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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-03-29 Daily Xml
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TOURISM COMMISSION

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:37): I have a further supplementary question. What role will the manager, Mr Rik Morris, play in the review?

The PRESIDENT: You don't have to answer that.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (14:38): Thank you, Mr President. I thank the member for his question.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! I have all the authority in here. I am the most authoritative person in here.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: The opposition's obsession with Mr Rik Morris—

An honourable member interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: All right, well, tell Mr Ridgway to be quiet.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Do you want to listen to the minister? You tell the Hon. Mr Ridgway, your honourable leader, to be quiet, and the Hon. Mr Dawkins should be quiet, as well.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Thank you, Mr President. I find the obsession of the opposition with Mr Rik Morris absolutely fascinating. It is just incredible to watch this behaviour. Lots of people are employed by the government, and lots of people are employed in electorate offices and members of parliament's offices and ministers' offices. We employ lots of different people who have a wide range of really valuable skills and expertise.

Sometimes we even employ journos to come and help us with our media, so we employ all sorts of people with a wide range of different backgrounds, skills and expertise. Because Mr Rik Morris has been successful in achieving an employment position in the South Australian Tourism Commission there is some assumption that if you work for government you can never ever work again.

That is the underlying assumption: if you work for government you can never, ever work again and, if you do happen to win a job somewhere else out in the real world, that is somehow 'jobs for the boys'. There is this underlying assumption that you simply cannot work. That is it: once you have worked for the government you are never going to work again and, if you do, it is somehow jobs for the boys. It is an absolute disgrace because it is undermining the reputation of this very talented man. He is a hardworking man. He contributed an enormous amount in his job with the government.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: Does he have Labor Party membership? Which faction?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: In fact wouldn't have a clue what faction he is in. I don't know, and it doesn't matter. It is completely irrelevant.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Mr President, it would be much simpler if the minister just answered the question.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Mr President, I am answering the question.

The PRESIDENT: The government does not have to employ past Liberals every time it gives a job out.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: And we employ a lot of those as well. We employ Rob Kerin, Mr Olsen; we have employed a number of Libs. We have employed Dean Brown.

An honourable member: John Olsen.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I did say Mr Olsen. As I have said, it is a snide innuendo that Mr Rik Morris is somehow involved in things that he should not be, got a job that he should not have got—which he won in an open, genuine contest. The job was advertised, he applied for it and he won it. He won it because he was the best candidate, no doubt. Time after time, the opposition brings his name up with this snide underlying innuendo that discredits this person. He does not have an opportunity to come in here and speak for himself, and it is continually undermining his reputation.

We know that South Australia is a fairly small state, so it is a disgraceful, dishonourable thing to do to keep coming into this place and suggesting that somehow Mr Rik Morris is involved in activities that he should not be and that he won a job in some untoward way. It is completely incorrect; it is a completely dishonest thing to be portraying in this place. The honourable member should be apologising to Mr Rik Morris, who is a hardworking man.

I have requested Jane Jeffreys to conduct a review of her organisation. She will conduct that, and I will keep waxing lyrical about the merits of Rik Morris, because of the disgraceful conduct of the opposition. I will stand here all day, because I am absolutely sick to death of him being maligned. It is not just Rik Morris, but there are so many others that the opposition comes in here and maligns, and it ruins these people's reputations in a dishonest and unfair and despicable way. I will take time and speak at length about how disgraceful that behaviour is.

I have requested that Ms Jane Jeffreys conduct this review, and she will conduct that review in any way she sees fit. What staff she involves; and how, what, where and why she conducts that review are matters for her. She is the CEO, and she has the skills and the responsibility to get on and do the job. No doubt she will involve whomever she sees fit to do that job. In terms of the issue of whether the future chief executive position will be a part-time or full-time position, that will be a matter for the review.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: It will be an independent review, and it will be a matter for that review. In terms of the government's ability to direct the board, I do have powers to direct the board to change decisions it makes if I so wish, but I believe that it has to be tabled in parliament and made publicly available. So, there are powers there, albeit very limited powers, and they are powers that are required to come under public scrutiny.

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