Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-28 Daily Xml

Contents

LAW ENFORCEMENT

The Hon. S.G. WADE (15:45): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Leader of the Government a question relating to law enforcement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: On Tuesday 7 April the Leader of the Government claimed that the Liberal Party's position on road safety was impugned by the fact that I was a Facebook friend of an individual who had posted a picture of himself committing a driving offence. The leader asserted that the fact that I had not dissociated myself from the driver involved showed that I had no respect for the enforcement of the law.

The member for West Torrens recently resigned his road safety portfolio after it was revealed that he had committed over 50 traffic offences. The Leader of the Government and the member for West Torrens are ministerial colleagues; their ministerial association is surely more significant than that of a Facebook friend. I ask the leader: will he take this opportunity to dissociate himself from the member for West Torrens so that the council can be clear that he lives by the standards that he preaches and that he does respect the enforcement of the law?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (15:47): The appropriate action has been taken in relation to the former minister for road safety. He has resigned and has just made a statement to parliament—which I suggest the honourable member read—in which he has taken full responsibility and apologised to the parliament and the public of South Australia for his actions. I see little more action that could have been taken.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!