Vincent Tarzia must take immediate action against his candidate Frank Pangallo after he failed to table any new documents in the Budget and Finance Committee today to support his wild assertions linking the algal bloom outbreak to the Adelaide desalination plant.
Last week, Mr Pangallo was busted peddling dodgy A.I.-generated documents to support his assertions that there was scientific evidence linking the environmental crisis to the Adelaide desal plant, which is essential to supporting water security.
"This isn't some fantastical conspiracy theory and, unlike the Premier and his 'Yes Ministers', I am basing it on facts I have actually researched," he previously told the Budget and Finance Committee.
Incredibly, having been busted peddling misleading and non-existent A.I.-generated documents, he doubled down on his debunked claims, insisting he did have documents to back up his assertions.
Mr Pangallo told reporters from behind his office door last week: "I've got the papers and actually I'll be presenting them to the Budget and Finance Committee when we meet next week, so you'll be able to see them."
When pressed, he again insisted he had real documents, but refused to hand them over to the reporters at the time.
"Ah… no, I won't because I'm tabling them before the committee… I've got others, the papers exist.
"There are papers, right? I have papers and I will be presenting them to Budget and Finance Committee next week."
But when the committee met this morning, Mr Pangallo failed to table any new documents.
Incredibly, Mr Pangallo appears to still be using A.I. for his research without proper checking, telling today's committee as he asked questions: "I will warn you that I did access the dates in these documents using artificial intelligence. I trust that they are right."
This is now a test of Vincent Tarzia's leadership – he cannot continue to tolerate Mr Pangallo remaining on the committee as a Liberal member.
It comes after Mr Tarzia himself twice refused to rule out a link between the desalination plant and the algal bloom when asked on ABC Radio last week.
As put by Lucy Hood
What on earth is going on in the South Australian Liberal Party?
Vincent Tarzia continues to tolerate his hand-picked star candidate doubling down on his dangerous conspiracy theories, while himself refusing to rule out a link between the harmful algal bloom and the Adelaide desalination plant, which is vital for South Australia's water security.
Frank Pangallo was last week busted peddling A.I.-generated dodgy documents to push his conspiracy theory, which he insisted was backed by credible and contemporary scientific evidence.
He said he had the documents, and that he would be tabling them when the Budget and Finance Committee met today.
But no papers were tabled during this morning's committee meeting.
Mr Pangallo is still empty handed, relying on nothing more than A.I. fantasies.
To use an environmental crisis to sow mistrust in the credible scientific advice on which South Australians rely is unforgivable.
Mr Tarzia must show leadership and remove Frank Pangallo from the committee.
