South Australia's ombudsman has cleared the state's former deputy premier of any wrongdoing in her decision as planning minister to refuse a port on Kangaroo Island.
Ombudsman Wayne Lines cleared Vickie Chapman of any conflict of interest, maladministration or breach of the ministerial code of conduct in his findings tabled in parliament this afternoon.
The ombudsman's investigation also cleared former premier Steven Marshall of committing maladministration.
The inquiry was ordered by a parliamentary committee, which last November made its own finding that Ms Chapman had a conflict in making the decision as planning minister.
It heard Ms Chapman owned land across the road from a forest, which would have been felled if the port went ahead.
She then resigned as deputy premier and stood aside from her position as attorney-general while the ombudsman started his investigation into her decision to refuse approval for the port at Smith Bay because she oversaw the ombudsman under her portfolio.
She was suspended from state parliament for six days for deliberately misleading the house.
She always vehemently denied ever having a conflict of interest.
She declined to comment today, but her son Alex Hart took to Twitter after the ombudsman's report was released.
Ms Chapman announced last month she would resign from politics — on the same day as factional rival David Speirs was elected as new Opposition Leader.
In a statement, Mr Speirs accused Labor of having "a total lack of understanding" about what a conflict of interest is.
"The Ombudsman rejected a series of accusations made by Labor in Parliament, severely damaging Peter Malinauskas's credibility," said Mr Speirs.
"To put that right, Peter Malinauskas must apologise for the conduct of his party and commit to completing training in how to deal with conflicts of interest and Ministerial Code of Conduct compliance, ensuring Labor's mistakes aren't repeated in future."
Ms Chapman was sworn in as the Member for Bragg today, despite Speaker Dan Cregan tabling legal advice that she should not be able to sit in parliament since she had already written to him saying she was quitting.
Her resignation will trigger a by-election in the safe, eastern suburbs seat.
Report says nothing to gain or lose
Mr Lines's report found the Smith Bay port proposal "would not impact her [Ms Chapman's] personal way of life as she does not live on Kangaroo Island".
"While the Smith Bay application outlined increased heavy vehicle traffic on various roads, this did not impact her because she does not live on Kangaroo Island," he said.
"The Smith Bay application would not impact the value of her Gum Valley property, either, by increasing or reducing its value.
He said while the property had been rented out from time to time, it was not a tourism venture.
The ombudsman, who visited Gum Valley during the investigation, found that the buildings on the property were so far from the plantation that anyone staying there would not be affected by any harvesting.
"Consequently, I am of the opinion that Ms Chapman had good reason to believe that she did not have an actual or potential conflict between her interest in the Gum Valley property and her public duty to impartially consider the Smith Bay application on its merits," Mr Lines wrote.
The ombudsman dismissed any concerns over Ms Chapman's involvement in a 2017 meeting during which Ms Chapman voiced opposition to the port, or her friendship relationship with Kangaroo Island Mayor and former Liberal MP Michael Pengilly.
The ombudsman also took aim at the Labor-led parliamentary committee that prompted his investigation, expressing his "dismay" at being ordered to investigate Ms Chapman after the committee had already delivered its own findings of a conflict.
"In my view, it is inappropriate for a parliamentary committee to refer to an ombudsman a matter about which it has inquired into and reached final conclusions and that have then been acted upon by a house of parliament," he wrote.
Mr Lines said the decision to refer the matter to him "creates a real risk of politicising my office and undermining public confidence in my office's independence and impartiality".
