Page 798 - Week 05 - Thursday, 6 July 1989
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Mr Speaker, the remaining issues are the only issues that those sitting opposite me can complain about, because they are the only questions raised that go to the question of impropriety of Ministers and public servants. The other was a question directed by me to the Chief Minister, asking her if she was aware that the National Crime Authority had interviewed a former Commissioner for Housing, Mr Grills, regarding the discharge of a Commissioner for Housing loan given to one of her ministerial colleagues. The Chief Minister was asked whether she would be prepared to look into the matter and provide a statement to the house. I submit that that is not an inflammatory question. That is a reasonable question when one considers the fact that her ministerial colleague has ministerial responsibility for that particular area of government, the Commissioner for Housing. The Chief Minister said she was quite happy to undertake an inquiry and, provided she had the information, the inquiry would be undertaken in a timely and efficient manner.
So there we are, Mr Speaker. That is the summary of events in the Assembly. Since that time, there has been a suggestion that those questions represent allegations. Certainly, I would concede that the issues affecting Mr Hedley allege at the most, a conflict of interest, as we said in that speech. We specifically said no suggestion of corruption was being made, and that the issue was being raised as an example.
Elsewhere we said we did not necessarily believe that when an independent commission against corruption was established it needed necessarily to go backwards, even though I indicated in the Assembly today, Mr Speaker, that the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption, in at least one of its references, was going back to issues and events at the Municipality of Waverley for a period from July 1982 onwards.
Mr Speaker, the Rally is trying to be reasonable about an issue on which it is receiving a lot of messages. The Rally is raising issues that on their face appear to be reasonable. It is raising issues after having made due and careful inquiry with the resources available to it.
In respect of the matter involving the Chief Minister's colleague and the National Crime Authority investigation, the question raised by the Rally was very genuine, because the Rally did not know the outcome of the National Crime Authority investigation. It simply wanted to know and have the issue put at rest. The responses received in respect of the latter matter related to a loan issue. That matter was not raised by the Rally. The Rally wanted to know what the outcome was in relation to funds used to discharge the mortgage and it sought an assurance in that regard.
Mr Speaker, the Rally may be in its early years in this Assembly and there may be times when the Rally goes at an
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