Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-07-24 Daily Xml

Contents

South Australian Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:06): Did the Assistant Minister to the Premier, at the function she hosted on Sunday—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: —introduce Dr Sridhar Nannapaneni as the new—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Can the members on the government benches be quiet. I cannot hear the member ask his question.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: There is only one assistant minister.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Point of order: the member might be a new member perhaps, but he needs to seek leave to make an explanation prior to directing a question to a person, and it would be useful for the house to know to whom he is directing his question.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: I think the Leader of the Government ought to be pulled into order.

The PRESIDENT: I am not engaging in a conversation. The Hon. Mr Wortley, you didn't direct where your question was going; that is fair. Before I can make a ruling whether leave is required, I need to hear your question.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: That would be right.

The PRESIDENT: Who is the question being delivered to?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: The question was to the minister assisting the Premier. There is only one minister assisting the Premier, and that would be the Hon. Ms Jing Lee.

The PRESIDENT: Thank you.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Did the assistant minister, at the function she hosted on Sunday at an Indian restaurant, introduce Dr Sridhar Nannapaneni as a new member of the SAMEAC board? Did any of the people present express their concern about the lack of consultation in appointing Dr Nannapaneni? Thirdly, did you indicate that it was too late for consultation, as he had already been appointed, but that he or you would look after them with grants?

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:07): I thank the honourable member for his questions. First of all, I would like to clarify that the function was actually not hosted by myself. The members of the Indian community were invited by Dr Sridhar Nannapaneni himself as a new SAMEAC member. It was an invitation by Dr Nannapaneni so that he could conduct his own consultation and stakeholder engagement in his own right. I think it is a great initiative.

The Indian community members attending the event have praised how wonderful it is that for the first time for a long time they were actually able to have different community leaders coming together united in one voice to meet a new SAMEAC member. That has never happened before, not with the previous appointee that the previous government had. I wonder what the question was all about. I think it is a great stakeholder engagement process. There will be more to come in the future.