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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-11-12 Daily Xml
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LABOR PARTY

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:41): I rise to express my concern, at a time of international crisis, at the continuing division and disunity within the Rann government and the Labor Party in South Australia. Rather than concentrating on the important national and international issues impacting on the state, all we see within the Labor Party and the government is division, disunity, backbiting, leaking and everything that goes with it.

When I last spoke in this chamber briefly on the issue, I referred to the poisonous nature of the relationship between the Premier and the Deputy Premier at the moment, and I highlighted the example of confidential internal Labor Party research being leaked to The Advertiser from sources very close to Mr Rann, which highlighted Mr Foley in most unflattering terms.

There has been continuing discontent within the Labor Party about the ministerial reshuffle, and much has been said about that in the chamber and also publicly. Mr Koutsantonis, Mr Rau, Mr O'Brien and others have been mentioned in dispatches. Some of my colleagues tell me that Mr O'Brien has been protesting very loudly to anyone who would listen in the northern suburbs, threatening that he would retire; saying that he had been promised a ministerial position by the Premier and that had not been delivered and he was most unhappy that, in his view, a man of his considerable talent had not been recognised by his Premier and—

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: He was described as a young Turk.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: He was described as a young Turk: I am not sure how young Mr O'Brien is to justify that description. What we have seen in the past week is another example. We have seen, under the heading 'Gago at odds over upper house reform', the first breach of solidarity amongst upper house members in relation to this issue. An article in The Advertiser stated:

State government minister Gail Gago is at odds with the Premier and her upper house leader yesterday over the future of the Legislative Council. Ms Gago, one of three ministers who resides in the upper house, told The Advertiser a planned referendum at the March 2010 election to abolish the council was doomed to failure. Premier Mike Rann and Labor's leader in the upper house, Paul Holloway, have said they hope the public votes for total abolition of the council.

I will not quote all the examples, but Mr Holloway was quoted in The Advertiser of 20 March 2007 as saying that the sooner the Legislative Council is abolished the better. That was the position. As I highlighted at the time, the Hon. Mr Holloway is the first government leader of this chamber, Labor or Liberal, in its history to support a policy of abolition.

However, the important point we have seen is that one of his own ministers and colleagues has now broken ranks with him—not, I suspect, because she has any great love for the Legislative Council, but because she can see this as a potential issue to undermine the position of the Legislative Council leader, the Hon. Mr Holloway.

A number of Mr Holloway's colleagues are pointing to the fact that he will be 61 in 2010, just after the next election, as will the Hon. Mr Hill in the House of Assembly. Obviously, the media may well want to put questions to both Mr Hill and Mr Holloway regarding their intentions and as to whether or not Mr Holloway, for example, will be wanting to sign up for another eight years, if his party will have him, so that he will be 69 when he is in the Legislative Council.

The Hon. P. Holloway interjecting:

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: His colleagues are not pointing that out but are already starting to undermine the Hon. Mr Holloway's leadership, and we have seen in the public positioning of Ms Gago the signs of disunity in this chamber. The Left is very unhappy that it does not hold any of the four leadership positions, which are held by the Right and by Mr Rann, who they see as a captive of the Right. The only semi-important position held by the Left is your position, Mr President.

We know that the Hon. Mr Finnigan has his not inconsiderable eyes and stature on that position. Mr Snelling from the Right holds a position in another place. I am sure you, Sir, will be able to keep the Hon. Mr Finnigan at bay, should the numbers in the Left hold sway. This is part of the continuing disunity and division within the government, and we are seeing a steady undermining of the leader in this chamber, the Hon. Mr Holloway, by some members of the Left both publicly and privately, and Ms Gago's statements are part of that continuing campaign.

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