Page 2222 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 28 August 2007
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Mr Hargreaves’s defence was that the opposition interjects. Members get frustrated at not being given answers. They are there to represent their communities. But in two years running a pattern of conduct by ministers of the Stanhope government has emerged. We have seen it with Mr Barr, the newest minister. Mr Barr was quizzed at annual reports hearings last year about whether he was cutting the number of places in the ACT Academy of Sport to 150 and he said he did not know. (Second speaking period taken.)
I put in an FOI request. The response showed that Mr Barr knew and had signed off three weeks before on the number of places. Following a verbal briefing, Mr Barr received confirmation in writing that the number would be brought down to 150. We had great hopes for Mr Barr, the new guy. We thought he might be different from the schooled ministers that the Stanhope government has run. But he could not come in here and say, “I got it wrong.” He clearly got it wrong; the documents show it.
I submitted an FOI request and I actually then had to go back and ask for a review because the documents that I eventually got were withheld in the first round. It is interesting that the Auditor-General, in her report on the FireLink project, notes that a large number of documents were withheld from her until the very last minute, which changed the nature of the report. They want to avoid scrutiny. This is the man who, in opposition, said, “We would be more honest, more open and more accountable. We would not hide behind commercial-in-confidence. We would not hide behind cabinet-in-confidence.” He is right. He does not hide; he cowers. He cowers behind cabinet-in-confidence.
He will not release the functional review because he knows that it is fundamentally flawed. You only have to look at the tourism numbers in the future directions document. They are flawed. Every school community, the 39 of them that were threatened by this government and the 23 that suffered the indignity of being shut all said that the numbers were wrong. This government does not hide behind cabinet-in-confidence; it cowers. So much for their claim that they would be more honest, more open and more accountable!
Then there is the issue of the opposition getting an adequate supply of budget papers. We used to give them more budget papers than they probably needed or deserved. Indeed, when Mr Quinlan was Treasurer, at 1 o’clock we would get a briefing from officials. That has dried up. So much for somebody who is confident in what he is doing! So much for somebody who said that he would be more honest, more open and more accountable!
Then we have the shoot-the-messenger approach: “if you disagree with me, I will simply shoot you”. The Chief Minister has done it to the property council and to the business council. The economic white paper, which the Chief Minister continues to say is the blueprint for the economic future of the ACT, says that we will be the most small-business-friendly jurisdiction in the country. When business points out that the government is not, they are accused of being whingers. There is a man with a real answer. What is your answer to the question, Chief Minister? The answer is that they are just whingeing. That is the level that we have come to. Mr Stanhope’s behaviour is not that of a genuine Chief Minister, someone with a true vision.
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