Page 1921 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 25 June 2008
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After the estimates hearing, we had the spectacle of the Chief Minister misleading again members of the public and the media by a range of statements and media releases that claimed that the opposition had in its possession a particular document. He actually went so far as to put out a press release that said that Mrs Dunne held it up in the estimates process last week.
I will actually do a re-enactment because I failed to so something the other day when I was in estimates. I undertook to table these documents. I omitted to do so. What I held up was this document—and I will hold it up again—that was received by the opposition at folios 10 to 15 of the FOI Act and is exempted because, according to the FOI officer, it is an internal working document. I held it up and contrasted it with the document that I told the Chief Minister we had received from the Canberra Times, which is a briefing to him, without the attachments. I held them up together and asked him to contrast why we were given the blacked-out, preliminary version but the Canberra Times was given the whole, final version, complete. In answer to a question from Mr Mackay, we made it very clear that we did not have the attaching letter that goes with it.
Day after day, the Chief Minister put it out there that the opposition had this letter, the magical get Jon Stanhope out of jail free letter, which would prove forever and always that he was in the right and we were in the wrong. I seek leave to table these documents which I should have done during estimates.
Leave granted.
MRS DUNNE: I present the following papers:
Proposed gas fired power station and data centre—Copies of—
Email to Pam Davoren; David Dawes and George Tomlins from Rod Power, Senior Manager, Planning and Urban Services Section, Cabinet and Policy Group, dated Saturday, 7 July 2007.
Letter to Mr J A Mackay AM, Chief Executive Officer, ActewAGL, from the Chief Minister (2).
Brief to the Chief Minister from Pam Davoren, dated July 2007.
While the Chief Minister was out there lying to the community, lying to the media, encouraging the media organisations to ring my office and ask for a copy of the document which he knew that I did not have—
MR SPEAKER: Would you withdraw the accusations of lying, please?
MRS DUNNE: If I made an accusation of lying, I withdraw it. The Chief Minister was out encouraging members of the media to approach my office for the documents that he claimed I had when he knew, in fact, that I did not have them. It is the case that the opposition did eventually receive that document. It received it yesterday afternoon, at 4.57, I have been informed. It was folios 174 and 175 of the FOI request which, up until then, had been exempted or subject to consultation under section 27 of the Freedom of Information Act. I would have tabled it eventually, except that someone from the government has tabled this letter.
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