Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 13 Hansard (19 November) . . Page.. 3700 ..

It has also been suggested quite explicitly by the Chief Minister, certainly outside this place to the media, that knowledge by people other than Mr Strokowsky was inconceivable. That is a reflection either on me in this place or on my staff or colleagues who sit on this bench with me. Clearly that is inappropriate.

The ministers I have referred to, in making those sorts of comments, have alleged that criminal conduct occurred by a Liberal staff member making those sorts of comments. They claimed the Liberal staff member hacked into the minister's email system to procure the emails concerned. That is untrue, and it damages the reputation of all the Liberal staff in this building.

To apologise for what occurred in the precincts of my office suite could be to admit some culpability, some active involvement in what occurred. (Extension of time granted.) This is no doubt the sort of admission that the Labor Party in this place seeks. But such an admission would be an unfaithful rendition of what happened.

Let me be clear, Mr Speaker. I repudiate the conduct which the committee found to have occurred, although I believe I still owe the staffer concerned the benefit of the doubt as to whether it did in fact occur. I am prepared as chief representative of the Liberal Party in this place to apologise for the conduct the committee found occurred under our aegis, but I believe, as I have said, that such an apology should be mutual. The government's representative should apologise for alleging that a crime was committed by a Liberal staff member. That allegation is every bit as serious and every bit as untrue.

A number of comments were made by the committee about what was alleged to have occurred. It dealt with a number of matters about which allegations were made quite explicitly either in the media or before the committee. It was alleged that there was a discussion about hacked emails or purloined emails. I think "purloined" is the word the Chief Minister has used in this debate before.

Mr Stanhope: They were stolen. There is no doubt about that.

MR HUMPHRIES: "They were stolen." He says "stolen". That implies to me an act of actually going and obtaining them. Of course, stealing something is illegal.

Mr Stanhope: They were downloaded, Gary. Were they downloaded? Were they read? Were they distributed?

MR HUMPHRIES: I should point out that the Chief Minister has again used the word "stolen". He is Attorney-General. He knows that to steal something is a crime, and he alleges that the crime was linked with somebody to do with the opposition.

Mr Hargreaves: The police have not finished yet. You cannot say it does or does not exist.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .