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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-04-12 Daily Xml
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State Energy Plan

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:20): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Leader of Government Business in this council and the minister responsible for job creation a question about the Labor Party's plan to fix South Australia's electricity problems.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: On the morning of 30 March—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Brokenshire has the floor.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: Thank you for your protection, sir. On the morning of 30 March, commuters alighting from trains at the Adelaide Railway Station, most of whom were likely on their way to work in the city, had a job on their hands to make their way through an army of people furnished with government brochures (like that, sir) espousing that the government finally had a power plan. My questions to the minister are:

1. Were any public servants employed to distribute this propaganda? If not, who were the people that were distributing the propaganda? Were any of them Labor staffers?

2. These brochures contain simplistic catchphrases and photos of the Premier in a blue tie looking happy with himself. Can you explain to this chamber why harassing commuters with such material should not be construed as political campaigning?

3. Can the minister advise the council how much this advertising campaign is costing South Australian taxpayers?

That's the brochure, sir: that one.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Minister.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (15:22): I thank the honourable member for his questions and for—I don't know, it was hard to know—maybe, his support for our plan. He was talking about how good it is that there is a plan. I might reiterate what we heard in this chamber last night when we were debating the electricity bill. I think the exact words from the member opposite in relation to our plan was, 'It is good to have a plan.'

It's true: it is good to have a plan. It is good to have a plan because the opposite of that is not having a plan. Believe me, it is good to have a plan. We have binders of plans in the Labor Party. It is actually very good to have a plan. The Hon. Robert Brokenshire seems to be in some way complaining that we want to tell people what we are doing. That seems to be the big charge and the allegation and what he has taken such great offence to.

I am not sure when he was talking about but I know that in the last couple of weeks there have been days where there has been a dozen or more South Australian Labor MPs at the train station, many of whom have caught the train in from their electorates, handing out brochures to very grateful people desperate to know that the state has a plan. They are glad to know that we have a plan because, of course, the opposite of having a plan—which is good to have, by the way—is not having a plan.

So, I think the charge from the Hon. Robert Brokenshire is 'please stop campaigning'. We won't do that. That might have worked when he was a lower house member in the seat of Mawson: stop campaigning, and we know how the idea of 'don't campaign' worked in the seat of Mawson.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: It is what drove him to Family First, because of his lack of campaigning. I can absolutely assure the honourable member that we will not stop campaigning. That's maybe what he did in the seat of Mawson; that's not what we are going to do.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

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