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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 12 Hansard (24 November) . . Page.. 3610 ..

MR KAINE (continuing):

to 31 January 1997, I am not in a position to say. The Minister for Urban Services at that time was Mr De Domenico. But I can speak with certainty about the period from 31 January 1997 on which date, according to the Government Gazette of 3 February 1997, I entered the Executive as Minister for Urban Services, among other portfolios, and as the Minister to whom Totalcare nominally reported.

On that date, 31 January 1997, I was also appointed Minister for Industrial Relations with consequential responsibility for occupational health and safety matters and, therefore, for WorkCover, the relevant regulatory agency. That agency was located in the former Department of Business, the Arts, Sport and Tourism, a department run by the Chief Minister. As Minister for Urban Services and Industrial Relations, what practical functions did I perform in the events leading up to the demolition of the former Royal Canberra Hospital? This is a question I can answer with absolute certainty. I advise certain members of this Assembly to note very carefully what I have to say. My practical role in all this was none, zero, not at all, despite Mr Humphries and Mrs Carnell.

As is her right, the Chief Minister had decided some time before I entered the Ministry that she was taking the lead role on this project. It was her project. There was no role for me in this when I later became the Minister. In relation to the practical day-to-day responsibility for the hospital demolition, what briefings did I receive? None. What orders did I give? None. What emails or other messages emanated from my ministerial office? None. What media statements did I issue? None. I say again, my practical role was zero.

On the evidence placed before the coroner, all ministerial briefings went to the Chief Minister, all ministerial directions emanated from the Chief Minister's office, all ministerial emails were sent from the Chief Minister's office, and every ministerial media release in relation to the hospital demolition without exception went out under the Chief Minister's name. Can I be any clearer? I believe not.

But the implosion went wrong, did it not? So the Chief Minister, in seeking to transfer responsibility for the tragedy to me, has contrived to assert otherwise than what the coroner concluded. The Chief Minister has attempted to set up a contrived alibi. "It wasn't me really, it was Trevor Kaine".

Mr Speaker, I wish to read into the record, for the benefit of members and others, the relevant excerpts from a number of documents, any or all of which I am happy to table if that is the wish of the Assembly. Most of them are from the coroner's report. They give the lie to the Chief Minister's assertion, supported by Mr Humphries, that I was the responsible Minister. The first statement comes from the record of interview between Detective Sergeant Ranse of the Australian Federal Police and Mrs Carnell in her office at the Legislative Assembly on 10 October 1997. (Extension of time granted) This was some three months after the fatal implosion. In response to a question from Detective Sergeant Ranse - it was a fairly long-winded answer - were the words:

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