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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-10-20 Daily Xml
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Question Time

COURT FACILITIES

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:23): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the minister representing the Premier a question about Mike Rann's shameful legacy on justice.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: The outgoing, disgraced and sacked Premier has been boasting about his record on law. He talks about the Dunstan legacy, which he has done his best to destroy. Meanwhile, I am told that John Doyle AC QC, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the highest-ranking court in South Australia, is working in a wheelchair from his home. His Honour was struck by a vehicle in France the month before last. He was knocked unconscious and when he came to he learnt his leg had been broken, so he is in a wheelchair. I am happy to say he is otherwise fit and healthy and eager to discharge his important duties.

But the Chief Justice cannot hear cases, Mr President. Why, I hear you ask? Because he is a chief justice without a bench. To the disgrace of the whole state, there is not one courtroom in the Sir Samuel Way building on Victoria Square where the bench is accessible by wheelchair. Unlike other buildings fronting Victoria Square—including the $100 million SA Water building and the State Administration Centre where the Premier, in his office, authorised the public spending of $68,000 for his farewell bash tonight—Chief Justice Doyle does not occupy one of these lavish offices.

Unlike the Premier, he does not even have his own toilet. To go to the toilet, the Chief Justice would have to leave his chambers, wheel himself to the lift—if it is working; the one and only lift on the first floor was out of commission for six months last year—then go to the adjacent building, where he will find a primitive amenity under the library near the old Gouger Street entrance.

That is still better than the public toilet. To get there, you have to go downstairs, up to the corner of Gouger and King William streets, walk 100 metres (or in his case, wheel himself 100 metres), turn into a lane and there you will find the nearest public toilets at the back of a building, accessed by yet another building. Then you would have to wheel or walk your way back to the courtroom, but you could not have washed your hands because there is no hot water there.

The buildings do not meet disability standards. There is disability access to only four of the 12 courtrooms and only one of the four provides disability access to the witness box. The Supreme Court had a reduction of eight judicial support officers. Budget cuts have forced it to reduce its registry staff (the people who deal with the public) by two and it has had to reduce opening hours because of that. There have been reductions right across the board in courts administration because the Premier has not provided enough money to administer justice. In the words of retiring Justice Bleby at his farewell speech, conditions are 'a disgrace'. My questions are:

1. What rotten miserable premier would let the system of justice run down almost to a halt while he spends taxpayers' money on his own wake?

2. When the Premier dismissed calls for improvements to the Supreme Court, did he scoffingly say that he was 'not interested in a Taj Mahal for justices'?

3. Does he find it ironic that during his June-July trip to India this year, the Premier was candidly photographed in the lobby of the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi, where rooms cost $1,070 a night and which, incidentally, does have toilet facilities for disabled people?

The PRESIDENT: What a confusing question. The honourable minister.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Public Sector Management, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for Gambling) (14:27): Indeed it was a most undignified question from the Leader of the Opposition. It was mean-spirited and churlish—a rambling, ranting rave—and it was beneath him. We should expect far more from the Leader of the Opposition, who one day hopes—and that day becomes further and further away—to be leader of the government in this place. It is no wonder that it will be such a long way off with behaviour like that.

Premier Mike Rann will go down in history as one of South Australia's greatest leaders. There is absolutely no denying that. His achievements have been many; they are vast. They cross South Australia's economic, social and environmental spheres—the full gamut. He will go down in history.

In terms of economics, I was looking at The Australian just before coming in here and it reported on figures that South Australia's economy grew faster relative to the Australian economy under the Rann government than it grew in the 12 years before. Under the Libs it grew at 73 per cent of Australia's growth, under Rann there was 84 per cent growth.

In terms of South Australia's employment, it grew nearly four times as fast under Rann than in the 12 years before. Employment grew four times as fast. There was 0.5 per cent growth under the former Liberal era versus 1.9 per cent growth under the Rann government. It has been driven by very fast-growing production sectors, particularly mining, other resources development, construction and electricity. In terms of mining, for instance, South Australia is currently home to four major operations, and today there are 16 approved with 30 or more in the development pipeline. Between 2002 and 2009 exploration in South Australia increased more than sevenfold—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! You should be listening to these marvellous achievements that the minister is listing.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —primarily due to PACE, the Plan for Accelerated Exploration program. I am advised that, according to the latest ABS statistics, South Australia's mineral exploration expenditure for the last financial year increased to $254.6 million, up from approximately $167 million in the last financial year. We are now ranked third behind Queensland and Western Australia when it comes to mineral expenditure.

So, as I said, I think the opposition member's question was mean-spirited and churlish, and completely beneath him. I could stand here and list Premier Rann's achievements, I could spend all question time listing them; however, I will finish simply by saying that Mike Rann will go down in history as one of South Australia's greatest leaders.

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