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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-03-10 Daily Xml
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WORKCOVER BOARD

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:00): I have a supplementary question arising out of the original answer. Given that the minister has now conceded that the same company—

The PRESIDENT: Without explanation.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: It is just a question. Given that the minister conceded that the same company has been appointed to review both the rehabilitation services component and also the government's supposed independent review, how does he justify the fact that the government claims this is to be an independent review when WorkCover has paid a considerable sum of money to the same company, a partner of the same independent reviewer, to conduct its own review?

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for Gambling) (15:01): I dealt with that in my answer. It is typical of the honourable member to try to bring everyone into disrepute, because that is what he does. Basically, he is trying to say to anyone in this state or this nation who wants to deal with the government of South Australia, 'I am going to accuse you of dishonesty, of having no integrity, of being involved in some sort of corrupt activity.'

He is trying to say to any business that might have any cause to do business with the South Australian government, or any part of it, or any statutory authority attached to the government, that he thinks they will be engaged in some illicit, corrupt behaviour by even entering into a normal business contractual arrangement with this government. That is the approach the Hon. Mr Lucas takes. He is simply trying to say that anyone who does any business with the government is some sort of crook. That is an outrageous slur on companies and those who are doing business in this state and providing services to the government.

I imagine the honourable member is aware that PricewaterhouseCoopers is a very large company. There is a small number of very senior and large auditing companies that are involved in auditing and corporate consulting and so on. We know who they are, and PricewaterhouseCoopers is certainly one of them. To suggest that having two people who work at that company engage in completely separate reports—one commissioned by the government, which will report to the government, and one commissioned by the WorkCover board, reporting to the WorkCover board, on different topics—is some sort of conspiracy—

The Hon. R.I. Lucas: They're not different topics; you know that. That's a deceit; you know that.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN: To suggest that that is some sort of conspiracy is just a nonsense.

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