Former Deputy Premier Vickie Chapman suspended from state parliament
Former deputy premier Vickie Chapman has been suspended from state parliament for what the opposition calls “completely unacceptable behaviour”.
SA News
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Former Deputy Premier Vickie Chapman has been suspended from state parliament for six days in an extraordinary rebuke from lower house MPs after an inquiry found she had deliberately misled parliament.
The Liberals fiercely defended their Attorney-General during debate over the matter on Tuesday but ultimately the minority government did not have the numbers to stave off the consequences arising from Ms Chapman’s conflict of interest scandal.
The motion passed 23 votes to 22 votes.
Speaker Dan Cregan ordered that Ms Chapman, who was not present for the vote, begin her suspension immediately.
Of the crossbenchers, only Fraser Ellis voted with the government against the suspension.
Ms Chapman made a brief statement following the vote, acknowledging parliament’s decision.
“I’ll be complying with a six days leave from the parliament,” she said.
“My view is well-known in relation to the select committee of inquiry, and its alleged finding of facts.”
Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas said misleading parliament and failing to declare a conflict of interest was “completely unacceptable behaviour”.
“These are truly unprecedented events as far as we can tell,” he said.
Mr Malinauskas said if Ms Chapman resigned as attorney-general, or Premier Steven Marshall sacked her, the Opposition would consider moving to rescind the suspension.
Opposition government accountability spokesman Tom Koutsantonis said if parliament had chosen not to impose a penalty for misleading parliament “then ministers can get up and say anything they want at any time”
“If a parliamentarian can deliberately mislead parliament and get away with it then our representative democracy crumbles,” he said.
“You cannot mislead us.”
Deputy Premier Dan van Holst Pellekaan told parliament Ms Chapman was an “extremely capable, extremely hardworking” person, who is an “absolutely outstanding South Australian”.
Mr van Holst Pellekaan said the government “in no way” agreed with the motion.
“This is a cruel personal attack to try and damage someone’s credibility and we will not accept that,” he said.
Acting Attorney-General Josh Teague said the inquiry was flawed because it was tainted by prejudgement and a one-sided approach.
The move was in response to a parliamentary inquiry that found Ms Chapman failed to declare a conflict of interest, breached the ministerial code of conduct and misled parliament on three occasions over her rejection of a proposal to build a $40 million seaport on Kangaroo Island.
The investigation heard Ms Chapman owned a property, which was leased as a private rental, across the road from a forest from which haulage trucks would have collected timber to take to the seaport under the proposal.
The inquiry report, which was handed down on November 18, recommended Ms Chapman be suspended from parliament for nine days for misleading the house.
This motion was changed on Tuesday to suspend Ms Chapman for only six days.
The inquiry committee comprised two Labor MPs, two Liberal MPs and former Liberal MP, now independent Sam Duluk.
The two Liberal MPs issued a censored “dissenting statement” in relation to the final report.
On the same day the report was handed down, the lower house passed a no-confidence motion against Ms Chapman.
While convention has it that a lower house minister who has a no-confidence motion passed against them resigns from the frontbench, Ms Chapman steadfastly protested her innocence.
But the following week, after mounting pressure, she announced she was resigning as deputy premier and stepping aside as A-G and planning and local government minister.
Ms Chapman, at the time, maintained she did not have a conflict of interest and had made the right decision in relation to the seaport.
Former speaker Josh Teague was installed as planning and local government minister and acting attorney general while Mining Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan was sworn in as deputy leader.
Ms Chapman remains a member of Cabinet but will not attend meetings and she will not accept any ministerial perks, such as the $150,000 on top of the standard MP wage, a driver, ministerial staff or resources.
The State Ombudsman is now preparing to investigate Ms Chapman over the seaport matter.
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