Page 2290 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 16 June 2009
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whether or not his complaints should remain on the record. At no time did he instruct Mr Hanson to do anything. At no time did he threaten any action as a result of that. He simply drew to Mr Hanson’s attention the fact that his statements were incorrect and asked him to reflect on that—hardly a political attack.
I think this comes to the heart of how it would appear that the Greens and the Liberals view such correspondence. They view it as political. They view it as part of some grand conspiracy to silence or threaten or intimidate them. There is no such thing. Yet we have today the most serious of all actions available to the Assembly being contemplated, the establishment of a select committee on privileges, to haul before it, in what will be undoubtedly a kangaroo court, one of the most senior public servants in the ACT administration.
Mr Smyth: I raise a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. That is an imputation on the committee process of this place—that it will be a kangaroo court. It needs to be withdrawn. That is totally disorderly. It is also a reflection on any potential member who might be in that, that they might operate in this way, which, of course, includes some of Mr Corbell’s own colleagues.
MR CORBELL: No such body has been established. I cannot reflect on something that has not been established.
Mr Smyth: You erode it right from the start. You have not learned anything from 2003, have you, Simon?
MR CORBELL: You cannot reflect on something that does not exist or a decision that has not been made.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: There is no point of order, Mr Smyth.
Mrs Dunne: I raise a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. As a person who may potentially be a member of this privileges committee, if it is formed, I take exception. I think it is a reflection upon me and any other member who forms that committee, and as a member of this place I demand that the minister withdraw the imputation that the privileges committee would be a kangaroo court.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mrs Dunne, thank you. This committee has not been formed. You are not a member of this privileges committee, so there is no imputation on your reputation.
MR CORBELL: You cannot reflect on something that has not been established and you certainly cannot reflect on a decision that has not been taken.
The Greens and the Liberals really are shaping up, if they are successful today—and I hope that they are not—to establish this kangaroo court, to persecute a senior public servant who seeks to draw a member’s attention to the truth. That is what this is today. By threat and intimidation, which is what this motion is today, they are sending a clear message to all public servants: “Don’t tell us the truth. Don’t tell us what it is you think or believe to be accurate. If we find it objectionable, we are going to
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