Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-09-25 Daily Xml

Contents

CFMEU

The Hon. B.R. HOOD (15:09): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Attorney-General regarding the CFMEU.

Leave granted.

The Hon. B.R. HOOD: When asked during the last parliamentary sitting week, the state's highest law officer refused to table the police commissioner's advice in relation to potential criminal links within the CFMEU in South Australia. The Attorney-General similarly refused to answer whether or not he had read that advice. The Premier, in response to a similar question, told the House of Assembly that the police commissioner had made his advice public via an ABC Radio Adelaide interview. My questions to the Attorney-General are:

1. As the state's most senior legal officer, has the Attorney-General now read the police commissioner's advice on criminal links in the CFMEU?

2. Why won't the government publicly release the advice when we are told no evidence was found of criminal links in the CFMEU in South Australia?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:10): I know that the member is relatively new here and relatively inexperienced and is trying as hard as he can, but I do not think anyone here would expect advice from the police about any inquiries that they have made, if it was in a written form, to be published and tabled. That would be an extraordinary thing, and I do not think more experienced people in here would expect that to happen.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Russell Wortley, just be quiet.