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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-07-27 Daily Xml
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BURNSIDE COUNCIL

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:16): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for State/Local Government Relations a question regarding Burnside council.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: In the Eastern Courier Messengeron 8 July, 2011, in response to a question on the level of anger and concern in the Burnside community, minister Wortley said:

My heart is out there with the residents of Burnside, but when you think about it, does anyone outside of Burnside really care? My view is they don't. And I would say a lot of people in Burnside don't care either. What we've got are individuals who want to keep this going at everyone else's expense and I'm not prepared to do that.

The Eastern Courier Messenger of 20 July 2011 reports that at the time of going to press, none of the 19 online responses to the minister's interview supported the minister's position. The Eastern Courier Messenger poll on that question, 'Should the inquiry into the Burnside council have been scrapped?' returned a 92 per cent no vote. I repeat: that is a 92 per cent no vote.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: Well, in the poll results, there were 116 participants, 92 per cent said that the answer was no and 8 per cent said yes. My question is: what steps did the minister take to consult with the Burnside community in forming his view that nobody cares in Burnside?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:18): I thank the member for that question. I am clearly of the view that the people of South Australia are fed up with the Burnside issue. I am clearly of the view that the residents of South Australia are fed up with spending millions of dollars—

There being a disturbance in the President's gallery:

The PRESIDENT: Order! If I hear any more from the gallery, I will have you all thrown out. Either remain silent or leave. The minister.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: This is why people are fed up with the whole issue of Burnside. The people of South Australia and many of the thousands of people in Burnside—you talk about 100-odd responses. How many people are there in the city of Burnside? Many, many thousands. A new council has just been elected in Burnside, and from all reports they are handling and governing the City of Burnside on behalf of their residence with good governance.

It is common knowledge that many of the staffers in the Liberals' offices often get onto their Twitter and these polls, and they have no credibility whatsoever. They will play no role in the decisions I make. What the people of South Australia and Burnside really want is for this government not to waste millions of dollars on an investigation that a decision of the Supreme Court has thrown up a number of legal obstacles to completing. I am very comfortable with the decisions I have made, and I am pretty comfortable with the decisions that most South Australians would support.

I will also say this: I was on Leon Byner last week about the Burnside report, and we opened it up for comment by viewers. We had three viewers—not one of them referred to Burnside; not one caller referred to the Burnside report. I also listened to the President of the Local Government Association, who was also on radio talking about Burnside. She—the calls were opened up and not one person called in regard to the Burnside report.

I will tell you right now: if you are ever going to make decisions based on what they have in these polls in papers, God forbid for the people of South Australia and for Burnside. I make my decisions based on the interests of Burnside and Burnside residents and South Australia.

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