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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-06-17 Daily Xml
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LIBERAL PARTY

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (15:45): I wish to raise before the Legislative Council today a matter to which my honourable colleague has alluded: the call by the opposition for $2 million in funds to assist it to fight the next election. On 11 June, there was a lunch that business leaders attended supposedly to hear from the Leader of the Opposition in the other place. So, imagine yourself, a captain of industry, and you have given up your valuable time and money to attend a Liberal Party function.

You know it is a Liberal Party show, fair enough, but you have gone along because you want to hear the man who aspires to be the premier and treasurer of the state in just 10 months. You want to hear what he has to say about what he would do with the state budget. Instead, the principal business of the day is to hear from Graham Ingerson about how the Liberal Party needs $2 million to fight the election. According to a report in The Advertiser, Mr Ingerson said that the Liberal Party had established a Future SA Forum, headed by former foreign minister Alexander Downer and former state treasurer Stephen Baker.

What is noteworthy about this is not that the Liberal Party is simply raising money. Of course, all parties do so. However, it clearly smacks of hypocrisy when we constantly hear the smear and innuendo from members opposite in relation to fundraising by the Labor Party. The Hon. Mr Lucas is the master of smear, as we have seen again today. He is a little like some character out of Heart of Darkness: he is up the river with a fever and constantly coming out with his innuendo and smears against people. He does that constantly in reference to Labor Party fundraising. The Hon. Mr Lucas is always talking about progressive business and—

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: Mr President, I rise on a point of order. I think that the Hon. Mr Wortley's use of that bowl in front of him—chucking coins into it—is out of order and you should rule that way.

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Dawkins has raised a point of order, and I think it is a very good one. I think the Hon. Mr Wortley should take the bowl out of the chamber now.

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN: As I was saying, members opposite are always talking about progressive business, asking questions about consultants and lobbyists and suggesting that there is something untoward about the Labor Party's receiving donations, as it does, from businesses—in accordance with the Labor Party code of conduct for fundraising and in accordance with the Australian electoral laws. There is full disclosure but, nonetheless, it is constantly the subject of innuendo and suggestions of something being rotten in the state of Denmark, which come from honourable members opposite. In fact, it has even been suggested that one of the reasons we need an ICAC is that perhaps there is something going on with the ALP receiving donations. That has been advanced by members—

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink: Hear, hear!

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN: 'Hear, hear', the deputy leader of the opposition says. So, when the Labor Party raises money in accordance with its standards and in accordance with Australian electoral laws, maybe there is something corrupt about it. When the Labor Party raises money it is ICAC-able, according to honourable members opposite. However, when the Liberal Party does it, it is a matter of 'roll out the barrel'. Mr Ingerson said at the business lunch, 'We want $250,000 a month from the business community for the next eight months to help the Liberal Party fight the state election.' There is a complete double standard being applied.

Of course, all parties raise money. They do so in accordance with the law. However, it is absolute hypocrisy from members of the Liberal Party when they suggest that there is something illegitimate about Labor Party fundraising, and here they are saying that they are setting up the Future SA Forum to raise $2 million in just eight months. However, that was probably better to listen to than the Hon. Mr Hamilton-Smith's speech and his proposed budget reply, and I will obviously speak more about this in my contribution with respect to the Appropriation Bill. I have the speech downloaded from Mr Hamilton-Smith's website, and members will notice that there is a lot of white space. It is 14 pages but there is a lot of white space and bold, and a couple of pages of capital letters at the end. It reminds me of those documents that you sometimes get from people living in some outback location in Queensland who have ceded from the commonwealth. They put out documents quoting Magna Carta, with lots of capital letters and triple underlining. That is the sort of document that this is.

The Hon. R.P. Wortley interjecting:

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN: As my honourable friend Mr Wortley interjects, there is no policy apart from saying, 'What I would have done in the past eight years'. Well, we do not live in a parallel universe, and it is time Mr Hamilton-Smith realised that.

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