Taxpayers paid up to $500 an hour for Labor Government Ministers to receive professional media training, Shadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas said today. Information provided to the Liberal Party from yet another leak has confirmed that Media Insider, a company run by Channel 10 Sports Reporter Mark Aiston, had been contracted to provide the training.…
DetailsThe Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:35): Many commentators refer to this Labor government as the most incompetent and most secretive in this state’s history. Sadly, I think now we must add to that the most scandal-ridden government that this state has ever seen. We have a government led by a Premier and a former deputy premier…
DetailsThe Labor Government has caved into pressure from the Opposition and industry groups, shelving its controversial industrial safety legislation which former Minister Bernard Finnigan had been trying to rush through parliament. Labor’s sole remaining Minister in the Legislative Council, Gail Gago, today took the unprecedented action of discharging and withdrawing the Bill. Shadow Industrial Relations…
DetailsShadow Minister for Industrial Relations Rob Lucas said today the Labor Government needed immediately to delay consideration of controversial industrial safety legislation, which former Minister Bernard Finnigan had been trying to rush through Parliament. Mr Finnigan introduced this legislation on 7 April and had advised Members it was a priority for debate in the next…
DetailsAuditor-General Simon O’Neill has confirmed to a parliamentary committee that funding to organisations such as Guide Dogs SA had been altered from the amounts approved by Cabinet. Shadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas said the Auditor-General told the Legislative Council Select Committee on Disability Services Funding organisations had missed out on up to $640,000: Organisation Cabinet…
DetailsThe Rann Government is still embroiled in a legal dispute with a building company which had refused to repay $750,000 to the South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission (SAFECOM), Shadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas said today. “Evidence given to the Legislative Council Budget and Finance Committee by SAFECOM CEO David Place has confirmed that…
DetailsThe Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:40): I wish to talk about Labor division and disunity, and what we are seeing at the moment is a Labor Party and a Labor government frankly at war with themselves. The degree of hatred within the Labor Party for each other is best shown, I think, in a statement made…
DetailsFORESTRYSA The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (17:18): I had not intended to speak until I heard I think probably two of the more appalling contributions to any debate that I have heard in quite some time in this chamber, from the leader of the government, the Hon. Mr Finnegan, and the Hon. Ms Zollo, trying to…
DetailsThe Hon. R.I. LUCAS (17:01): I rise to support the second reading of the bill and indicate, as the Hon. Mr Hood has indicated, that we are in the process of drafting amendments to the bill which we will seek to discuss during the committee stages of the debate. I intend to, at least, briefly…
DetailsThe Labor Government must explain why it paid Adelaide Aqua millions of dollars extra in a failed attempt to meet a construction deadline for the Lonsdale desalination plant, Shadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas said today. In evidence to a Parliamentary Select Committee yesterday, Adelaide Aqua executives refused to reveal the exact level of the payment…
DetailsThe Rann Government is about to backflip on a key public sector reform and savings measure announced in the last State Budget, Shadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas said today. “In the last State Budget the Government announced the abolition of the separate and independent position of Commissioner of Public Employment,” Mr Lucas said. “The Government’s…
DetailsAfter a 16 month battle the State Ombudsman has directed the Rann Government to release documents relating to Labor’s fundraising vehicle SA Progressive Business (SAPB), Shadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas said today. “The original FOI application was actually lodged in October 2009, five months before the state election,” Mr Lucas said. “However, it wasn’t until…
DetailsPremier Rann should cut waste in his own department before cutting funding to country hospitals and eating disorder units, Shadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas said today. Evidence to the Legislative Council Budget and Finance Committee by the Department of Premier and Cabinet Chief Executive Officer Chris Eccles highlighted numerous examples where savings could be made:…
DetailsThe Rann Government has wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars paying a consultant to fix a massive bungle over workers’ compensation payments in SAPOL, Shadow Finance Minister Rob Lucas said today. “In evidence to the Legislative Council’s Budget and Finance Committee, SAPOL’s Business Service Director Denis Patriarca revealed hundreds of officers had been underpaid workers’…
DetailsThe Rann Government has refused to answer key questions about the claimed independent review of the 2008 WorkCover Act changes, Shadow Industrial Relations Minister Rob Lucas said today. “In January this year the Rann Government announced Bill Cossey and Chris Latham, a senior partner in the Sydney office of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), would conduct the review,”…
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