Based on evidence given by Police Commissioner Mal Hyde, the Rann Government was highly unlikely to meet its election promise of 400 extra police officers by June 2010, Liberal MLC Rob Lucas said today. “Mr Hyde gave evidence to today’s meeting of the Legislative Council Budget and Finance Committee and confirmed that in June 2009…
DetailsRann Government Ministers and ‘Spin Doctors’ were wasting hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars on personal mobile phone costs because they won’t use deals used by most cost conscious South Australians. “Mr Rann must explain publicly why he and his Ministers are paying up to $16,000 per annum when there are many local phone plans…
DetailsThe Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:29): Before turning to what I was principally going to speak about, the Hon. Mr Finnigan refers to accuracy in statements made by members. I would remind the member to have a look at the humiliating, red-faced U-turn delivered in the other place yesterday by the Treasurer in relation to the…
DetailsTranscripts of the Budget and Finance Committee and Statutory Authorities Review Committee hearings are posted to the Committee section of the South Australian Parliament website after the transcripts have been corrected by the witnesses. (Sometimes this process can take a couple of weeks.) The recent hearing of the Budget and Finance Committee on 2 March…
DetailsPremier Rann and Treasurer Foley had refused for two years to answer questions in Parliament about frequent flyer points collected from travel by Rann Government Ministers. “Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws have revealed that Mr Rann and Mr Foley have had at least 44 separate overseas trips in the last seven years as…
DetailsPremier Mike Rann had agreed to pay the former CEO of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet (DPC), Warren McCann, $360,000 per annum for a new job managing only 13 people. Mr McCann yesterday confirmed in evidence to the Legislative Council Budget and Finance Committee that when he was appointed Commissioner for Public Employment…
DetailsA total of more than $2 million had been lost on the first two Adelaide International Guitar Festivals in 2007 and 2008. “Mr Rann, in typically understated fashion, had described the Festival as “the largest of its kind in the world” and “the next big WOMAD equivalent in Adelaide” and also went on to accept…
DetailsPublic servants should be on the lookout as a gaggle of Rann ‘Spin Doctors’ are parachuted into well paid and senior positions in government departments and agencies. Information provided by public service whistleblowers combined with a comprehensive search of documents obtained under Freedom of Information has revealed a list of at least 13 ‘Spin Doctors’…
DetailsThe Hon. R.I. LUCAS (16:45): I move: That this council notes with concern recent appointments and actions by the Rann Labor government and other related matters. In recent years, I have given a number of speeches in this place on the issue of Rann government appointments, in particular, concentrating on Rann appointments to boards and…
DetailsAdjourned debate on motion of Hon. M.C. Parnell: 1. That a select committee of the Legislative Council be established to inquire into and report on taxpayer-funded government advertising campaigns with specific reference to: (a) the establishment of guidelines dealing with the appropriate use of South Australian government advertising; (b) the cost of government advertising; (c)…
DetailsStatutes Amendment (Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction and Regulation of Research Involving Human Embryos) Bill The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (16:35): I indicate at the outset that I was one member who spoke about this matter at length almost six years ago, on 5 June 2003. I expressed my views at that stage, and I…
DetailsSenior Transport department executives yesterday gave evidence which conflicted with claims by Premier Rann about the state of readiness of South Australian projects being considered for funding under the $20 billion Building Australia Fund. Liberal MLC Rob Lucas said that on 29 October 2008, Premier Rann issued a media release listing South Australia’s five priority…
DetailsMinister Pat Conlon and his senior departmental executives were refusing to implement a key ruling by the Auditor-General which led to an audit qualification of the Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure’s (DTEI) 2006-07 financial accounts. Mr Jim Hallion, CEO of the DTEI, and other senior executives were questioned at today’s meeting of the Legislative…
DetailsThe Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:39): I want to talk also about what some sections of the media refer to as the ‘appointment of young Turks to refresh and reinvigorate a fading and lacklustre Rann cabinet’. The first “young Turk” was evidently Mr O’Brien who, at 59 years of age, must BE the oldest young Turk…
DetailsIn excess of $200,000 dollars had been wasted on a consultant developing a “new model” to handle surplus public servants, which was now not being used. “Senior executives from the Department of the Premier and Cabinet (DPC) gave evidence to the Legislative Council Budget and Finance Committee that consultant Hunters Management & Consultants had been…
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