Page 2269 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 16 June 2009
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MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Corbell! You are deviating from the matter, which is the dissent from my ruling. Let us stick to that matter. You can argue the merits of the privileges committee matter when we come to that item, if we get that far.
MR CORBELL: Mr Speaker, I find it extraordinary that you are unable to demonstrate to me why your decision to grant precedence to a matter is not a ruling. You have given no reason in this place as to why it is not a ruling. It is a decision that you have taken. It is a decision where you have said that all other business on the notice paper is to be given a lesser priority. You have given no clear and good reason as to why your decision cannot be reviewed in that case.
That is why I object to your subsequent ruling that I cannot move dissent from your decision. That is the issue that I am particularly concerned about—and that other members in this place should be concerned about as well. The crossbench members, if they were interested in fair play in this place, would simply allow the matter to be put to a vote as to whether or not it was reasonable to grant precedence to this matter.
I am disappointed that you are not prepared to have your decision brought to a vote in this place, but the point remains: there is a clear political agenda at play in this Assembly today. I know that the Liberals and the Greens do not want to talk about it, but that is what is going on. It is a deliberate political plot to blacken the name of a senior public servant without any good reason. Never before has resort to privileges been done in such a flippant and ad hoc manner and without any substantial argument.
If that is the new benchmark that the Greens are going to propose to put in place in this place when it comes to whether or not privileges committees should be established in this place, we will be having one every week, Mr Speaker. Every time someone gets a letter that they find a bit rude, we will have a privileges committee. That is exactly the objection that is being used to justify the establishment of this privileges committee in this place. It is as though people cannot write to a Liberal member objecting to their position, Mr Speaker. How extraordinary that someone else in this place objects to what Mr Hanson has to say, Mr Speaker!
Mrs Dunne: Relevance, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Corbell! Mr Corbell, resume your seat. Mr Corbell, we have spoken about this a number of times. Let us stick to the dissent ruling. You will have plenty of opportunity to discuss the merits of Mr Hanson’s motion.
MR CORBELL: Your decision this morning, Mr Speaker, is a terrible politicisation of your role. It is an appalling politicisation of your role. You, Mr Speaker, particularly as a Speaker in an Assembly where there is a clear balance of power situation, should be prepared to have your decisions put to a test in this place. Your ruling that I could not dissent from you granting precedence to that matter shows that you believe you are above this place.
Mr Speaker, you should have simply said, “Fine, Mr Corbell; let’s have the debate.” You refused to do so. Instead, Mr Speaker, you chose to politicise your position; you chose to show the partisan nature of your position; and you sided with the Liberals
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