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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-10-15 Daily Xml
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LABOR PARTY

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:33): I want to thank a number of people for the feedback they have provided to me in the past week as a result of the recent contribution I made in this chamber in relation to the arrogance of the right faction of the Labor Party represented in this chamber at the moment by the Hon. Mr Wortley and the Hon. Mr Finnigan, and the cancerous and pervasive influence that that section of the right faction—the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association—has within the Labor Party, the Caucus and the broader Labor community.

I also thank those people for the promise of further information to assist future contributions in this area. I must quickly say to my friends on the Labor right who have complained to me that I should really be looking at the Labor left as well in terms of the sins that they commit that I spoke previously in this chamber back in 2003 on the issue of the Labor left and in particular referred to the job network, and exampled, I think in particular, ministers Conlon and Weatherill who had an interesting little engagement where they each employed each other's partner so that they got around the ministerial code of conduct which prevented the employment of family members in ministerial offices. For those on the right who might like to read it, I made that contribution on 30 April 2003.

I think what it shows is the arrogance of this government, the Labor Party and, as I said, the SDA. It also shows the degree of disunity and division that is creeping into the current Rann Labor government and the Labor caucus.

The Hon. R.P. Wortley: Solid as a rock.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Well, solid as a rock. I am delighted that the Hon. Mr Finnigan will speak in a moment because I understand that he got a fair old rollicking from his boss in the recent past. When the Premier was not at a recent caucus meeting, the Hon. Mr Finnigan spoke on a particular issue, which I do not have time to outline at the moment. When that was reported to the Premier, he was none too pleased and urgent discussion was sought by the Premier with the Hon. Mr Finnigan. I think that he was 'counselled', to use one word to describe it.

The Hon. R.P. Wortley: Robust discussion.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Mr Wortley says 'robust discussion'. He is obviously familiar with the example. So, we will be pleased to hear from the Hon. Mr Finnigan about why he got a fair old rollicking from his boss.

The point I make is that the stories being spread by the friends and colleagues of the Hon. Mr Finnigan within his own party and caucus to do him damage are examples of the arrogance, the division and the disunity within this current government. These stories are being spread about the Hon. Mr Finnigan and others within the Labor caucus. As the Hon. Mr Finnigan is well aware, this is a very recent example in relation to his problem with the Premier.

In my brief contribution this afternoon, the only other issue I want to address quickly is the Auditor-General's Report. I am delighted to see that in his report the Auditor-General has caught up with some of the issues the Budget and Finance Committee has pursued over the past 12 months in relation to Shared Services supposed savings for the government. When I have more time later on, I would like to make further comments on this issue. It is important to note that the Auditor-General is saying that he does not believe that the savings the government says it will achieve will be achieved. In particular, he says:

I will be seeking support information to assess the reasonableness of announced savings achievements.

I think that is an important task of the Auditor-General, that is, to look at these issues. The government claims that it will make the savings all the time. I am pleased to see that the Auditor-General's Report is now looking more closely at the Shared Services savings. He ought also to look at the claimed savings under the Future ICT, which the government has incorporated as part of the Shared Services supposed savings. On page 10 of section A of the Auditor-General's Report, he lists those supposed savings at $126 million.

The Budget and Finance Committee has taken considerable evidence to indicate that agencies are not saving money under that: they just had their budgets cut and, in fact, many of them are incurring increased costs.

Time expired.

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