Local Government Elections

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (15:39): I rise to speak on a matter of interest, not only as a member of state parliament but also as a concerned resident of the Mitcham community, a community which I love. As members would be aware, 7 November is local government election day, and it is approaching fast. As South Australians we all enjoy our democratic right to vote for our chosen representatives. One lesson that I took from the recent state election, though, is that some candidates will undermine our democratic environment.

I refer most notably to the experience in the seat of Elder. That reminder simply affirmed my role as a state representative and as an ordinary and decent citizen of Mitcham to (as best possible) make our voters aware of who are their respective representatives and the values that motivate them. I am particularly interested in our incumbent Mayor, Mr Michael Picton, who is running for this position again in Mitcham this November, and his success I believe will be to the detriment of the Mitcham community.

The Picton family is a Labor dynasty. Mr Michael Picton is a card-carrying member of the Labor Party, and in fact his disclosure, following the last mayoral election, showed that he received financial support from the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association. I guess you could say that he is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mr Peter Malinauskas and the SDA. I was also interested to note that Mr Picton actually worked in this place for the Hon. Bernard Finnigan prior to becoming Mayor in 2010.

It is interesting also that his son, Mr Tim Picton, was at least at one stage president of the South Australian branch of Young Labor. Members may also recall that Tim's name was from the Twitter tirade with Andrew Southcott during the last federal election, for which the Premier, the Hon. Jay Weatherill, had to apologise. This was, of course, an attack on a highly reputed and respected member of our Mitcham community, Mr Andrew Southcott, MP.

Tim was working for Labor minister Jack Snelling at the time, and prior to that he held positions in Amanda Rishworth's office and Don Farrell's office. Of course, Michael Picton's other son, Chris, is now the Labor member for Kaurna, here in our very own parliament. Before that he was working in offices for his predecessor, the former minister, John Hill, and the now federal minister, Nicola Roxon. Mr President, I bring to your attention that I do not believe the o'clock was started.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Mr President, I do the honourable thing and alert you to a small technical hitch, and I get abuse from the government benches. Suffice to say that the Labor blood is running thick and fast in the Picton family. Of course, it is not unusual for a local government candidate to have some political disposition or affiliation. However, I believe that most of the more effective local representatives are motivated by an agenda of issues of importance to their community, where I fear that Michael Picton is driven by a hard left Labor tax and spend ethos.

Some interesting facts from the time he has been mayor: in the 2012-13 financial year Mitcham council rates increased by over 8 per cent, the highest increase of any council. From 2010 to 2013 (and this is astounding), rates in the Mitcham council area increased by a whacking 22.5 per cent. It is also interesting to know that under his mayoralship the executive salaries in the Mitcham council for the 2012-13 year accounted for some 20 per cent of the total employee costs. That includes cars, superannuation and salaries over $100,000 and other benefits.

There was an article in last month's Mitcham & Hills Messenger, entitled 'Great rates chase begins'. I could not believe it. The Mitcham council's unpaid rates bill has blown out to 22 per cent, and the amount owed has ballooned from $1.06 million to $1.3 million from June 2012 to 2013. About 7 per cent of Mitcham's 26,500 ratepayers did not pay their rates on time. As a result the debt collectors are chasing some $336,000 owed by over 100 people, 19 of whom have been referred to the lawyers.

So this rate debt crisis, occurring under the lacklustre leadership of Michael Picton, has caused one of Adelaide's traditionally financially comfortable areas to become financially stressed. Looking around my community, I find it difficult to see the fruits of these rate and revenue hikes, although my chief concern for the community is the government that Michael Picton supports. I was particularly disturbed to see him use his position as mayor in an election brochure supporting Annabel Digance in what was described as one of the most dirty and underhand political campaigns this state has ever seen.

I was also disturbed to note that the Mayor of Marion and Australian Local Government Association President, Felicity-Ann Lewis, also appeared in that same election brochure, although not with any comments, and I wonder, as an indication of how dirty and underhand their campaign was that Michael Picton associated himself with, whether mayor Felicity Lewis ever gave her approval. It just proves that this mayor supports a government that was elected on the back of racial attacks and dodgy campaign tactics.

He supports a government that has burdened South Australian families with an additional $1,100 worth of annual expenses, taxes, fees and charges, and that was before we had the emergency services levy hike. By supporting Annabel Digance, Michael Picton as mayor clearly supports the Labor agenda of taxing South Australians. And he also supports a government that wants to tax people and people who use car parks in the city to the tune of $750 per annum for a car space. This is not a mayor who has an ambitious agenda for the improvement of the Mitcham community. It is only right and fair that the voters of Mitcham know that Michael Picton's legacy is simply to strengthen the Labor government which has and will continue to squeeze South Australia and the residents of Mitcham dry.

The PRESIDENT: I think on this occasion, because of a technicality that was our responsibility, you have had a bit more time than you actually would have done.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I will take less time next time.

The PRESIDENT: That is good—4½ minutes next time. The Hon. Mr Parnell.