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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-09-21 Daily Xml
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Mid-Autumn Festival

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (14:48): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Assistant Minister to the Premier regarding multicultural affairs, that classic song You Can't Stop the Music, or in this case you can stop the music if you complain and spit the dummy long enough.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: On Saturday night, the China Business Network of South Australia held its Mid-Autumn Festival. The run sheet shows a speech from the assistant minister and then another from the leader of the Labor Party before dinner. Attendees have informed us that there was an overwhelmingly positive response to the Labor leader, including spontaneous applause during his speech, and then being taken around tables to meet guests afterwards.

The run sheet shows a band playing after dinner; however, the band was stopped after the assistant minister apparently demanded another opportunity to speak on stage, having expressed concern about the positive response to the Labor leader. My questions to the assistant minister are:

1. Why did the assistant minister demand that the musicians at the event stop the music so that she could make an additional speech after the Leader of the Opposition?

2. Will the assistant minister now apologise to the organisers and attendees, many of whom have spoken to the opposition about their frustration?

3. Does the minister understand the difference between a community event where people from all major parties speak, and a Liberal Party fundraiser where she can do whatever she likes, including not telling people that it is a Liberal Party fundraiser?

The PRESIDENT: Order! The assistant minister will ignore the last part of that question, but the Assistant Minister to the Premier has the call.

The Hon. J.S. LEE (14:50): I thank the honourable member for his question but I will ignore some of the opinions that he expressed. The CBNSA event was held to mark the Mid-Autumn Festival. I acknowledged the Leader of the Opposition as a special guest. There is no particular request that I would actually impose on any organising committee or the president or committee to stop anything. It is really ridiculous—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order, the opposition! I want to hear the assistant minister, and I am sure most of the chamber does.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: The Hon. Russell Wortley was not there. He is just listening to all the hearsay information and trying to ridicule me, as he often does in this chamber. He doesn't have all the facts. He was not there so he was just making up things to create a question. By bringing up this matter it looks like the opposition has run out of questions. Coming back to the question: I went around to the tables as the Labor opposition leader was led by the president. I have no issues with that. Suddenly, I was called to the front again and I had no intention at all—I did not know—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.S. LEE: To get the facts right—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The assistant minister has the call.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: I call upon the Hon. Russell Wortley to perhaps make a phone call to the president of CBNSA, Councillor Simon Hou, and ask him personally and directly whether he stopped the music and then made a speech.

The PRESIDENT: The assistant minister will not point or wave her arms in a similar manner.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: My apologies, Mr President. Therefore, I encourage the honourable member, if he doesn't know all the facts, to put those questions to the organising committee rather than making up things and expressing opinions in this chamber.

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