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

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 09 Hansard (Thursday, 19 August 2004) . . Page.. 3976 ..

legendary with that sort of stuff, because of his presumption-against-bail stance; and we have Mr Pratt doing it as well. It seems to be a cancer running right through that lot.

What we are seeing is the policy statement coming out of there that it is okay to kidnap people, take them away, torture and incarcerate them; and then we will have a fair trial and legitimise the whole thing. Three years later, “We will legitimise it.” Shame on you! This guy is an Australian citizen. What are you people over there doing to defend those rights? I will tell you what you are doing: you are encouraging the American people to go and kidnap an Australian citizen. Where is it going to happen next? I would like to know about it. It was, in fact, the American army that did that.

Mr Stefaniak: Watch out for the Martians when you leave the building, mate!

MR HARGREAVES: Yes; that is right. All I can say is that Mr Pratt ought to consider what the Australian public felt about it when he was incarcerated and extend the same courtesy to an Australian citizen who has been incarcerated overseas for an awfully long time—with no charges laid, without a trial and without the presumption of innocence. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Mr Pratt. Mr Speaker, this man ought to be thoroughly ashamed of himself—and so too should those guys over there who would like to bring back the death penalty. I would like to see the Canberra Times print that policy statement tomorrow. “The Liberal Party wants to bring back the death penalty!” The people of the ACT are going to introduce a death penalty again on 16 October on you lot. You are going to be dealt with!

Public interest disclosure

MRS BURKE (6.07): For the public record, I would like to state the following facts: on 19 January a public interest disclosure was sent to Mr Michael Bateman—Director of Human Resources, Department of Education, Youth and Family Services—the ACT Auditor-General and the ACT Ombudsman. On 18 February Mr Michael Bateman responded to the PID, stating as follows:

When you are entitled to draw your concerns to the Minister’s attention … Whilst not pre-empting any steps the Minister may take, it is likely that she would refer a public interest disclosure to this office for investigation.

In April 2004 a copy of the PID was sent by mail to the minister’s office. The minister now tells us that she never knew of the PID. The Chief Minister stated yesterday that the PID act was a serious one. One would wonder why the minister for education was not aware of the PID sent to the director of human resources. On 3 August 2004 the minister was asked a question about contracts with her department and did not answer the question. Instead she argued that, before she answered the question, she would like to obtain a full briefing.

On 4 August 2004 the minister was asked about the child who went missing from Gowrie Primary School. She argued, “This is the first I have heard of that incident.” The minister also said on 4 August 2004 that she was not aware of the incident concerning the autistic child being referred to WorkCover and had not been briefed on the issue; she had not received any complaints; and nor had anyone contacted her office on the issue. Evidence shows that this is not the case. Moreover, the principal of the Gowrie Primary

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