Page 1046 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 3 May 2022
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Mr Rattenbury: We are at threats now, Jeremy, are we?
MR HANSON: I cannot understand you, sorry.
Mr Rattenbury: I cannot understand you either, but that has nothing to do with wearing a face mask!
MADAM SPEAKER: All right, members, I have delivered my 246A; we will move to the next item of business.
Commissioner of Standards—referral
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (10.09), by leave: I move:
That this Assembly:
(1) notes:
(a) Mr Davis has circulated a letter in the electorate regarding the Greens Federal election candidates;
(b) that this letter uses Mr Davis’ ACT Legislative Assembly contact details;
(c) a letter to MLAs from the Clerk of the Assembly was circulated on 11 April 2022 regarding use of Assembly resources for federal campaigning; and
(d) that using his Assembly contact details as part of federal electioneering is in breach of the Members’ code of conduct; and
(2) calls on this Assembly to refer Mr Davis’ actions to the Commissioner for Standards.
In this place, we talk a lot about integrity. We talk a lot about honesty and diligence. In fact, in the Code of Conduct for members of the Assembly it talks about these matters in some depth and also calls on members:
Within the first six months after an election for the Assembly, the Assembly shall reaffirm its commitment to the principles, obligations and aspirations of the Code of Conduct.
So everyone in this place, including Mr Davis, has affirmed their commitment to the Code of Conduct. Surely you would not affirm your commitment if you did not understand it and you were not going to apply it; yet it has been brought to my attention in the past day or so, by a member of the public, that Mr Davis has circulated a letter in the electorate strongly endorsing Greens federal candidates. On its own that is not an issue. We all do that to some degree. We all talk about our federal candidates. However, in this instance Mr Davis has included his ACT Legislative Assembly contact details on the letter.
I am sure I do not need to bring to your attention the fact that the Clerk circulated a letter on 11 April 2022—not that long ago—specifically drawing the attention of members to what is and is not acceptable during the federal election campaign in terms of the use of Assembly resources. It is quite specific:
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