Page 371 - Week 02 - Thursday, 8 March 2007
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I do not know whether, in the evidence, the coroner goes to this point as to why, in the light of some of her findings, it could have been that the Chief Police Officer of the Australian Capital Territory, the person in whom control of the territory would be vested under the Emergencies Act, had gone to Sydney. In the scenario which the coroner paints or finds and which the Liberal Party continue to pursue, if the situation were that desperate, how was it that the person in whom control of the territory would be vested in the case of a state of emergency was in Sydney and why had he gone to Sydney? Why was he there?
Mrs Dunne: Because he wasn’t briefed.
MR STANHOPE: Because he wasn’t briefed!
Mr Stefaniak: Why wasn’t he?
MR STANHOPE: I do not know if he was briefed or not. I think perhaps he had the same briefing as the cabinet had. I think perhaps the Chief Police Officer was in Sydney on Saturday morning, 18 January, because he had received precisely the same briefing as the cabinet had received; namely, that there was not a matter of significant concern at that time, excepting that we faced a very serious situation. Is it not conceivable, on the basis of the scenario you paint, that the reason the Chief Police Officer of the Australian Capital Territory was in Sydney on the morning of 18 January 2003 was that he had in fact received precisely the same information that the cabinet received? Is that a feasible possibility? It is perhaps a matter of regret that the coroner did not pursue that possibility or that line of questioning.
MR SESELJA: I have a supplementary question. Chief Minister, have you misled the Assembly with your answers of 6 March and 7 March?
MR SPEAKER: Withdraw that.
Mrs Burke: He said one thing and he is saying another thing now. It is a fair question.
MR SPEAKER: I think there is an imputation that the Chief Minister may have misled.
MR SESELJA: Mr Speaker, I have pointed out two seemingly contradictory pieces of evidence and I am simply asking him whether he has misled the Assembly in relation to that.
MR STANHOPE: No, Mr Speaker.
Land development
MR GENTLEMAN: My question is to the Minister for Planning. Minister, the government has recently made further major announcements on the provision of additional land for housing in Canberra. Can you tell the Assembly how this land will assist in providing more housing opportunities for Canberrans?
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