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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-11-27 Daily Xml
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PUBLIC SECTOR APPOINTMENTS

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:44): I rise to talk about the practice over recent years, and in recent months, of parachuting ministerial staffers into senior positions within the state public sector. I just place on the record, some going back over a number of years now, examples such as Mr Lachlan Parker—all of these are former ministerial advisers—who has been placed in the position of media manager within the Attorney-General's Department.

Mr Rik Morris has a substantive position of general manager in Tourism SA, albeit he says he is now on a secondment in the spin doctor unit for Mr Weatherill in the period leading up to the election. Of course, we have seen Ms Lois Boswell be appointed executive director of motor injury insurance reform in the Department of Treasury and Finance. Mr Dominic Stefanson is the manager of public affairs at the Adelaide Festival Centre. I might note that all of these current positions are as shown on the SA Direct directory. Sometimes, that is out of date, but it is the only recent source that observers have of appointees to particular positions.

Mr Lance Worrall, of course, is now the deputy chief executive in DMITRE. Mr Paul Summerton is the manager of executive services, Shared Services, in Treasury. Mr Ben Tuffnell is now the director of budget strategy in Treasury and Finance. Ms Julia Grant is the executive director, policy and strategy, at the department for water.

Mr Don Frater is the deputy chief executive at PIRSA. Mr Josh Rayner is the director of the state Training and Skills Commission. Mr Ben Temperly is the head of strategy and performance in the education department. I do not know whether I mentioned him earlier, but Mr Nick Alexandrides, of course, was made a magistrate. Ms Rachel Rodda is a senior project officer within SA Health. Ms Michelle Bertossa is the manager of healthy workers at SA Health. There are literally dozens and dozens of others that I could place on the public record, but I just give those as a small selection—

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: Snapshot.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: —or a snapshot of what has been going on. Can I say at the outset that a small number of those people, I think, are well qualified for the positions that they now hold. In one particular case, one was a former Treasury officer who went into ministerial offices and is now back in Treasury; that is, Mr Tuffnell.

I think there certainly are some whose expertise are suitable but, in a number of cases, there are very strong complaints coming from long-serving public servants who are angry at what they see as the parachuting of favoured people from ministerial offices into senior positions within the Public Service. The most recent example of that was the Lachlan Parker appointment, where he was parachuted out and given a six-month job. We were told that it was not going to be long term but, of course, that has now been confirmed by way of a contractual engagement with Mr Parker.

Concerns are being raised by senior public servants about the abuse of process and, in a number of these cases, people who do not have the qualifications for these very senior executive positions. As I said, public servants are very angry when they see this sort of abuse of the public process going on under the Labor government. These are the issues that are being raised and, as we lead into to the last four months, with the parliament potentially being prorogued, the accountability of the ministers will be significantly reduced and there will be greater potential for them over the coming months to try to parachute even more into the public sector.

The other quick general point I make is that I understand that the Premier is currently engaged in negotiations with one or two chief executive officers, whose contracts do not conclude until well after the state election, to see whether he can extend their contracts, prior to the state election. Again, public servants are raising questions about that particular process in which Premier Weatherill is currently engaging in relation to those senior Public Service positions.

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