Page 2616 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 2 July 2008
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fact, the Chief Minister backed this up in what he said: “We had no follow-up process. That went through statutory process.”
We are not happy about how many documents were suppressed but we have made no allegations in relation to that. What we have said very clearly is that the Chief Minister has the ability to release every one of those documents if he likes. He could table them in the Assembly; he could have tabled them at estimates; he could release them to the opposition.
And how do we know that? We know that because the Chief Minister told us. Of course we knew it already, but the Chief Minister has told us he chose to release some of the documents to the media. And if he can release some of the documents to the media, if he can selectively release documents to the media, then he can release other documents. He chooses not to release those documents that would, if we were to believe the government, prove the case. He could release them.
Why does he choose not to release them? We can only assume that if the Chief Minister had documents that proved his case he would release them; he would come and table them in this place in a heartbeat. But he has chosen not to. He has chosen to suppress them when he could release them.
For Ms Gallagher’s benefit one more time, for the Hansard, what we are saying is this: the Chief Minister has released documents, personally authorised their release. He has said that. He can choose to release many more. He has chosen not to. Therefore, he is withholding; he is unreasonably withholding documents that would shed light on this process. And that is a fact.
Ms Gallagher can try to put all sorts of allegations out there that have not been raised to try to divert attention from the fact that she does not appear to understand the role of a minister and she does not appear to understand the ability of ministers to release documents if they like. That is a prerogative that the Chief Minister has exercised in this case but he has exercised it in a very narrow and very selective manner.
The two central claims Ms Gallagher has made are, firstly, that in fact her quote was right:
The Opposition will not be able to prove … that the government took decisions around this project specifically about where it was, because that’s just not the case.
The government did take decisions; they took a number of decisions; they offered one site. That is what they did. That is what the documents show.
In terms of the release of documents, we know—and the Chief Minister has said—that he could release more documents but he has chosen not to. He is suppressing these documents and he is suppressing them, we can only assume, because he is embarrassed by their content, because they do not prove his case, because in fact they prove our case. Every other document points to it.
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