Premier Weatherill’s review into “Mad March” events has been a “rank amateurish” process which has insulted and angered a key stakeholder. “Mr Weatherill appointed his own “internal consultant” Warren McCann to conduct the review, which recommended moving the V8 race forward to February and the June public holiday to May for a rescheduled Adelaide Cup,”…
Shadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas is calling for Minister Wortley to review urgently the tendering process which led to the Labor Government giving one company, Maxxia, a monopoly contract for salary sacrifice arrangements to all public servants. Earlier this month the Queensland Government revealed Remserv, one of two salary sacrifice providers in that state, had…
Industrial Relations Minister Russell Wortley today refused to answer critical questions in Parliament by the Hon Rob Lucas MLC about the validity of charges laid against Ferro Con (SA) Pty Ltd. Ferro Con (SA) Pty Ltd was the crane company involved in an incident at the Adelaide Desalination Plant which led to the death of…
The number of Ministerial staff and spin doctors in the Weatherill Government is far greater than the 107 published in this week’s Government Gazette, Shadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas said today. The true figure (including media monitoring staff) is 273, according to a leaked copy of the Government’s confidential Ministerial staff directory for December 2011.…
Former Department of Premier and Cabinet Deputy Chief Executive Pauline Peel’s termination will cost taxpayers between $300,000 and $400,000. Evidence to the Legislative Council Budget and Finance Committee today revealed Ms Peel was entitled to a three or four month payout for early termination and then another three or four month payout for every unexpired…
Massive budget blowouts of $1.3 million at the Art Gallery and $410,000 at the South Australian Museum have been confirmed by Department of Premier and Cabinet executives. Evidence to the Legislative Council Budget and Finance Committee from Arts & Cultural Affairs Executive Director Alex Reid confirmed $1.7 million was provided to the institutions last month…
The Weatherill Labor Government’s latest attempt to deliver its much hyped promise to cut the number of poker machines in South Australia by 814 has been an unmitigated failure. “In March this year, the Labor Government announced a new trading round for poker machines to help deliver its promise to cut another 814 machines,” Shadow…
$600,000 of Building the Education Revolution (BER) funding was wasted on two schools which have now closed, Department for Education and Child Development (DECD) executives have confirmed. DECD Chief Financial Officer Julieann Riedstra told the Legislative Council Budget and Finance Committee $250,000 had been spent on new toilets and $50,000 on building refurbishment at Salt…
An undertaking by the Auditor-General today to use his ‘coercive powers’ if necessary to uncover all costs associated with ‘Cartridgegate’ has been welcomed by Shadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas. Auditor-General Simon O’Neill told the Legislative Council Budget and Finance Committee he was aware of a number of criticisms about the Government’s investigation into ‘Cartridgegate’, including:…
Budget saving decisions have led to significant delays in appeal hearings by public servants against allegedly unfair employment decisions, Shadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas said today. “The Public Grievance Review Commission provides an avenue for an independent hearing of any claim by a public servant alleging nepotism, patronage or any other serious irregularity in an…