Parliament has no confidence in Hunter

The Legislative Council successfully moved a no confidence motion against embattled Environment Minister Ian Hunter following his ongoing incompetence in the wake of the Clovelly Park contamination crisis.

The motion, introduced by the State Liberals, was successful in moving that:

“This Council has no confidence in the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation in light of his incompetent management of the investigation into the chemical contamination and threats to residents’ health in the environs of Clovelly Park and Mitchell Park.”

The motion was supported by all non-government Members of the Legislative Council – the Hon John Darley MLC, the Hon Tammy Franks MLC, the Hon Mark Parnell MLC, the Hon Kelly Vincent MLC, the Hon Robert Brokenshire MLC and the Hon Dennis Hood MLC.

“Following the success of this motion, the ball is now in Premier Weatherill’s court,” said State Liberal Leader Steven Marshall.

“Premier Weatherill must now sack embattled Minister Hunter for his ongoing failure and competence in managing this crisis.

“This is only the second time in two decades that the Legislative Council has successfully passed a motion of no confidence.”

It was also extraordinary that Labor MLC and Minister Hunter’s factional colleague, Kyam Maher, was invited to defend Minister Hunter, but chose not to do so.

“South Australians have witnessed Minister Hunter’s incompetence for the past 24 days,” said Mr Marshall.

“Let’s not forget the Premier has apologised to residents in Clovelly Park for his Government’s handling of the contamination crisis.

“In Estimates this week, Minister Hunter spent 14 minutes of an allocated 30 minutes either going to the toilet or making a statement to Parliament, instead of answering serious contamination crisis questions.

“To make matters worse, Minister Hunter was flanked by 21 taxpayer funded ministerial and departmental advisers for a paltry 20 minutes of parliamentary questioning.

“You would think this Government would put an end to its appalling approach – instead, with each new day comes a new wave of incompetence and the residents of Clovelly Park and Mitchell Park deserve better.”