on with the Coast Park. We got rid of the boom gates at Westfield West Lakes. Thanks to the Minister for Housing and Urban Development, we are finally getting on with the redevelopment of the public housing in Seaton. We get elected to make a difference in our communities, and I am really proud of what we have been able to achieve over the last 12 years in Lee.

Despite all of this and my best intentions, my work as a local MP was consistently undermined by my responsibilities as a minister. Of course, I am not complaining; I was extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to serve the government as a minister. At the beginning of that term in 2014, I remember the then Premier Jay Weatherill telling cabinet that this additional, if not bonus, term of government after the 2014 election was a huge opportunity to continue contributing to the South Australian community and that all ministers needed to make the most of that opportunity.

We were very grateful, of course, to the member for Stuart for backing us in so that we could form government, and I think even the Italians in the Labor Party now welcome having pineapple on their pizza as a result of the member for Stuart's interventions. Jay also gave me a tremendous opportunity by allocating me the Transport and Infrastructure portfolio, but as a newly minted MP and one who went straight into the ministry I had a target on my back from day one for the opposition.

I can remember the shadow transport minister at the time was Vickie Chapman. Straight after the 2014 election, in my first 30 days as minister she issued 22 press releases criticising me. The first one was titled 'Oh, boy', highlighting my youth and my inexperience, and the next 21 spelled 'Mullighan' in the title of those press releases with one 'L' replaced by a learner's plate. But it was a blessing in disguise because it got me out into the media early and very often, and it helped me build my confidence and develop my persona as a politician to make sure I was across my briefs.

It was a really busy time in that portfolio. We secured commonwealth funding and got on with the Torrens to Torrens, Darlington and Northern Connector projects. We had to deliver the Torrens junction grade separation project at Park Terrace at Bowden and the O-Bahn tunnel project through the East Parklands, and we also lobbied the then federal minister Paul Fletcher for funding for the Oaklands crossing grade separation project and the extension of the Tonsley line up to Flinders University, which were both substantially delivered by the Marshall Liberal government. I soon had the member for Unley as my shadow, and I can comfortably say that no-one worked harder or made my life hell more than the member for Unley. He was an extremely hardworking shadow to have on my case.

All of this meant that I was in the public eye an enormous amount in my first term, and a lot of the work that we were doing was actually quite controversial. Buying up hundreds of houses for those South Road projects, digging the O-Bahn tunnel through the East Parklands and even changing the cycling laws meant that, at times, I was copping a huge amount of flak from the community, particularly because I was seemingly always on talkback radio.

I have one fond memory of the member for Port Adelaide and I officially opening the heritage restoration works to the Birkenhead Bridge during that time. For the ceremony, of course, the transport department had closed down the bridge to only one lane of traffic, so they had to take it in turns traversing the bridge in alternate directions. During the ceremony, I could see these long, snaking queues of cars building up waiting to get across while we went through the huge golden-scissors ribbon-cutting process.

I was talking, after the ceremony, to the bloke who had actually done the work, a guy called Lindsay Scragg from AFL Services. I could see out of the corner of my eye this car coming from Birkenhead towards the Port, so from my electorate going towards Port Adelaide. He had his window down, and as he spied me he leant out the window and shook his fist at me and said, 'What are you effing up now, Mullighan?' And I thought, fantastic, I finally made it, people know who I am; it is terrific. Funnily enough, the one thing I get stopped about the most from that time in the portfolio is the very simple change we made to the conditional registration scheme for historic vehicles. It strikes me how such a small, simple change can make such a huge difference to a cohort of people who own classic cars and the industry that supports them.

You will be glad to know that I will not be giving you a blow-by-blow account of the rest of my career, but I did want to talk a little about my time in the Treasury portfolio. Everything in government requires funding, and in that context the Treasury portfolio is crucial to government. The bar is always higher for Labor and Labor governments on financial management, regardless of the performance of our political opponents. I worked for the then Treasurer Kevin Foley in the Rann government, who was at pains to re-establish Labor's financial credibility after the State Bank crisis. The fiscal discipline of that government left a great impression on me.

Over the four budgets I have delivered during this term, the government has strengthened the state's finances. We have got the budget back into surplus, we have improved our credit rating outlook and we have been able to take on more debt to invest in major infrastructure projects and in the economy. We kept our promise not to increase or introduce new taxes. We abolished stamp duty for first home buyers building their first homes, and we provided significant cost-of-living relief.

Over the course of this term, South Australia has regularly had the best performing economy in the nation and we are regarded as the best place to do business. We have regularly had the lowest unemployment rate. Importantly, getting the budget back into surplus has meant that, when a community need has arisen, we have had the capacity to support the community, whether it has been through the River Murray flood event, the drought, the algal bloom, Whyalla, Port Pirie and, most recently, Bedford, all while keeping the budget in surplus.

I am so grateful to the Premier for giving me the opportunity to serve in the Treasury portfolio and contribute to improving the state's standing in these different ways. It has also been a great privilege to have served in the other portfolios as Minister for Police and Minister for Defence and Space Industries, two critical portfolios for the state in different ways, each with a lot happening in those areas.

The hardest part of resigning from cabinet has been no longer working with such a brilliant team in my ministerial office. If you want to succeed in performing well in your work, you have to surround yourself with the best people, and I have been able to do that in my ministerial offices, both in this term of government and in the previous Weatherill government.

I have been lucky enough to work with the two best chiefs of staff in the business in John Atkinson and John Bistrovic—in no particular order; brilliant EAs in Sandra Swalling, Nicole Chapman and Kate Wheeler; Tara Yoon, Michael McGuire, Matthew Leyson, Emma De Favari, Grace Nankivell, Tom Probst, Sam Chapman, Mel Jones, Jon Schomburgk, Daniel Alexandrides; Vince Puopolo and David Wilkins, as senior and ministerial advisers; Jack Berketa, Andrea Nicolas and Jen Salter as media advisers; and someone I started working with more than 20 years ago, Elicea Tomlinson; as well as Alanah Vernocchi, Sarah Gysbers, Erinne Provis, Mike Hartnett, Isaac Penglis, Leah Sagigi, Elissa Mimidas, and the team that kept the office running so smoothly. Derek, Ardo and Gary were wonderful supports to me as drivers. They together have been such an enormous support to me in all of the work that we do as ministers, and I can't tell you how grateful I am to all of them.

Our office has always had a great relationship with the departments we worked with. I want to briefly acknowledge the public sector that we have here in South Australia. When I announced my resignation from the ministry, I made reference to the Under Treasurer Tammie Pribanic, to Rick Persse, the Chief Executive of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, and Police Commissioner Grant Stevens, as not only great public sector leaders but great community leaders as well. But it would be remiss of me to leave it there, because the truth is that throughout so many of the agencies and departments across government there are so many dedicated, committed, hardworking chief executives and senior officials. Many of them have served both persuasions of government and they have done it with distinction. They have done it completely impartially, with the same level of rigour and discipline. The South Australian public should have every confidence in the capability of the public sector.

I want to spend some time thanking the Premier in particular for his support and friendship but just as much for his leadership of the government and of the state. No-one would have got us back into government in only one term other than Peter. He has an extraordinary work ethic, an astonishing and, frankly, sickening level of energy, and an insatiable appetite to get things done. He was determined from day one, back in 2018, to do what was necessary to win government at the last election, again with that sense of urgency and ambition about the roles that we have here, and it was incredibly motivating.

It has been a pleasure to have been part of the team that achieved it and there is an energy and a pride that has crept back into South Australia over the last 3½ years under his leadership. He has played the central role, infusing that optimism across the community. We, and I think the parliament and the state, owe him significant gratitude for his work.

I also want to thank the ministers that I have had the fortunate opportunity to serve with. Some of them I have known for many years, like the member for Port Adelaide, the member for West Torrens, the member for Kaurna, the member for Ramsay and others. It has been wonderful bringing those relationships that have been so longstanding into the cabinet environment and, of course, getting to know the other ministers that I have had the privilege of serving with in more recent years and having the benefit of their expertise, their experience and their approach to their work. To all of my cabinet colleagues, you have been so wonderful, so collegiate to work with. It is so rare to have that working relationship and be just as comfortable socialising with one another as well.

I am grateful for the tremendous support I have received from the party and the labour movement. There are so many I could thank, but I want to make mention of those who have continually supported me and promoted me over the last 25 years, particularly in Labor Unity: Don and Nimfa Farrell, the Premier and Treasurer of course, the members for Florey, Taylor, Ramsay, Kaurna, Black, Elizabeth, Torrens, Playford, Badcoe, Light, Dunstan and King, the Minister for Environment and Conservation, Josh Peak, Sonia and Dan Romeo, Clare Scriven, Emily and Aemon Bourke, Reggie Martin, Tung Ngo, Gary Henderson, Sam McIntosh, Rik Morris and the best number 5 since Steve Waugh, Russell Wortley, as well as many others.

I am grateful to the Lee sub-branch for their support not just at election time but in between as well. It is always difficult to get people to turn out for these meetings, but people like Paul Sykes, Marilyn Andrews, Jenny Power, Toni Fotheringham, Julie MacDonald—who you will be pleased to know gave me another dressing-down at last week's meeting about public housing—Steve Liapis, Paul Beckman, Cameron Hurst and many others are just a wonderful support to me as well as the broader party and I really appreciate it.

I want to place on the record my appreciation to former leaders and Premiers Mike Rann and Jay Weatherill. I mentioned Jay previously, but Mike was also a great supporter and they were great leaders of the government and the state.

I want to remark on the privilege of being a member of the Labor Party. Over more than 150 years, our movement has achieved a tremendous amount—the rights, protections and entitlements today enjoyed by the whole Australian community. We are only able to be in this house to represent our local communities because of the decades and decades of work that has gone before us, and it is our obligation to add to their achievements when we have been given the opportunity. In that respect, I am pleased that this government has done more to improve the pay, conditions and legal protections of working South Australians than any government in recent memory.

I have been grateful to be pursuing these changes with one of the most talented and largest Labor caucuses in the state's history. After the 2022 election, listening to the nine new Labor MPs deliver their first speeches, seven of whom were women, was really significant and it was a significant time for the parliamentary party. Seeing such talent and generational change coming in to the parliament was the first realisation I think I had that I was on the back nine of my career and there were now plenty of talented, hardworking people ready to take over senior roles when people like me decided to step back. I want to thank all of my caucus colleagues for their support and their camaraderie through the years. It has been a privilege to serve our movement alongside you.

I want to talk about the parliament and this place. I absolutely love bringing people in to parliament, whether it is primary school kids or Probus clubs or everyone in between; everyone is absolutely blown away by the building, the story of its construction and its operations. When you talk people through it, they are so impressed by how our representative democracy actually works and our Westminster system of responsible government, taking them through our roles as MPs, the Premier, the government, the leader, the opposition, the Speaker, the clerks, the cabinet, the Executive Council, the Governor and, of course, explaining to them that sitting above all of this parliamentary architecture is our sovereign, Creon.

It is probably technically treasonous that I have referred to our sovereign in that way, but I wanted to use it as an opportunity to place on the record my deep appreciation of the support that all of the parliamentary staff give to us as members: whether it is Creon and the catering team, Karen and Nicky in the Blue Room, but particularly our Clerk, Rick Crump, and his unflappable deputy, David Pegram, Serjeant-at-Arms Lauren Williams and all of the house staff, thank you for the support you give us.

Thanks also to the building services team led by David Woolman and Graham Gepp, the brilliant library, led by John Weste and Anna Graves. A special shout-out to the Hansard team. The extraordinary effort that goes in every single day, turning our spoken word into something that resembles grammatically correct English is no mean feat, and we are very, very grateful for the work that you do. Thanks to all the administrative and support staff. It is a huge operation and it runs so smoothly, and that is a credit to all involved.

I would thank the Legislative Council and its team but it is after 5pm, so of course they are not around to hear it. I want to acknowledge those on the other side of the chamber. It can be robust in here but I have really appreciated the connections that I have made with those opposite on a personal level and, in particular, those regional MPs who have taken the time to educate a city dweller like me about the reality of what goes on in their communities and how someone like me might be in a position to help from time to time. So, to all of the MPs, and in particular the regional MPs, thank you so much for your time in reaching across the chamber to me.

We have had some difficult debates in this place over the past 12 years and the one that stands out for me was the debate over voluntary euthanasia in 2017. I had been sceptical of that legislation but the advocacy of my local electors, in particular the work done by the member for Kaurna and prominent campaigner Andrew Denton, and also reflecting on the awful passing of my late father from cancer, changed my mind in the lead-up to the vote on that bill. I was proud to support the bill despite it ultimately failing.

I think that a member can be genuinely persuaded in this place demonstrates that our political and legislative process actually works. As I listened to the excellent valedictory contribution of the member for Port Adelaide I noted with interest that she posed the question about what she would still like to change. For me, and I know this will not be welcomed by some of my colleagues, I do think it is time that the government formally acknowledged that, despite the extraordinary efforts and investment of large sums of taxpayers' dollars over the years, the experiment has been a failure—it is time to abolish the Adelaide Crows. Sorry, I could not resist putting that on the record.

Since I stepped down people have asked me what I am most proud of. I have mentioned some of the achievements in my electorate and in the ministerial portfolios that I have had, and I am obviously very proud of those. I am also very proud of what we have done more broadly as a government pursuing significant reform—some of them nation-leading if not leading the globe.

Political careers are about timing and luck, and my time in politics started in 2002, right at the beginning of the Rann Labor government and a new period of opportunity for our side of politics in South Australia. From that time, I have been part of a group in state Labor that together over more than 20 years has become the most successful Labor outfit in the state's history and across the nation. I am really proud, of course, to have served in this place, representing my community, but I am particularly proud to have been able to do so as part of a team over so many years that is so talented, united and disciplined.

But over the last 12 years, the thing I am most proud of is my family. All of the major milestones of my life have occurred in my time in politics: marrying my wonderful wife, Antonia, and having our three beautiful children, Ben, Isaac and Olivia. They have been so generous and patient and loving through my time in parliament, and I am eternally grateful to all of them. I know it came as a surprise to many that I have decided to step away from politics, but they are at the heart of the reason. I love them enormously. It is time for me to step back and show them the same patience and generosity they have shown me.

I have already been enjoying immensely being far more present as a father and as a husband. I have already had some wonderful experiences taking advantage of the extra time. I have just been able to do my first after-school pick-up, and the look of joy and excitement on the boys' faces when they realised that for the first time it was actually dad picking them up from school was absolutely magic. I did my first drop-off for Olivia at child care, where she walked in with me, dropped her bag on the floor and announced at the top of her voice, 'Daddy's here, Daddy's here, Daddy's here.' I absolutely dissolved; it was wonderful.

And of course it has been so lovely having more time together just with Antonia. Time like that is at an absolute premium when you have young children, and it has been absolutely lovely to have more of that time to enjoy together. I have also enjoyed spending a lot more time with my friends from outside of politics. They have stuck with me through the years, despite all the apologies and no-shows because of work, and even in the last couple of months when we have been able to catch up we have caught up and not missed a beat.

So that's it for me. I feel I can look back at those panels now next door and know I have done my best to make the most of this time to get as much done as possible and leave on my own terms. Thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey. I wish every one of you all the very best for the future, both in this place and in your broader lives.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier, Minister for Defence and Space Industries) (17:27): I rise to acknowledge the remarks of the member for Lee, my good friend. It would be dishonest of me to not say from the outset how disappointed I am to be on my feet making these remarks in this context at this time. I am going to be very sad to see Stephen leave the state parliament, and the reason for that is that the member for Lee is a good friend of mine and has been for some time indeed.

I first met Stephen Mullighan when I started out at Adelaide Uni. When I started at uni, I was not yet politically engaged. I was interested in politics, a student of current affairs and the world around us, but I was not a member of the Labor Party. I was not yet in the labour movement. I remember early on in my life at university—I think I was probably in second year at uni—I encountered my second round of student union elections. I had watched the first lot and concluded that it was a complete circus, and I could not really see myself feeling at home with any particular individual.

The second year came around and I thought, 'No, I have to pay a bit more attention and be engaged. I have a right to vote. I can practise in this democratic process,' and I decided to commit myself to working out who I was with, who I was going to vote for, and I actually spoke to a few candidates. I know it sounds stupid. I thought, 'No, I'm going to speak to a few of these people,' and I met Stephen and, instantaneously, I thought, 'I'm with this bloke. I like this guy.'

I voted for Stephen to become student president of SAUA at the university and, over time, got to know him from there. The reason why I felt so at ease and comfortable in Stephen's company was not just the fact that he is a genuinely charming fellow who is funny and engaging—and I will talk about his wit in a moment—but we also shared a whole range of common views about the world we live in and the responsibility of people in power and authority. Not in my wildest dreams would I have contemplated, when we were at uni together, that we would go on and have the opportunity to become the Premier of South Australia and the Treasurer of South Australia—not in my wildest dreams. The fact that we have had the opportunity to work together in that way is an absolute privilege.

Stephen has a range of attributes that would be well-known to most. Stephen has an exceptional work ethic. He is assiduous. He reads everything that is put in front of him: everything, often much to the chagrin of his ministerial colleagues on occasion. He reads everything put in front of him and is exceptionally diligent and takes the work of government and parliament seriously. I think it is important that each and every one of us do that. But, just as importantly as taking the work and our responsibilities seriously, is to not take ourselves too seriously as well. In countless meetings and interactions, over many years, Stephen has demonstrated a unique and unparalleled capacity to find the exact set of words to execute, at exactly the right time, to bring light to a room, to bring wit and humour that has an ability to cut through almost any debate or any moment to bring calm to a situation where necessary. That is an extraordinary talent that is worthy of recognition. It is valuable to the culture of a team.

The best example, of course, of this wit being displayed was in that exceptionally magnificent instance where Stephen had the responsibility of demonstrating to the people of South Australia the safety of driverless cars. It has to be one of the best moments in state politics. I remember watching this unfold. I wasn't in parliament at the time and I was an enthusiastic backer of Stephen becoming a minister from day one, which I knew he would handle with aplomb and handle easily. Anyway, so Stephen is the minister, pretty new in the job. Jay has given him the responsibility of selling driverless cars. It was the big new opportunity for the state.

In the car he goes and, of course, after countless practice runs, the moment came for the driverless car to evade obstacles on the Torrens Parade Ground. When the cameras started filming, the first thing the car ran into was an inflatable kangaroo. Now, any one of us in this place, at that moment in time, would be invited to react any number of different ways: acute embarrassment, shame, frustration, trying to pretend that no-one was watching, whatever. But only Stephen had the ability, at that exact instance—because there was a camera set up inside the car with audio—and without any hesitation, to say, 'Oh, it must have been set to cull.' No-one else would have said that.

That is what life was like in the cabinet room and cabinet committees and caucus with Stephen. Amazing wit employed beautifully with a real cut-through ability. It is just something we already miss. The reason why I raise that particular characteristic is that it speaks to a warmth that Stephen has and a real interest in making sure that as human beings we remain human in what are really quite intense and crazy roles. The intensity of the role of being Treasurer of South Australia, though, has been particularly profound during the life of this government, principally because the government has an ambitious agenda and ambitious agendas often have expense associated with them.

The amount of hours and meetings that we toiled on level 2 in opposition when we were trying to craft the policy we took to the election that we had to go through, where Stephen had the unenviable task of trying to make it all fit into a costings that would stand up was a laborious and really difficult piece of work.

During the course of the campaign, I remember the issue of costings was going to be important and as the campaign went on and things felt as though they were going pretty well, there was a really important moment a few days out from the election when the costings were set to be released, and I have to say—and there was a bit of anticipation about it all—not for one second did I have any nerves or reservations around how the day would play out exclusively because Stephen was in charge of it. I knew that every 'i' would be dotted, every 't' would be crossed, every angle would be contemplated, and then in turn, because the work had been done, we would be able to get through.

I remember clear as a bell we spoke straight after you had concluded that press conference and I remember reflecting on how grateful I was for you having done the work that you did and being able to handle the situation as professionally as you had. I remember thinking to myself, 'If we are so lucky to form government, the state's finances are going to be in really good hands with a highly accomplished, professional and diligent person such as Stephen.' That did play out throughout the course of his time as Treasurer and the state is better for it.

It is not easy being the Treasurer of the state to any Premier who wants to get things done. It is an almost impossible task. Stephen handled it in a way that I very much appreciate and for which he does not get enough recognition. I just want to thank you for it. The people of South Australia and future generations of South Australians will be very grateful for it as well.

I am not too sure what the member for Lee intends to do next. In the number of meetings that we had, and there were a number, where I tried as best as I possibly could to persuade you not to pull the pin on parliamentary politics—similar to the conversations that I had with the member for Port Adelaide, which are testament to my persuasive powers not being as strong as I might hope—in those countless meetings where I was trying to persuade Mullers not to pull the pin, we talked about what he would do next post parliamentary life.

What was consistent in each and every one of those conversations was a genuine and sincere desire to spend more time with his beautiful family. All of us in this place, regardless of our politics, are well aware of the sacrifice that is paid by family. To Antonia, Ben, Isaac and Olivia, I want to take this opportunity to thank you too. You are the most beautiful of families. I know as parents you would be exceptionally proud of your children. If I have one hope out of Stephen's decision to pull the pin it is that you are afforded the opportunity to spend that quality time as a family together that you so desperately deserve, which no doubt you will.

Beyond that, Mullers, I just want to thank you. It has been a really fun ride from uni to the Breakfast Club, to getting into parliament, to leading the state together. We already miss you. It is so bizarre: in these jobs we have all these meetings together all the time and all of a sudden someone is not there anymore, you do not see them as much, and it is quite surreal in many respects.

You will always be a friend. I cannot wait one day in many, many years to come being able to recount and embellish stories, put all the mayo on it that we would possibly like, reflect on how everyone else is an idiot or whatever old people do when they reflect on their time in their job. I know that all of those moments that we will have together will be so much fun because of your storytelling ability and that wit and charm that will never go anywhere.

Thanks for everything. I would not be in this position without your support, the state would not be in its strongest position without your work, and all of us are indebted to you for that.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (17:40): As they say, when the contest ends the civility must begin, so I, too, would like to put a few words on the record to express my gratitude and thanks to the member for Lee. People like the member for Lee, when he was a minister, force the opposition to be better. In the adversarial nature of what happens, it is people like Stephen who force us as an opposition to be better.

Stephen is absolutely intelligent. He is deeply across his portfolios, whether it was transport or whether it was Treasury. We know that he prepared a number of budgets and also was involved in delivering them, as we have heard. I also have to say, I will never forget how he played the politics hard—really hard. There is only one Treasurer who has had the Paradise interchange listed in the budget to be upgraded and then pulled it when the local member won the seat as a Liberal. I will never forget it.

But Stephen is financially literate, and I say that with affection. He delivered many budgets, he was always across his brief and he has an enormous capacity, there is no doubt about it. I think Stephen will be spoilt for choice in terms of whatever he decides to do next.

I also reflect on my time as Speaker of the house. It is fair to say we had to navigate some turbulent waters sometimes in government, and there was always the motley crew of the Leader of the Opposition, the member for West Torrens, the member for Lee and I think the member for Kaurna. Whatever interjection was coming from the member for Lee, sometimes it hurt because it was always intelligent and sometimes it did cause a little chink in the armour.

The member for Lee and I had the great opportunity, as we do sometimes, to be able to travel in our jobs. Earlier this year we were able to travel to Seattle for the Australian American Leadership Dialogue to look at things like the nuclear submarine program. I have to say, even then Stephen got to bed early, he was up early in the morning, he attended things and he was always across his brief. I know that he was genuinely passionate about what this program meant, the relationship between the two countries and the future of our state.

As the Premier has alluded to, we know that these jobs do have quite an impact on our friends and our family. I, too, want to thank Antonia, Ben, Isaac and Olivia for all their support. Enjoy the time that you will have with your beloved Stephen. Mate, we wish you well in whatever is next.

Sitting extended beyond 19:00 on motion of Hon. A. Koutsantonis.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Energy and Mining) (17:43): I am very sad that Stephen is leaving. I am very sad. He is someone who the party had promoted and supported and, as a grouping, we had always wanted him to do well and succeed—and he has. The thing about most of us in this place is we do not get to choose the timing of our exit. Some do; most do not. He will leave and be able to hold his head very, very high. He is a very talented individual who will be able to do anything he wants to when he leaves this place, and I wish him and Antonia all the very best. I will keep my remarks very succinct because there are other valedictories that are as important to hear today.

The best time I have had in this parliament and the worst time I have had in this parliament were the four years in opposition, between 2018 and 2022. I remember thinking to myself, 'I'm not sure we can kill this government.' They helped, but everyone played a particular role in helping this government emerge victorious in 2022. Every other government during COVID was re-elected and every other government that had been elected in their first term had been re-elected. The odds were against us. This government would not have been elected had it not been for Stephen Mullighan's role. Without him, this party would not have been able to form a majority.

We were a very, very good team in opposition, and I think when we meet up at Gaucho's in about 20 years' time, and we are talking, it will not be about budget bilaterals, it will not be about Northern Water or the north-south corridor—it will be about those four years in opposition and about our focus on space. So I just want to say to Stephen, Antonia and the kids—enjoy what is next. But most importantly, thank you for helping us get here, because without you we would not be here.

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (17:45): I am mindful that we have got a few other valedictories to get through tonight that, as the member for West Torrens says, are equally important. I have some remarks from none other than the member for Morialta that he would like me to pass on to you, member for Lee.

The SPEAKER: You can table them.

Mrs HURN: His directions were very specific, and I quote:

After 42 years of parallel careers, it is fitting that we are leaving the parliament together, too. I would like to think that we do so with enough fuel in the tank to offer something useful to our state, but not in this building any more.

Throughout the campaigns in which I have observed you—from student elections to state elections—you were always a fierce and effective campaigner, who worked hard to convince voters of your team's virtues.

In parliament, your value to the Labor Party has never been greater: never taking anything for granted, you have always looked for and taken opportunities to advance the causes you have believed in. Your party should be grateful for your efforts, and I am sure that they are.

More importantly, as a minister, when matters have needed to be resolved with good faith discussion, you have been willing to have those discussions in good faith—even when the political temperature in here has been high.

When constituents have come to us with tricky concerns that fall within your portfolio, you have been willing to make best endeavours to fix them. As a local MP I am grateful for that.

As a north-eastern suburbs commuter, I am also grateful for the O-Bahn tunnel—a project that you drove hard as minister, and which has done a lot to improve the reliability of that service.

My personal observation is that you are someone who is able to work extremely hard, and apply yourself extremely effectively towards whatever goal you are setting your sights on, while remaining across a vast level of detail in big portfolios.

You have a real gift with words, and when partisan politics has not been at stake, I have found your speeches impressive in a range of contexts.

You have a sharp mind, and an admirable ability to immediately grasp the salient points of an issue, and understand what is important.

After 28 years of campaigns, I am glad that we will almost certainly never run against each other again, and I look forward to seeing whatever role you undertake next. I am certain you will do it well.

Those are the words from the member for Morialta. Whilst I am up here, too, I would just like to wish you all the best, Stephen, for the next chapter. I know we have not been in this place together long, but I have always really appreciated the chats that we have had and, likewise, on local issues that you have engaged with me in—somewhat reluctantly at times. I have really appreciated the way in which you have gone about things. So I wish you and your family all the best for the future.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (17:48): I will try to be brief, but I did want to ventilate a few comments in particular about Stephen and our friendship and work together over the past 24 years, half of which has been in this parliament and half of it outside of it.

Similar to the Premier, I first remember meeting Stephen when I was in Young Labor—a budding young 18 year old coming along to meetings, and Stephen was an elder statesman at the time as a elder 22 year old. He has always been a very wise counsel, and he was a person that I and many other people looked to for advice on how to go forth in politics and how to succeed. From then on he has always been a very good source of advice and counsel and support for me right throughout our careers together.

In fact, we both ended up as chiefs of staff together in the Rann government, Stephen in Treasury and I in Health, funnily enough, and then that was matched by our later careers where we have had seven and a half years together as the Treasury and Health representatives of the Labor Party here in this place.

Similar to what the member for West Torrens was saying, I think we will all look back on that time that we spent in opposition together. There is a lot to be said about how bad opposition usually is, but the thing about it was that we spent so much time together, we operated together as an incredible team and we were all laser-light focused on the same goal and we all played our role in terms of making sure that we were ultimately successful. Stephen as the Treasury spokesperson, of course, did the low-hanging fruit of attacking tax increases and attacking spending cuts, etc., but he would be forensic in drilling down into the budget papers, drilling through budget estimates, understanding and finding every possible avenue of attack on the then government.

As the Premier said, though, he was incredibly witty and incredibly funny through all of that as well and he was always the first, whether it was in a cabinet meeting or in a text message, to make the joke that would absolutely make you laugh out loud. Despite the teasing that we occasionally do to the member for Heysen, Stephen and I went relatively toe to toe from time to time in using the parliament for the longest possible speeches in this place to try to drag things out.

Stephen was also incredibly disciplined about how we would operate as an opposition to make sure that we put forward a proposition for the election, as the Premier said, that was costed correctly and we could balance the books. A sign of how successful that was was not just the fact that we were able to succeed in the election, and the press conference around costings went very well, but we were immediately able to go into formulating a budget and Stephen was immediately able to deliver the budget because of that meticulous costing that had happened.

I remember sitting on a Teams meeting with Stephen with the world's most complicated Excel spreadsheet going through our costings in the lead-up to the election—which I hope never to have to repeat again in the future. In government, as the Premier says, it is not always easy to be a Labor Treasurer, particularly for a very forward-thinking government that wants to do a lot of things. There might have been the odd BCC meeting where some of us would have liked to have been somewhere else—but Stephen was incredibly great at keeping us on task in terms of making sure that we had the fiscal discipline needed to run a successful government.

One example of the passion that I saw firsthand Stephen demonstrate in terms of an issue was with the work that he did around Western Hospital. If it was not for Stephen, Western Hospital would be closed right now. He worked so hard with the Treasury officials, with the SAFA officials to find a solution to keep the doors of Western Hospital open and the fact that those services are continuing there, staff are working there, is a credit to Stephen's hard work.

I was particularly shocked at the news, like many of us were, that Stephen was leaving. I thought that he would be the last of us still here. But when I look back and think about all the things that actually he did say to us over many years I should have seen it coming. I just did not believe him at the time when he was saying it. But I am delighted that he is going to be able to spend more time with Antonia, Ben, Isaac and Olivia, his wonderful family. We are sad that we will not be able to spend as much time with him here.

I am delighted that his successor in the seat of Lee is somebody who has worked for both of us in David Wilkins, who—pending election—I am sure will make an incredible contribution in this place. I know, Stephen, you will go on to incredible work outside of this place and we all look forward to working with you in whatever role that takes in the future. Thank you.

Mr BROWN (Florey) (17:54): I will be brief because I know that people are waiting to give their valedictories, but I first met the member for Lee in 2003 when, one week after I had started working for the Treasurer, he started working for the Treasurer. I have to say that over the two years that we worked together in the Treasurer's office I was struck by his sharp mind and his very deep work ethic, and also that in his persona as 'The Kid' he was incredible on the karaoke stage.

It took some time for us to get into this place together, but, as other speakers have said, between 2018 and 2022 he was an absolute stalwart of the team trying to get Labor back into government. It was a team effort, but he gave as much as anyone on that team. I remember the fact that he was so keen to try to make every single post a winner. Whether it was giving a third reading contribution on the Supply Bill—as I understand, the first time that had happened since 1982—or speaking for 45 minutes on clause 1 of land tax legislation and whether the bill actually had the correct name or not, he did everything he could to try to get us back into government, and not for personal glory or his own aggrandisement but because he knew that the people of South Australia needed a Labor government and he did everything he possibly could to get us back in.

He has been an extremely valued colleague and a good friend of mine, and I will miss him. I was shocked by his decision to retire, but it takes real strength to retire at the top of your game and he is doing that now. I would like to pass on my best wishes to Antonia and the family; I know they will be blessed for spending more time with him. Thank you, Stephen.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley) (17:56): I first met Stephen in the Blue Room; I think he was working for Kevin Foley at the time. One of my media talents happened to be an old scholar with him and he did not take very much time at all to think, 'I'd better find out what Pisoni's up to,' and reacquaint himself with the old scholar, but I do not think he was successful in getting any information.

Then, of course, we had a lot to do with each other when we appeared at the same place at the same time when I was the shadow minister for transport. I remember the robust estimates committees. At one particular one, we spent quite some time on trams: everything from length to cost and so forth. After I was sworn in as a minister, I bumped into Stephen walking up the stairs at Parliament House and he said to me, 'Look, David, make sure you find some time to enjoy the job,' and then for the next four years he did everything he possibly could to stop me from doing so.

I also thank Stephen, because whenever there was an issue that was not a political issue but an issue that was important to me or our team or a constituent, he would always take a call, always agree to a meeting, and was very respectful. It reminded me of World Championship Wrestling: my grandfather used to think it was real, but they were beating each other up and yelling at each other on TV and doing all sorts of damage to each other, and then behind the scenes they were all having a drink and laughing and joking. That was exactly how I felt in my dealings with Stephen.

So thank you, Stephen—a great move with the family. My kids were just a little bit older when I entered this place and I believe there were some important things that I missed, so please do enjoy that. Thank you for your service.

The SPEAKER (17:59): I would like to put on the record my thanks to you, Stephen, for the time that we spent in cabinet together and for the billions of dollars you provided for infrastructure projects in the electorate of Mawson. You and the opposition leadership team were amazing to get us back into government in 2022 and it was through your diligent work that we did that.

From the point of view of sitting up here and adjudicating this place, it is pretty hard to throw someone out or pull them up when they say something so witty that both sides of the chamber are laughing their heads off and that is what always happened after you threw in one of those barbs. So all the very best to you and your family for the future. It has been great working with you.

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