Page 2025 - Week 07 - Thursday, 17 June 1993
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MR BERRY: And you are still going on about it. You have not stopped. You should take a breath. Here we go again - and I quote: "The superintendents" - obviously they have talked to the Canberra Times - "had said they were upset because the investigation into overpayments" was going on. It continues, "They had told the Leader of the Opposition, Kate Carnell" - it just goes on and on. It is the officers and Mrs Carnell who have drawn attention to this issue, but the one who has made the biggest meal out of it has been Mrs Carnell. I suggest that, at Mrs Carnell's urging, the officers have sought to - - -
Mr Humphries: How do you know?
MR BERRY: I have watched her operate. You do not have to be real bright to work out how she operates, after watching for a year or so. So, Madam Speaker, and Mr Former Leader of the Opposition, it was not I who drew any public attention to them. I am sorry, sir; it was all the fault of your leader. I suggest that she drafted the question for you. She has been a little absent-minded about the past on the issue.
MR KAINE: I have a supplementary question. Since the Minister clearly had the information and the responsibility to set this matter at rest some time ago, and given his commitment to social justice, does he intend to compensate these officers for personal and public suffering incurred, particularly given the fact that it was his own department which was responsible for the overpayments?
MR BERRY: There was never a public issue and there was no public disquiet about the matter until Mrs Carnell got into the act. You have mucked it up again and you have caused a great deal of unnecessary strain and tension for these officers. If you seek to make a political and public meal about these issues and you draw public attention to them, and if you feel that you have damaged them, then dig deep, because you are the one who owes them an apology, not the Government. The first public announcement in relation to this matter was made today in a press release by Mrs Belsham, and it clears the air, as you asked. Having asked for the air to be cleared, having drawn a lot of public attention to these officers, when will you be satisfied? We have done our bit, and all you have done is continue with the - - -
Mr Kaine: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I seem to recall that it was I who asked this question. Would he mind answering me and not addressing his remarks to the Leader of the Opposition?
MADAM SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Kaine.
MR BERRY: This is something that you would not do. Mrs Carnell has tabled the pay sheets and overtime sheets with the officers' names on them. So do not talk to me about dragging it out. Who drags it out?
Mr Kaine: I have not seen the pay sheets. May I have a look at them?
MR BERRY: Yes, you may. You might ask Mrs Carnell how much she thinks she owes them in compensation.
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