The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I move: That this council condemns the Rann government for its arrogance and inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour. I move this motion for two reasons, and the first is as a service to other members of the Legislative Council. Its general nature and drafting will allow other members, during the remainder of…
DetailsAnother black hole has emerged in the Rann Government’s claimed $130m in savings from its shared services centre proposal after evidence to a Parliamentary Committee from a senior public servant. The CEO of the Department of Families and Communities, Sue Vardon, this week gave evidence to the Legislative Council’s Budget and Finance Committee and stated…
DetailsLiberal Member of the Legislative Council Rob Lucas said today that Treasurer Kevin Foley had been left red-faced after an embarrassing blunder as he attempted to defend his beleaguered Shared Services Centre proposal. “In a statement issued to the media Mr Foley claimed that I had falsely stated that the State Government was trying to…
DetailsLiberal Member of the Legislative Council Rob Lucas today called on Premier Rann to clarify important details of a massive pay increase given to one of his key staff members. Yesterday’s Government Gazette revealed that Peter Chataway was given a $26,000 pay increase (16.8%) to a new pay level of $180,090. The Gazette notes that…
DetailsSome Rann Government ‘Spin Doctors’ and staff have just received massive pay increases of up to $26,000 per year and up to 16.8 per cent for one year. Liberal Member of the Legislative Council Rob Lucas said today that at a time when Premier Rann is fighting pay increases for nurses, dentists, psychiatrists and other…
DetailsLiberal Member of the Legislative Council Rob Lucas said today that Premier Rann and Treasurer Foley had refused for almost five months to answer questions in Parliament about frequent flyer points collected from travel by Rann Government Ministers. Last week in Federal Parliament all Federal Members were required to provide details of all frequent flyer…
DetailsThe Hon. R.I. LUCAS: As members will be aware, in recent months there has been increasing clamour from a number of commentators and others for an independent commission against crime and corruption in South Australia. I think many people are asking why in particular Attorney-General Atkinson and Premier Rann are so fearful of the establishment…
DetailsA damning report by the West Australian Auditor General on the WA model of Shared Services centres had cast further doubt on the Rann Government’s claimed savings for a similar plan. Liberal Member of the Legislative Council Rob Lucas said today that a centrepiece of the Rann Government’s budget forward estimates are claimed savings of…
DetailsLiberal Member of the Legislative Council Rob Lucas said today that Treasurer Foley had chickened out by refusing to do the traditional post budget interview on ABC morning radio. Mr Foley this morning refused to be interviewed at the usual 8:30am-9:00am time slot by David Bevan and Matt Abraham on ABC Radio. “As a former…
DetailsThe striking feature of Mr Foley’s budget this year is that they are drowning in a sea of cash, yet there is no tax relief provided to long suffering families and first home purchasers, Mr Lucas said. “This year they have almost $4 billion a year more to spend than the former Liberal Government had…
DetailsThe Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I rise to speak about the Rann government’s arrogance and that of its ministers and employees in relation to their dealings with other members, the community and members of the media. In June last year, long term and respected commentator Greg Kelton said that in his view the government was vying…
DetailsLiberal Member of the Legislative Council Rob Lucas claimed today Mr Rann received legal advice that public statements he had made about a referendum on his promise to abolish the Legislative Council were wrong. Since November 2005, Mr Rann has been promising to conduct a ‘pick-a-box’ type referendum on the future of the Legislative Council…
DetailsLiberal Member of the Legislative Council Rob Lucas has today criticised Premier Rann’s priorities because he is cutting public service jobs everywhere, but not in Ministers’ personal offices. Mr Rann is wasting about $25 million over four years on an explosion in the number of ‘Spin Doctors’ and other Ministerial staff employed in Ministerial offices.…
DetailsLiberal Member of the Legislative Council Rob Lucas has today called for major reform to the current process for the appointment of the Auditor General. The position of the Auditor General is absolutely critical for ensuring public accountability of Government expenditure and decision making. It is therefore obviously vital that all Members of Parliament have…
DetailsLiberal MLC Rob Lucas said today he would be asking the Statutory Authorities Review Committee (SARC) to recall key Land Management Corporation (LMC) executives to give further evidence to respond to allegations there was a major error in the Newport Quays Redevelopment contract which threatened the vicinity of commercial fishing businesses at Port Adelaide. Mr…
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