Shadow Industrial Relations Minister Rob Lucas today congratulated injured worker advocate Rosemary McKenzie-Ferguson on winning the Community Leader award in the 2011 South Australian of the Year Awards. Ms McKenzie-Ferguson was presented with the award at a Civic Reception at the Adelaide Town Hall last night by the Lord Mayor of Adelaide, the Hon Stephen…
DetailsTwo more agencies – the Attorney General’s Department and the South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission – have been implicated in the ‘Cartridgegate’ scandal, evidence to the Legislative Council Budget and Finance Committee confirmed today. AGD Chief Executive Jerome Maguire said a search of 10 years of printer cartridge purchases by the department had…
DetailsShadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas today called for Premier Weatherill to provide answers to questions about the cost of termination payments and new public sector jobs for ministerial staffers employed by former Premier Rann’s ministry. Justice Chief Executive Jerome Maguire told the Budget and Finance Committee today that Mr Rann’s former Chief of Staff Nick…
DetailsLeaked information provided to the Liberal Opposition has revealed that more than 10 Labor Government departments have been implicated in the ‘Cartridgegate’ scandal. It is now clear this scandal is spiralling out of control, as every week more and more departments and staff are implicated. Shadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas said copies of invoices leaked…
DetailsThe Labor Government has been forced into an embarrassing backflip over its latest WorkCover bill. Minister for Workers’ Rehabilitation Jack Snelling, who introduced the Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation (Employer Payments) Amendment Bill 2011 on 28 September 2011, has advised Self Insurers of South Australia key provisions of the bill will now be removed and the…
DetailsThe Labor Government’s financial management credibility has taken yet another blow with the revelation that WorkCover’s unfunded liability actually blew out by a staggering $87 million in the first six months of this year. According to WorkCover’s own figures, the unfunded liability at the end of 2010 was $865 million . The 2010-11 Auditor-General Report,…
DetailsThe Labor Government must agree to a comprehensive independent inquiry of all government departments and agencies following the latest ‘Cartridgegate’ revelations. At least four government departments, involving eight staff and more than $400,000 in purchases of printer cartridges, have been identified. In most cases, if not all, staff received personal benefits for purchasing printer cartridges…
DetailsThe Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:40): I want to look at the record of Premier Rann, perhaps for the first and only time. As Premier Rann leaves parliament, a decision he has taken has united almost everyone in this parliament. Everyone cannot wait to get rid of him. That is perhaps unsurprising for members of the…
DetailsBUDGET AND FINANCE COMMITTEE The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (17:41): I move: That the report on the operations of the Budget and Finance Committee 2010-11 be noted. In speaking briefly to this report, I firstly thank the hardworking members of the Budget and Finance Committee, both current and past (over the 12 months we have had…
DetailsThe Hon. R.I. LUCAS (21:51): I rise to speak to the second reading of the bill. The Liberal Party’s position is that it will not be supporting the bill. I think it is fair to say that, as with some other issues, there is a broad church represented by our members, in particular, the Eyre…
DetailsThe Hon. R.I. LUCAS (17:52): I rise to speak to the second reading of the bill. As I listen to the contributions this afternoon, I am reminded that politics, indeed, makes for strange bedfellows. We have an ex-Labor minister in this council quoting a former Liberal Party chief of staff to a minister in support…
DetailsThe Labor Government’s printer cartridge scandal has spread to SA Health, department executives confirmed today. Chief Executive David Swan told the Legislative Council Budget and Finance Committee that excessive purchases of $161,781 had been identified at three SA Health locations. Mr Swan also confirmed that three staff had accepted gifts or benefits from the private…
DetailsIndustrial Relations Minister Russell Wortley has wrongly claimed there would be no change to scaffolding requirements under his controversial new work safety laws. This error by Mr Wortley partly explains why he wrongly claims cost increases under his work safety laws will be “insignificant or minimal”. The Housing Industry Association has estimated a single story…
DetailsA belated backflip by the Labor Government and the WorkCover Board to introduce competition into WorkCover claims management from 2013 is welcomed by the Liberal Opposition. Shadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas said the decision taken in 2006 to remove all competition from claims management and use a monopoly claims manager has been an unmitigated disaster.…
DetailsBoth Families and Communities Minister Jennifer Rankine and Department of Families and Communities CEO Joslene Mazel must accept responsibility for what is a dysfunctional department. Ms Mazel told the Legislative Council Budget and Finance Committee today that until last week the Minister was unaware that 11 staff in her department had been investigated for accessing…
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