Premier Steven Marshall’s under-the-radar dash out of the country is “rapidly turning into something that seems bizarre”, says reporter Mike Smithson.
Smithson told FIVEAA’s Tony Pilkington on Tuesday he has been unable to confirm the exact reason for the Premier’s trip to Tokyo, which follows a stop-off in Singapore for an Adelaide Uni alumni event.
“I don’t know who he’s seeing or what he’s doing. I’ve formally requested that I speak to his 2IC Vickie Chapman about what the Premier is doing seeing we can’t really find out from him. Whether I get to speak to her today or not I guess that’s up to her.
“The government to be honest needs to pull its finger out on this because it’s rapidly turning into something that seems bizarre and the government should never have got itself into this situation.”
Smitho said it was “odd” the Premier made no mention of his trip before quietly departing on Monday.
“To me if you’ve got something to hide that’s the way you do it, you don’t say it. If you’ve got nothing to hide, if you’re completely comfortable with the course you’re taking you would at least mention it then or you would put out a press release or you be loud and proud about it. Hold a press conference at the airport and explain what you’re doing, but there was none of that…
“Normally if he’s going overseas on what he considers an important trade and tourism mission, which he says this is, the government would let the media know because taxpayers have a right to know where their Premier is and what he’s doing but there was none of that yesterday. In fact there was I would say an attempt to get him into the airport as quickly as possible with no media coverage…
“I spoke to him at the airport yesterday. I managed to track him down but that was on the phone and that was with some difficulty. I’m still not aware what he’s doing other than he said everything is under control here, he can be back within 24 hours if need be. He’s entitled to go if he thinks that’s a good judgment decision… but for god’s sake let us all know what he’s doing.”
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