OFF THE WIRE
A SENIOR South Australian Labor minister has criticised his colleagues for a lack of discipline as Police Minister Michael Wright threatens to continue speaking out about factional backstabbing.
Plannin g Minister Paul Holloway, the Leader of the Government in the Upper House who is aligned with Labor's dominant Right faction, urged MPs to "keep their opinions to themselves".
"If everybody keeps their opinions to themselves in the party room, then the party would be a lot better off," Mr Holloway said.
"I will leave my further comments for the party room, which is where they should be kept. That has been the way. Issues like that - party behaviour - need to be dealt with in the party room and I am sure they will be."
Mr Holloway's comments came today at a freight terminal opening in Adelaide's northern suburbs also attended by Premier Mike Rann and Right members Agriculture Minister Michael O'Brien and backbenchers Leesa Vlahos and Lee Odenwalder.
Mr Wright, at a separate function today, warned Right heavyweight Peter Malinauskas, state secretary of the powerful Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, that he had more to say after yesterday repeatedly accusing unnamed Labor MPs of "an act of bastardry" for undermining him. He said the backstabbing had been going on for years.
He also said the Right may have had a crisis meeting yesterday, but that it "might have been a select group".
"I don't control and I don't run the Right, they can go about their business," Mr Wright, who is a member of the powerful faction, said.
"I'm not fussed about it. I will be speaking my mind. I've got a few things to say. I won't be saying them today but if Peter (Malinauskas) wants to have a chat with me, I'm always available.
"I said there were some home truths to be told and maybe I told one of them yesterday."
Mr Malinauskas has not returned calls for comment.
Premier Mike Rann said he had not spoken to Mr Wright about his claims of bastardry.
"I have not phoned Michael Wright, either last week or when he repeated it this week, which I think shows you just how relaxed I am," Mr Rann said.
But Mr Rann, who is factionally non-aligned, then fled television news cameras and refused to respond to repeated questions about whether he had lost control of his usually disciplined party.
A senior Right-aligned minister had earlier openly joked with several political reporters about Mr Wright having "gone off the reservation".
Ms Vlahos and Mr Odenwalder denied being one of the "bastards" referred to by Mr Wright.
"I am not party to any discussions that have been in the media about such topics," Ms Vlahos said.
"Discipline in government is always important."
Mr Odenwalder said, "I am not one of the bastards".
The unrest wracking the Rann government, which has been well-disciplined since coming to power in 2002, is linked to jockeying among MPs to replace Kevin Foley as treasurer and deputy premier. He is expected to stand aside from the positions when he returns from a US trade trip days before state parliament resumes on February 8.
The dominant Right faction has positioned Attorney-General John Rau to be deputy and Employment Minister Jack Snelling to be treasurer, sparking unprecedented divisions within the party.
Mr Rann earlier today accused Adelaide daily The Advertiser of "putting a spin" on its front-page report about comments by Police Commissioner Mal Hyde regarding motorcycle gangs. Mr Hyde said: "There is a great deal of public concern that may not necessarily match the serious crime that they are committing."
Mr Hyde on ABC radio today confirmed he had been correctly quoted.
Mr Rann blamed the media for fuelling a perception he was at odds with the police commissioner. Mr Rann has repeatedly highlighted bikies as the main threat to society and often likens them to terrorist organisations.
The Premier said he had given police the toughest anti-bikie legislation in the country.
"Bikies are involved in murder, bikies are in involved in assassinations at airports, bikies are involved in selling and making drugs, bikies are involved in extortion, importing illegal firearms. Bikies are involved in a whole range of terror in our community," Mr Rann said.
But he denied he was saying Mr Hyde was wrong that some in the community over-stated the level of serious and organised crime committed by bikies.
"That's something made up once again (by the media), motivated as always by malice," he said.
Liberal Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond said at no time during briefings by SA Police to the opposition did they use the phrase "terror" or "terrorists", raising questions about Mr Rann's spin, she said.
"While Labor continues to focus on its own internal divisions, and Police Minister Michael Wright is more interested in waging war with his colleagues and fighting for his own political survival, no-one from the government appears to be interested in having a serious public debate and seeking real solutions to the bikie problem," she said.
